Apple is giving parents more tools to manage how their children use iPhones, iPads and Macs, but Apple TV still offers a more limited set of parental controls.
Apple on Tuesday released a new guide called “Building Healthy Digital Habits: A Guide for Families,” created with the American Academy of Pediatrics. The guide is designed to help families manage screen time while making room for sleep, physical activity, schoolwork and time with friends and family.
It covers six areas, including talking to children about technology, setting up a Child Account, controlling access to apps and websites, creating schedules, managing communications and adjusting those rules as children get older.
Apple has also expanded Screen Time with new tools for parents. Its latest software lets parents set Time Allowances for categories such as Entertainment, Games and Social Media, while a redesigned Screen Time experience makes it easier to control app and web access.
Those new parental control features are available with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27. Apple does not list tvOS 27 as part of that rollout.
Apple TV 4K does have its own parental controls, but they are more limited. Parents can turn on Restrictions using a four-digit passcode and limit purchases, rentals and access to apps, movies, TV shows, music and podcasts based on ratings or explicit content.
Those controls are not the same as the Screen Time system available on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Apple TV does not offer the same system-wide Time Allowances or Screen Time schedules for managing how long children can use different types of apps.
Apple says restrictions on Apple TV “may not apply to apps you download from the App Store.” Parents may therefore need to adjust controls separately inside individual apps or through their settings. That’s where the pain point is as not all apps have the same parental controls.
That leaves Apple TV without the same system-wide tools Apple now offers on iPhone, iPad and Mac for managing how long children spend using different categories of apps. For a guide focused on healthier digital habits across Apple’s ecosystem, tvOS remains a notable gap.
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