Setting Up Parental Control Options

 Setting Up Parental Control Options

Most operating systems, applications or programs have parental control options on PC or mobile devices . We are going to see how to configure these options in some of the main internet services.

In Windows 10

The parental control in Windows includes:

• Blocking inappropriate apps, games, and media
• Require children to ask a parent before buying from the Microsoft store
• Inappropriate website blocking

Blocking inappropriate apps, games, and media:

• Go to this page and sign in with your Microsoft account.
• Set up a secondary account through Windows Settings. If you already have one, find your child's name and choose Content Restrictions
• Go to Apps, games and media and the inappropriate apps, games and media lock toggle
• Under Allow rated apps and games, choose the age limit you want to apply for your child.
• When your child requests access to a blocked app or game, you can approve it by going to Content Restrictions and adding it to the Always allowed list.
• In case your child downloaded something before these limitations, you can block it by going to the Activity page. your child will need permission to use it again and you can approve or disapprove via email.

Inappropriate website blocking:

• Sign in to your Microsoft account.
• Find your child's name and click on Content Restrictions
• Scroll to Web browsing and turn Block inappropriate websites from Off to On
• To block specific sites, add their URLs in Always blocked.
• To limit your child from only browsing specific websites, check the box next to Only allow these websites.

Ask children to ask you before buying from the Microsoft Store:

• Find your child's name and then choose Content Restrictions
• Toggle adult approval needs to buy things.
• Approve or reject your requests through your personal email or at account.microsoft.com/family

In addition, with Windows Live Family Safety you could enjoy free parental control on all your Windows devices.

On Mac

When configuring parental control on Mac , it is first necessary to create a dedicated account for the minor, so that the restrictions do not affect adult browsing. You can create this new account from the "System Preferences"> "Users and Groups" option.

Parental control option settings are similar on different Mac operating systems, with a few subtle differences.

If you are using Mac Catalina, you have to go to "System Preferences"> " Screen Time ".

If you use Mac Mojave or an earlier version, you should go to "System Preferences"> " Parental Controls "

In Google

To configure parental controls in the Google browser :

• Sign in to your Chromebook.
• Click on your account photo located in the lower right corner of the screen.
• When the pop-up window appears, choose the gear icon for Settings.
• Scroll down to the People section and click Manage other users.
• The user interface must be visible. Select a check mark next to the Enable supervised users setting. Then select Done to return to the previous screen.
• Click on your account photo again and select Sign out. Select More at the bottom of the screen with three vertical dots.
• Then select Add supervised user. Click Create supervised user.
• It will ask you to choose the admin account for its new supervised user profile. Choose the desired account from the list and its password. Select Next to continue.
• Enter a name and password for the supervised user. Add an image and click Next.
  You now have a supervised profile and if you are successful you will receive an email with more details.

In Youtube

YouTube Kids is available on iOS and Android platforms. It is parental control on YouTube enabled and filtered only for children. YouTube Kids focuses its content on music, education, and other categories.

We recommend downloading this to your iPhones and keeping YouTube blocked. To do this, follow these steps.

• Launch YouTube and log in.
• Click on their profile picture in the upper right corner of the screen and select Restricted mode
• Then a drop-down menu will open where you can activate Restricted Mode
• For iOS, click on your profile and, in Settings, activate the Restricted mode button. For Android users, the option can be found in Settings - General.

On the Nintendo Switch

To configure parental control on Nintendo Switch you must follow these steps:

• Download the Nintendo Switch Parental Control app, which is available for both Android and iOS.
• Press Sign in or create account, and enter the email and password of the same Nintendo account that you use on the Nintendo Switch that you want to manage through parental controls.
• Choose the user to link with parental control. The normal thing is that you have a single user, so you only have to press the red button Choose this person.
• The Nintendo Switch Parental Control app will tell you that you are linking a Nintendo Switch console to the app. Click Continue.
• You will see a code that you will have to use on the console, so your next step will be to turn on your Nintendo Switch.
• Go to the bottom menu where several options appear with round icons. There, click on the Console Settings option.
• Once in the settings, in the options column on the left select Parental control and click Parental control settings.
• Enter the registration code and then press yes to link the parental control app.

On Netflix

There are several parental control options on Netflix . They have hard and soft controls that parents can set along with maturity levels for each individual profile.

Tough controls at the account level:

• Require a PIN for specific maturity ratings - Sets a 4-digit PIN that is required to play any video content above a selected maturity level in any profile. The PIN ensures that your child does not view content rated above the selected maturity level.
• Require PIN for specific video content - Sets a 4-digit PIN that must be entered to play specific video content on any profile. This ensures that your child does not watch the particular video content.

Set your PIN:

• Go to your account page from a web browser.
• Choose the link for Parental Controls in the Settings section.
• Enter your Netflix credentials and select Continue.
• Enter four numbers in the PIN field: this will be your PIN.
• Sets the PIN protection level for the following options:
• Young children: all ages
• Older children: 7+, some 13+
• Teens: 13+
• Adults: 16+, 18+
• Choose Save

Smooth account-level controls:

Choose a maturity level for a profile to control the video content available for that profile. The parent or guardian makes sure that their child only uses their correct profile.

Set the maturity level for a profile:

• Go to your account page and select Manage profiles
• Choose the profile you want to edit
• Under allowed TV shows and movies, choose desired maturity Mild
• Young children only - G, TV-Y, TV-G: video content suitable for all ages
• Older and younger children: PG, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-PG: video content suitable for older children
• Teens and Minors - PG-13, TV-14: Video content suitable for teens
• All maturity levels: R, NC-17, TV-MA - Watch all video content, including adult content
• Select Save.

Parental control filters for mobile

The best parental control apps for smartphones can help you physically track your children, see who they communicate with online, prevent them from viewing objectionable or dangerous websites, and even help children understand limits while preventing them from viewing content. for adults or chat with strangers.

However, you can not only spy on your children, and we do not recommend that you do so. Instead, these apps work best when they are part of a comprehensive approach to teaching your kids to behave responsibly online.

That means talking to your kids about what they should and shouldn't do with their mobile devices, clearly communicating how you expect them to act, and making it clear that you will be monitoring what they do with their phones.

No parental control service is perfect, but Net Nanny provided the best combination of web filtering, location tracking, and app management on Android and iOS devices.

Norton Family is also considered a good parental control app. Unlike Net Nanny, Norton's service offers text message logging and monitoring, but only on Android devices.

Parents on tight budgets should consider Kaspersky Safe Kids. Its free tier includes web monitoring, time limits, and app management, and its full-featured paid plan costs just $ 15 per year for an unlimited number of devices, including PCs and Macs.

All of these apps can do more on Android than on iOS, due to strict Apple restrictions. In fact, Apple stopped some of the apps in mid-2019, and although they later regained much of their functionality, Apple could remove them at any time.

On Android

To configure parental controls on Android :

• Sign in with your own Google account or use their account if they have one.
• Launch the Play Store app and tap the three horizontal lines in the upper left.
• Scroll down and select Settings, scroll until you see Parental Controls.
• Tap the parental controls and create a PIN code. Re-enter the PIN.
• The settings will be activated and then you can touch each category to configure the restriction you want each category to have.

On the iPhone

The parental controls on iPhone allows you to set content restrictions and privacy:

• Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
• Tap Continue, then select Use Screen Time Password to create a password. Re-enter the password to confirm.
• Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. Enter your password if applicable, then turn on Content and Privacy

Prevent web content:

• Go to Settings> Screen Time
• Tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions and enter your Screen Time password
• Tap Content Restrictions, then tap Web Content
• Choose Limit Adult Websites or Only Allowed Websites

Avoid buying from iTunes and App Store:

• Go to Settings> Screen Time
• Select Content and Privacy Restrictions. If prompted, enter your password.
• Make your selections to Allow in Store Purchases and Downloads
• Select Always request a password.

Prevent explicit content and content ratings:

• Go to Settings> Screen Time
• Tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions, then choose Content Restrictions
• Choose the settings you want for each feature or setting in Store content allowed