Parents are doing their best to manage screen time, but between work, school and activity schedules, sick days, and everyday demands, it’s not always possible to supervise every moment kids spend online. And the fact is, many kids are likely to have more unsupervised time online these days. While it might not be ideal, there are things parents can do to help make sure the time kids spend on tablets and phones is as safe as it can be.
Many of the most popular apps for kids have some level of protection built into their parental controls — it’s just a matter of knowing how to access them. Here’s how to make your child’s screen time safer if they’ve been spending more time online lately.
Meta AI
Meta has rolled out an AI feature that accesses your entire camera roll (and not just what you choose to upload), with the purpose of “suggesting” features like photo collages and AI-enhanced edits. The worrisome part? The feature is presented in a way that’s easy to overlook — and with that oversight, gives Meta permission to scan every image on your phone. Swipe through our step-by step guide below to update your settings in Facebook and Instagram as well as on your phone.
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YouTube and YouTube Kids
For older kids utilizing the main YouTube feed, in January 2026 the company announced a rollout of control measures focused at their Shorts feed. Parents can help teens with supervised accounts be more mindful about screen time by setting a control on the amount of time scrolling Shorts (and the limit can be set to as low as zero — watch the tutorial to see how). Additionally, you can also set custom Bedtime and Take a Break reminders.
There are several steps you can take to put up guardrails for your kid on YouTube:
Choose “Approved content only” for the most control. In the YouTube Kids mobile app, tap the lock → Settings → your child’s profile, then look for “Approved content only” in the content settings.
Turn autoplay off. YouTube Kids lets parents disable autoplay so another video doesn’t automatically start after the current one ends. You can find the autoplay control under your child’s settings.
Set the built-in viewing timer. In the mobile app settings, go to Lock → enter your passcode → Timer → choose the number of minutes → Start timer. (Note this will be a timer for the current viewing session; don’t assume setting it once establishes a recurring daily limit.)
Instagram’s parental controls are managed through Meta’s Family Center, alongside built-in protections called Teen Accounts. Parents can set time limits, schedule breaks, approve certain settings changes, and see some information about their teen’s IG activity (but not read their private messages).
In August 2026, Meta’s agreement with state attorneys general enacted the following protections for users under 18 in participating U.S. states and territories:
- A default two-hour daily limit, cumulative across Instagram and Facebook, that teens can only turn off with parental permission.
- Night Mode from midnight to 6 a.m. which blocks feeds, Stories, Explore, and Reels.
- School Mode from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., muting most push notifications.
- Parent-enforced feed and autoplay choices, including requiring a non-personalized feed or turning off autoplay altogether.
To enable these parental controls, visit Meta Family Center and send your teen a supervision invitation. Your kid then needs to accept the request to link accounts.
TikTok
TikTok’s main parental-control tool is its Family Pairing feature, which allows parents to control a variety of settings and monitor their activity and contacts. To activate Family Pairing, you’ll need your own TikTok account as well as your child’s participation to link accounts:
- On your phone, open Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Family Pairing.
- Tap Continue, then choose the parent role.
- Have your kid open Family Pairing on their phone and scan your QR code, or follow the invitation link.
- Your kid confirms Link accounts.
- Back on your phone, select their account to manage settings.
Snapchat
Snapchat’s main parental-control tool is Family Center. Here are a few safety measures that parents can enable/access via the app:
Screen-time insights: Parents can see their teen’s average daily Snapchat use over the previous week, with a breakdown across activities such as messaging, Snap Map, Stories, and Spotlight.
Location sharing: Family Center lets parents request their teen’s location and separately, review who else can see it. A good rule of thumb? Keep sharing off unless there’s a specific reason to use it, then select only the people necessary.
Info about friends and recent contacts: You can see your teen’s friend list and who they’ve messaged in the past seven days (but not the messages themselves). Because of these limitations, it’s best to use this for occasional check-ins rather than more in-depth oversight of their account.
Roblox
Roblox remains one of the biggest gaming platforms for kids ages 7–12, but reports of safety issues underscore the need for active parental oversight. Roblox’s main parental-control tool is a linked parent account, which lets you manage your child’s settings from your own device. Their biggest recent update introduced two age-based account types, Roblox Kids and Roblox Select, which became widely available in June 2026.
Here’s how to set up general parental controls on Roblox:
- On your child’s device, open Roblox’s Settings → Parental controls.
- Enter your email to begin linking.
- On your own device, follow the setup prompts for your parent account and complete adult verification. Roblox’s published walkthrough shows ID verification.
- Finish linking the accounts. You can then manage your child’s settings from your own device.
Discord
Discord is extremely popular within the gaming community, particularly for older teens. Parents of gamers should be aware of safety measures on the platform to keep their teen safe online. Discord’s main parental-control tool is Family Center, which links your account with your teen’s. Along with showing platform activity, parents can manage messaging, sensitive-content filters, and privacy settings. Discord’s latest help guidance also lists monthly spending caps and scheduled downtime.
Here are a few more of the control features available:
Screen time limits/scheduled downtime: Lets parents schedule hours when their teen cannot access Discord (for example, overnight).
Server direct messages: Controls whether other members of a shared server can send your teen direct messages.
Spending cap: Sets a monthly purchase limit. (note that this does not include subscriptions such as Nitro, Server Boosts, server subscriptions, and premium app subscriptions; these must be controlled separately.)
More tips for online safety
After adjusting the privacy settings, chat functions, and other safety features on your child’s most-used apps and games, there are other steps you can take to make their screen time even safer.
- Make the devices themselves safer, make monitoring kids’ activity easier, and get more control over screen usage with tools like Google SafeSearch, Apple Screen Time, Google’s Family Link, and more.
- Use these tips and simple scripts to have conversations with your child about avoiding things like child abuse/grooming, cyberbullying, online predators, and malware. Be sure they know exactly what to do if they encounter something inappropriate online.
- Know the signs that your child has been exposed to grooming from online predators, and teach them the red flags they should look out for — because not everyone who’s friendly online is really a friend.
- Enable parental controls on gaming platforms like PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox, as well as various email providers, smart home devices like Echo, and more.
- Keeping phones out of the bedroom or even writing up a family online safety contract to make sure your kids understand the responsibilities associated with spending time online.
Setting up parental controls on your child’s apps and devices can certainly help make screen time safer and give you some peace of mind. But these tools can’t address every risk. Families shouldn’t have to navigate online safety alone — tech companies need to do more to make their platforms safer for kids from the start.
A previous version of this article was published on October 22, 2021.
