With the dangers of unfiltered content targeting minors and teenagers, Apple is rolling out a new suite of parental control features aimed at protecting the young, including expanding age brackets to five categories – 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+, and 18+, up from 17 from before.
As part of the new Communication Limits, which are part of Apple’s Child Accounts created when setting up a new device for a child, parents can have tighter management over who their children communicate with across Messages, FaceTime, calling and iCloud contacts, as children must now send a request when they want to connect with a new phone number.
With the new update, children must now seek parental approval whenever they contact a new phone number, and parents must either approve or decline a request. These new features will be made available to developers, who can choose to introduce a similar feature into their apps, allowing the young to chat, follow, or friend users through third-party apps.
Introduced earlier this month at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the updated features will be part of the upcoming rollout of updated operating systems across Apple’s host of hardware devices – iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and tvOS 26.
Apple’s parental controls and Child Accounts, managed via linked devices through Screen Time and Family Sharing, allow parents to monitor and limit their child’s device by managing screen time through app limits, restrict access to content and app access, limit inappropriate content, control app purchases, and manage communication settings. Child Accounts are required for children under 16, and available for children up to 18.
In a slightly more proactive mode, Apple’s Communication Safety tool will also be updated to “intervene” when it detects nudity in FaceTime calls, and also blur nudity in shared albums in the Photos app.
The company has been constantly updating its parental controls to meet the increasing dangers posed by technology, most recently updating the way parents can access these controls via a PIN code. To prevent children from discovering and using their parents PIN code, parents will now be alerted whenever the PIN code is used on their child’s devices, thereby warning parents of any unauthorised access.
With the expansion of age ranges, parents can also protect their child’s privacy by applying their child’s age range within the apps used, in a manner that does not disclose a minor’s birth date while accessing age-appropriate content and apps.
And to better protect families, Apple App Store will now reflect when developers indicate that their apps offer user-generated content, messaging, or use advertising models. Apps that exceed the age-appropriate range will also not appear anywhere on the App Store.
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?
Kevin Low
