An Apple a day
Apple recently announced the Apple family setup feature for connecting families together.
It’s available from watchOS 7. With this feature parents can pair their phone to their kid’s Apple watch. Once connected parents can stay in contact with their kids. Location information, parental controls and limits can be supervised.
Set Limits and Stay in Control
- Screen Time lets you see and set how much time you or the kids spend on apps or websites
- You can set exceptions for certain apps, for example, those that help them to learn
- If the kids need more time, they can ask for it and you decide to approve or decline it
- Downtime allows you to block apps and notifications at a given time (great for kids or if you find it hard to put your phone down at night).
- Choose apps that are off-limits at times to suit you
- Set a School time Schedule on their Apple Watch – a yellow ring appears on apps restricted during certain times (for studying)
- Activate Do Not Disturb on their Apple Watch
Kids-only content
- Kids can enjoy a safe version of the App Store
- Curated specifically with child-friendly content
- Each app is carefully reviewed
- Use Restrictions to set age limits
- Stay in control of their access to age-appropriate apps
Choose what the kids use
- Restrict the installation of apps to their iPhone or Apple Watch
- Enable the ‘Ask to Buy’ feature and approve or decline app purchase requests from your own device
- Using Combined Limits means adding restrictions to multiple apps or sites into one convenient limit
- Send notifications to their devices when they’re about to reach a set time limit
Online safety
- Setting Communication Limits means choosing who your kids can (and cannot) communicate with during the day and your set Downtime. They remain reachable to you. This can be applied to iPhones and Apple Watches.
- Limit adult content or restrict chosen websites
- Utilise kid-friendly browsers that only show what’s appropriate
- Block anything you don’t want them to see; movies, TV shows, music, podcasts or books
Never lose a device or a family member
- Using Find My means never losing a device again – even if it’s offline
- Ping your iPhone from your Apple Watch
- If your kids forget their iPhone, you can reach them on their Apple Watch (with cellular)
- Close by devices can be found using Bluetooth
- Using People (People tab) enables you to share your location
- Send and receive location-based notifications
- Know when your child is safely at school
- Peace of mine if an elderly family member goes for an unplanned walk
Stay Healthy and Fit
- The Apple Watch series has a plethora of health and fitness tracking
- Ensure your kids are active and healthy
- See where you can make improvements to your kid’s health and fitness
- Create competitions between family members to close their rings first
- Use Night Shift to reduce blue light before going to sleep
- Set up a bedtime notification on yours or your kids iPhone
- Analyse sleep quality through sleep tracking
Stay safe on the go
- If your teen is driving, Do Not Disturb stops notifications on iPhones and Apple Watches until they arrive (not Emergency calls, though)
- Learn your kid’s location with the Find People app for Apple Watch
- Receive notifications when they get to school or swimming practise
Emergency Settings
- Use your iPhone and Apple Watch for quick access to Emergency SOS information
- Ask Siri on either device to make an emergency call
- Share your location with first responders using your iPhone
- Kids can communicate with parents even without a phone
- If your kids need some emergency funds, Apple Cash Family lets a parent use Apple Pay to load money and receive spending notifications
- See the purchases in the Wallet app
- Receive an Emergency SOS notification if your kids look at their Medical ID
- View their health information via the Health app
Maintain your Privacy and Security
- Your data is kept secure
- If using Family Sharing, your family only see what you allow regarding your activities on your own devices
- TouchID and Face ID keep your iPhones safe from prying eyes
- Advanced privacy settings give parents control and peace of mind
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