Apple’s new parental controls can limit who kids can call, text and FaceTime and when
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For the full article visit: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/10/apples-new-parental-controls-can-limit-who-kids-can-call-text-and-facetime-and-when/
Apple's new parental controls can limit who kids can call, text and FaceTime and when
An update to Apple's iOS operating system, out today, will give parents a new set of tools to fight back against kids' iPhone addiction. With the release of iOS 13.3, parents will for the first time be able to set limits over who kids can talk to and text with during certain hours of the day. These limits will apply across phone calls, Messages, and FaceTime. Parents can also apply a different set of limitations on calls and messaging during the child's permitted screen time and their downtime hours.
In a new Communication Limits section of Apple's Screen Time in Settings, iPhone users can set limits based on their contacts. During allowed screen time, users can be contacted by everyone or only by people in their contacts, to prevent unknown contacts from reaching them. And during Downtime, they can opt to either be contacted by everyone or only by designated contacts.
And if this is set up under Screen Time's Parental Controls, parents get to choose who can contact their children and when and vice versa. During Downtime, parents can also designate which particular contacts the child can message and call - like only mom or dad, for example.
In practice, this means parents could stop the child from texting friends late at night or during the school day, by scheduling Downtime to run. (To clarify, Downtime doesn't necessarily mean "night time" - it's just any time you only want designated apps to be available, and only calls to get through.)
The feature also allows parents to manage the child's iCloud contacts remotely, which makes it easier for parents to share important numbers with their child. But it also puts parents in full control of the contact l