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Keeping our kids safe in the real world is challenging enough.
Add to that the additional parental territory that comes with allowing your children to use smart devices, like phones or tablets, and, suddenly, you're in a whole new ballgame. Well, TWO whole new ballgames, if you've got twins whose activities you're trying to monitor.
Fortunately, Apple has recently unveiled some new and expanded safety features across Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, and Apple TV to help parents protect their kids and tech-savvy teens when they're online.
...these updates can help give parents peace of mind because they offer more ways to ensure age-appropriate online experiences for kids, right from the get-go...
Building on existing tools that were already available in Screen Time and on the App Store, these updates can help give parents peace of mind because they offer more ways to ensure age-appropriate online experiences for kids, right from the get-go, when their device is set up.
Earlier this year, Apple made it simpler to set up a Child Account from the moment a new device is turned on, and added Screen Time passcode notifications, so parents are alerted whenever a child enters a Screen Time passcode on their device.
Now, parents will have additional tools at their fingertips, including:
Child Account: Parents are able to easily correct the age of their child's Apple account (if, for example, they inherited an older Apple device), convert it to a Child Account, and use Apple's full suite of parental controls, with default-appropriate age settings applied.
Communication Limits: Children are required to send a request to their parents before they can connect with a new contact on Phone, FaceTime, Messages, or iCloud. Parents can remotely approve new contacts for their children when using Apple apps.
Communication Safety: Designed to protect children from viewing sensitive content and video, this feature is now on by default for users aged 13-17, and expands to FaceTime and Shared Albums in Photos.
Expanded Default Protections & Updated Age Ratings: Parents are now able to share their children's age range with apps in a privacy-preserving manner, with more granular age ratings on the App Store for adolescents (13+, 16+, and 18+). This feature also includes more detailed labeling for app capabilities that can affect content appropriateness (read: advertising, user-generated content, or in-app controls, like parental controls).
With privacy and security at their core, these latest tools help ensure enriching, age-appropriate experiences for all users and empower parents as they try to keep their kids safe while they're online.
These features became available with the release of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and tvOS 26, as free software updates for eligible devices. Note, some features may not be available in all regions, in all languages, or on all models.
You can learn more about Apple's tools for protecting kids and teens here.
What do you do to protect your kids or keep them safe while they're online? Let us know in the Comments section below or connect with us on Instagram to share your thoughts!
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