Parental Controls on Apple TV – Create Account for Kids

Apple TV is a household device, and therefore, all people who live in the same house have access to it, even the smallest ones. For this reason, Parental Control within this Apple device is very important as it provides older adults with the possibility of controlling what, when and how the little ones in the house consume. In this post we want to talk to you about this, and how you can apply it on your Apple TV.

Parental Control and Restrictions is it the same?

When talking about Parental Control and restrictions we talk about the same thing, since Parental Control as such does not exist within the Apple TV. Therefore, from now on we will talk about restrictions within the Apple TV that will be what you can use whenever you want to control access to certain contents of the smallest of the house. Of course, before starting with it, we recommend that you check the version of tvOS that you have installed on your Apple TV and, if it is not the latest, update before carrying out the restrictions configuration.

What can be controlled?

Before configuring the restrictions, it is very important on what these restrictions can be applied, that is, what contents, accesses or functions you will be able to control with the options that Apple TV offers you. In this way you can configure your device so that only users who have authorization can view, download or play content within the Apple TV itself, as well as make searches or purchases. Below we will explain what you can apply these restrictions on.

Buying movies, TV shows and apps.
In-app purchases.
Playback of iTunes movies or TV shows based on content rating.
Starting applications based on their age rating.
Games with content classified as explicit.
Block downloads or playback of items from search results for content identified as explicit.
Multiplayer games in Game Center.
Adding friends in Game Center.
Modifying AirPlay and Location settings.

Something you have to know is that these restrictions cannot be applied to third-party apps , in this case what you have to do is define these restrictions individually for each of the applications, this can be done from the application itself or from the Apps area of Settings.

Activate restrictions

To make use of the restrictions on the Apple TV, what you have to do is activate them, and for this you just have to follow the steps that we are going to indicate below and in a few seconds you will be able to make use of this function that Apple grants to Apple TV users.

In the main menu, go to Settings
Click General and then Restrictions.
Select Restrictions to activate the option.
When prompted, create a four-digit code.
Re-enter the four digits to confirm the code you previously entered and select OK.

When making use of this function that allows you to establish restrictions, there is a differentiation between the different Apple TV models, on the one hand we have the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD and on the other the third-generation Apple TV. Because the process is different in these two cases, below you have how you can configure the restrictions in each of the cases that we have discussed.

Set restrictions on Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD

In order to configure the restrictions on both Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, what you have to do is go to Settings, click General and then Restrictions . Once here you have different options that you can carry out. The first one is to Allow, in this case this is the option that you have to select when you do not want to apply any restriction on access to applications or functions, or even protect them with a password. Otherwise, you have to make use of the Restrict function, which allows you to select if you want a four-digit code to be requested to make purchases, rentals or use applications.

We will now talk about the Block option , which, as its name suggests, will allow you to block or not, content or functions of the device itself. You can use the Show option when you do not want to restrict a specific application or function, that is, if you have decided to use restrictions in many functions or applications but you do not want them to be carried out in some specific ones, you can indicate it with the Show option. Finally, you have the Hide option, with which you can select the applications or functions that you want to hide directly.

This is what you can restrict

Here is a list of what you can restrict on Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD.

In-app purchases or rentals from the iTunes Store.
Music and podcasts.
Movies, TV shows and apps.
Explicit language in Siri.
Multiplayer games and screen recording.
AirPlay configuration, Conference room screen, Location, Background update, Tv Provider and Remote app link.

Set restrictions on third-generation Apple TV

In the same way that we have explained what are the settings that you can configure to establish restrictions on the Apple TV 4K and HD, we are now going to the turn of the third generation Apple TV. In this case, the options are somewhat scarcer, but in the same way they are accessible if you go to Settings, click on General and select Restrictions.

We start with the Hide option, that is, the possibility of hiding applications in the main menu so that they are not visible to users. Another option that you can configure is the Ask, if you want a four-digit code to be requested for purchases, rentals or the use of applications, you have to activate this option. Finally, we go with the option to Show or Allow, which will be chosen if what you want is not to apply any type of restriction.

What can you apply these restrictions on?

In the same way that occurs with the configuration of the restrictions, there is also variation on what these restrictions can be applied, below is the list on which the restrictions described above can be applied.