Apple has showcased its child safety features on iPhone, iPad and Mac in a new video. This suite of tools is designed to help parents manage the content their children view and use on Apple devices, and is available in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27.
According to ITPna via Phonearena, the parental control process begins by creating a Child Account. Parents can choose various safety settings appropriate to their child’s age when creating this account. In this way, levels of restrictions and access can be set based on the child’s age group.
One of the new features in this suite is called "Ask to Browse." Using this feature, a child must request permission from their parents to access certain websites in the Safari browser. Parents can approve or deny access requests, thereby gaining greater control over internet content.
The "Ask to Buy" feature is also included alongside it. This feature allows parents to approve or deny app and game downloads or in‑store purchases before they occur. As a result, parental control is not limited to web browsing and also covers apps, games and digital purchases.
Apple has also expanded "Communication Safety." Parents can approve or deny new contacts and better manage their children’s communications. New tools such as "Time Allowances" and "Schedules" also enable management of how long and when devices are used.
All of these features can be configured according to the child’s age, and devices running iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 will have access to these capabilities.
These changes come as governments in various countries are also seeking to limit children’s and teenagers’ access to social networks. For example, in Texas the minimum age to create an App Store account has been set at 18, and in the UK Keir Starmer has announced plans to limit social network access for people under 16.