Apple swapped App Limits for category-based Time Allowances and added website approvals, contact approvals and a one-tap pause. Here is how to set it all up.
Apple's iOS 27 overhauled parental controls with help from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The biggest change: App Limits are gone, replaced by Time Allowances, which split a child's daily screen time across categories like games, social media and entertainment, including ones you create.
Communication Safety now blurs graphic violence and gore, not just nudity, and the Screen Time dashboard shows weekly summaries. The catch is that every device in your Family Sharing group must run the version 27 software, or the new system will not switch on. To start, open Settings, then Family, on your iPhone and tap your child's name.
Your child’s iPhone no longer counts screen time app by app. With iOS 27, Apple scrapped App Limits and replaced them with Time Allowances, a single daily budget that you split between games, social media, entertainment or categories you invent yourself.
That is a big change for any parent who has spent an evening setting a separate limit on every single app. iOS 27 also lets you approve websites and new contacts straight from Messages, pause a child’s device with one tap, and blur violent images. There is one catch that trips up many families, though, and it has nothing to do with your child’s phone. More on that below.
Time Allowances give each child an overall daily limit, and you decide how it is shared out. If your kid gets three hours a day, you might allow an hour of games, a smaller slice for social media and the rest for videos and music.
You can build your own categories, drag apps between them and give each category one allowance, instead of juggling dozens of individual app limits. When you approve a new app through Ask to Buy, you can drop it into a category and give it an allowance on the spot. Websites linked to an app can automatically share that app’s allowance, so a child cannot dodge a game limit by opening the browser version.
Schedules are more flexible too. You can set different rules for weekdays and weekends, and choose which apps are available at different times of day. Apple says its suggested allowances are based on a child’s age and on expert research.
Ask to Browse. When your child tries to open a website that is not on the approved list in Safari, they can send you a request. It lands in Messages, and you approve or deny it there. This works on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and it mirrors Ask to Buy, which already makes kids get permission before downloading apps or making in-app purchases.
Ask to Add Contacts. Kids must get your OK before they can call or text a new phone number.
Pause. One tap locks a child’s device instantly, handy at dinner or during homework. You can also open access back up for a set period, or switch quickly between schedules.
Stronger Communication Safety. This feature already flagged nudity in Messages, AirDrop and FaceTime. It now also detects and blurs gore and graphic violence in shared photos and videos, showing a warning and links to help.
A redesigned Screen Time dashboard. You get weekly summaries and your child’s most-used apps at a glance. Apple says the new design also syncs settings faster across family devices.
Apple built the overhaul with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the main professional body for US children’s doctors. The two produced a companion guide, Building Healthy Digital Habits, which helps parents weigh screen use against sleep, exercise, schoolwork and family time.
Apple is also adapting the AAP’s Family Media Plan, a template families use to agree on screen rules, into guidance that fits its own devices. The company suggests revisiting your settings with the AAP’s age-group advice as your children get older.
Here is the part that catches families out. The new Screen Time system does not switch on just because your child’s iPhone updated. Every device in your Family Sharing group, including your own iPhone, any iPad, Mac, Apple Watch or Apple TV, has to be running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27 or tvOS 27 first.
Devices that cannot update stay on the older iOS 26-style controls. So if a grandparent’s old iPad or a hand-me-down Mac is in your family group, you may find the new features missing until that device is updated or removed from the group.
The new setup is less cluttered. Instead of loading every default Apple app onto a young child’s home screen, you can start with a few essentials, pick Apple’s recommended starter set, or hand-pick each app.
Defaults depend on age. For kids under 13, Ask to Browse, Limit Adult Websites and contact approvals are on automatically. Communication Safety is on for everyone under 18. Once a child turns 13, Ask to Browse and contact approvals no longer switch on by themselves, so turning them on becomes your call.
For most parents, the big win is less admin. A handful of category limits is easier to manage, and easier to explain to a child, than a long list of app timers. Approving websites and contacts in Messages also means fewer “can I have this?” arguments that end with you grabbing their phone.
Just remember these are tools, not a babysitter. Talk to your kids about why the limits exist, and check the dashboard every few weeks so the rules keep up with their age.
Yes. Time Allowances replace App Limits, letting you set limits by category instead of by individual app.
Every device in your Family Sharing group must run the version 27 software. One older device can hold the new features back.
Yes. You need a Family Sharing group and a Child Account for each child.
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