Control and Safety with the Apple Family Set Up

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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