In these modern times, you cannot hide everything from your children, but at least, you can guarantee their online safety. In this post, I will be showing you how to set up parental controls on iPad so as to limit what they have access to from the internet. It will be a wrong idea not to give your children access to technology, but there is also nothing wrong to set up parental controls.

You can also check out how to set up parental controls on iPhone in case you miss one of the earlier post I published.

If you want to learn how to set up parental controls on iPad, then you are on the right place. Read this article to the end to find how you can easily do that. You will also discover some other useful tips and tricks. Parental controls for iPads can keep your children away from inappropriate content and also block in-app purchases.

How to Set Up Parental Controls on iPad (Older and Latest iOS)

How to Set up Parental Controls on iPad (iOS and above)

Apple knows how important parental controls are, therefore, they have customized them thoroughly to assist parents. Though your children may not love these restrictions, they are for their own good.

Parental control for iPad can be found under the Screen Time tab. below are the steps to set them up.

Open the “Settings” app from the Home screen
Select “Screen Time”
You can set a passcode with the Use Screen Time Passcode. Enter a four-digit passcode and confirm it. We highly suggest enabling this option for extra control, even though it is not necessary
Then choose “Content and Privacy Restrictions”
When prompted, enter the passcode you created just now. Enable the Content and Privacy Restrictions by tapping the slider. It will turn blue when on, otherwise it is gray.

This is how you can enable base parental controls on the iPad, however, you need to customize them. While you are on the same page (i.e Content and Privacy Restrictions) you can customize the parental controls.

Also read: iPhone Volume Settings – How to Control Volumes on iPhone or iPad

Content and Privacy Restrictions

There are three major parental control options on the Content and Privacy Restrictions page. They are:

iTunes and App Store Purchases: a self-explanatory option. It blocks anyone who does not know the passcode from making purchases, deleting, or installing apps on the iPad.
Allowed App: this option is also easy to understand. You can limit certain apps from appearing on the Home screen of the iPad as if they didn’t exist.
Content Restrictions: this option is pretty neat. It allows you to block certain content from the iPad. You can block explicit websites, R-rated movies, music, etc.

The Privacy section right below has many other great customization options. You can disable the use of Bluetooth, Microphone, Photos, Location Sharing, etc.

Below the Privacy tab, you can find the “Allow Changes” tab. Here you can prevent your child from accessing the settings, changing the Apple credentials, and, most importantly, changing the passcode.

How to Set up Parental Controls on iPad (iOS 11 and Below)

Setting up parental controls on iPads with iOS 11 or older iOS operating systems is a little bit different. Instead of going to the “Screen Time” menu, you need to use the “Restrictions” menu. Just follow the steps below to enable parental controls on iPads with an older operating system. :

Go to “Settings”, followed by “General”, and finally, “Restrictions”.
Select “Choose Enable Restrictions” and confirm with the four-digit passcode.
All the parental controls are bundled together on the Restrictions page. Move the slider on each option to enable or disable it.

The main parental control options here include in-app purchases, privacy settings, content restrictions, and app blocking. Carefully consider all of these options, and which ones do you want to enable.

There is no right or wrong way about this. You can choose all the parental controls that you deem fit for your child, or even elderly family member. If you have a young child, say between three and eight years old, you probably want most of the controls to stay on.

You should also set some ground rules and make sure your child is not using the iPad the whole day. Technology is very addictive these days.

Conclusion

As a parent, you are the one who bought these iPads for your children, and you are the same person who will decide how and when they use it. They might even get angry when you first introduce parental controls. This post has shown you all you need to know on how to set up parental controls on iPad.