How to Set Up a Phone for a Child: iPhone and Android

You can set up a phone for a child with the parental controls already built into iPhone and Android. On an iPhone, that means Screen Time through Family Sharing. On Android, it means Google Family Link or, on Android 17, a parental controls PIN on the phone itself.

These controls suit a regular smartphone, new or handed down, that your child will use for calls, texts, maps, and a few apps. They cost nothing, but they hold only while you keep the passcode.

Built-in controls are the lightest way to pause a child’s phone. Before any phone, a landline for kids handles calls from home. If the controls stop holding, a managed kids phone or a dumbphone is the next step.

Before you start: one account and one passcode

Most controls follow your child’s own account: a Child Account in Family Sharing on an iPhone, or a supervised Google Account on Android. Android 17’s on-device controls are the exception, because they sit on the phone behind a PIN. Do not share your own account with your child.

A child under 13 needs a Child Account on an iPhone, and a teen can have one up to 18. On Android, you create the account for a child under 13, and a child 13 or older creates their own for you to supervise.

Clear a hand-me-down phone first. On an iPhone, back it up, sign out of your Apple Account, and remove your personal information. On Android, remove every account on it and delete anything your child should not see.

Then pick one code your child will not guess, with no birthdays, phone numbers, or patterns like 1234. Screen Time takes four digits, and the Android 17 PIN takes at least four.

How to set up an iPhone for a child

Start on your own iPhone, with you as the organizer or a parent in a Family Sharing group.

1. Open Settings, tap Family, then the Add Member button.
2. Tap Create Child Account, then Continue.
3. Enter your child’s name and real birthday, because the default controls follow your child’s age.
4. Pick an account address: your child’s email, the suggested @icloud.com address, or a Game Center nickname.

Then turn on the new iPhone and hold your own iPhone over its Quick Start screen, which needs your iPhone on iOS 16 or later with Bluetooth on. Choose your child, follow the prompts, and pick the apps your child starts with. Only children under 13 show on that screen.

Without a second Apple device, tap Set Up Without Another Device. We would start with a few essential apps, since your child can ask for more later.

Once the phone runs, save yourself in your child’s contacts, because requests for apps and websites need a parent there to reach you.

Screen Time controls for a child on iOS 27

iOS 27 moved the parental controls to Settings, then Family, then your child’s name. To get them, every device in your Family Sharing group has to run version 27. Then tap Get Started under Settings, Family, and a short setup walks through content, contacts, hours, Time Allowances, and a four-digit passcode.

Three names changed. Downtime is now part of the Screen Time Schedule, App Limits became Time Allowances, and the contact controls sit under Allowed Contacts.

Apps and websites

Every app and website control sits under your child’s name, then Apps & Websites.

• Ask to Buy: tap Restrictions, then Ask to Buy, and turn on Require Purchase Approval. If you do not approve a request within 24 hours, your child has to ask again.
• One app: pick it and tap Block App. It stays installed but dims on the Home Screen.
• New installs: tap App Store, then Installing Apps, and choose Blocked.
• Websites: tap Restrictions, then Filtering under Websites, and choose Approved Websites Only or Limit Adult Websites.

For a child under 13, Ask to Buy and Ask to Browse are on by default, and Approved Websites Only is what turns on Ask to Browse. We would keep Ask to Buy and Approved Websites Only on for a first phone, then loosen one setting at a time.

Contacts, hours, and Always Allowed

Allowed Contacts decides who your child can reach in Phone, Messages, and FaceTime. Choose Contacts Only, Contacts & Groups with at Least One Contact, or Everyone. It needs Contacts turned on in iCloud on your child’s phone.

Turn on Manage Contacts to edit your child’s contacts from your phone, and your child accepts that request on their device. Leave Allow Contact Editing off, so your child asks you before adding anyone.

Contact management is on by default up to age 13, and a message from someone new stays hidden until a parent approves.

Screen Time Schedule splits each day into windows such as Before School, School, and After School, and you choose which app categories each one allows. Always Allowed keeps chosen apps and people available through any schedule or allowance. Phone, Messages, FaceTime, and Maps start there, and we would keep them, so your child can reach you.

If a family device cannot run iOS 27

Settings, Family, View Family Devices, then Legacy Devices shows which device cannot update. Until every device updates, the old controls sit under Settings, Screen Time, then your child’s name.

Keep Messages in Always Allowed there, or your child may not be able to text anyone during downtime, including emergency contacts. For the iOS 26 Downtime and App Limits steps, see how to check and limit screen time on iPhone and Android.

How to set up an Android phone for a child with Family Link

Family Link supervises a child’s phone with Android 6.0 or later, from a parent app on Android or on an iPhone with iOS 16 or later. It cannot supervise a child’s iPhone, so it fits a family where the child has Android.

For a child under 13, follow the new phone’s setup until it asks you to sign in. Tap Create account, or More options, then “For my child”, and enter your child’s details. Then sign in with your own Google Account to give consent.

A child 13 or older creates their own account, and you add supervision under Settings, Google, All services, Parental controls. Your child has to agree. On a Galaxy, the same setup starts under Settings, Digital Wellbeing and parental controls, then Parental controls.

Apps, time limits, and contacts

Everything below sits in the Family Link app on your phone:

• App approvals: tap Controls, then Google Play, then Require approval for, and choose All content, so free apps need your approval too. Age ratings sit on the same screen.
• One app: tap Screen time, then Time limits, then App limits, and set the app to Blocked. The block takes effect in about 5 minutes once the phone is online.
• Daily limit: under Screen time, then Time limits, set a time for each day. Each Android device your child uses gets the full limit.
• Downtime and School time: under Screen time, then Schedules. During Downtime, texts work only if the messages app has unlimited time, so give it that.
• Contacts: on Android 14 or later, tap Controls, then Contacts, calls & text. Add yourself and up to 100 contacts, then choose “Only contacts I add” under Allowed calls & texts.

A locked phone still answers calls and can dial Emergency if it has a calling plan.

The contact limit covers ordinary calls and texts in Google Messages and Google’s Phone app. WhatsApp, Google Chat, and other chat apps can still reach any number, so block those apps or leave them off.

We would set approvals to All content before anything else, because a rating filter alone does not hide an app from search results or a direct link.

Android 17 parental controls without Family Link

On Android 17 or later, parental controls run on the phone itself, with no Family Link account. Open Settings, tap Parental controls, then Set up Parental controls PIN, and enter at least four digits. Add a recovery account in the same step, because without one, a forgotten PIN means a factory reset.

From the Parental controls screen, you can then set:

• Daily limit and Downtime: the phone locks when the day’s time runs out or during the hours you set. Adding time takes the PIN.
• App limits: a daily time for one app, or Allow app turned off to block it.
• Web content filters: Filter explicit search results, and Block explicit sites, which works in Chrome, the Google app, and WebView.
• App store filters: age limits for new installs from Google Play, the maker’s store, and the carrier’s store.

These controls have no location sharing, no School Time, and no purchase approvals, and every change happens on the child’s phone. They cannot turn on while the phone has a work profile or a private space. Whether calls ring through the lock screen is not documented, so test a call before you rely on it.

If your child goes places alone, we would pick Family Link, because only it shares a location.

How to turn off the browser and app store on a child’s phone

Closing the browser and the app store does more than any time limit, because it stops new apps and sites before they reach the phone.

On an iPhone, open your child’s Apps & Websites. Set Installing Apps to Blocked and Filtering to Approved Websites Only, then approve only the sites you want, such as a school site. Under Content & Privacy Restrictions, then Content Restrictions, keep the app age rating below 16+, because browsers with unrestricted web access rate at least 16+.

On Android, open Family Link, tap Controls, then Google Chrome and Web, and choose Only allow approved sites. Chrome also turns off Incognito mode for a supervised child, and other browsers fall under your app approvals like any other app.

Whether Safari has its own off switch on iOS 27, or whether Family Link can block Chrome or the Play Store, is not documented. If the browser has to go entirely, a phone that never had one is simpler. The best phones without internet access compares phones with no browser and no app store.

How to share your child’s location

On an iPhone, the organizer turns on sharing under Settings, Family, Location Sharing, and only parents and guardians in the family group see a child’s location. You can get a notification when it changes, such as your child leaving school during school hours.

To keep it on, block changes to location sharing and Location Services under your child’s Content & Privacy Restrictions.

On Android, open Family Link, tap Location, then Set up location, and turn it on. Under Family places, save home or school and turn on Arrives and Leaves alerts, which need Location Accuracy on your child’s phone.

Family Link shows no location while the phone is off, offline, or unused for a while. Android 17’s on-device controls have no location sharing at all.

What your child can undo, and what the controls miss

Each control has gaps. Some close with one more setting, and some need a different phone.

• iPhone passcode: your child sees a prompt for any Screen Time change. Last used, under Manage Screen Time, shows when someone last entered the code.
• iPhone family group: a child under 13 cannot leave Family Sharing, and a teen cannot leave while Screen Time is on.
• Ask to Buy: you get no request when your child redownloads a past purchase, installs an update, or redeems a code.
• Android extra profiles: a second user profile without your child’s account escapes Family Link. Turn off Add/Remove user under Controls, then Signed-in devices.
• Android 17 PIN: deleting it turns every on-device control off at once, so keep it from your child.

When built-in controls are not enough

Built-in controls leave the app store and browser one passcode away. If a teen keeps finding the gaps, change the phone instead of the settings.

A managed phone builds the controls into the system, so your child cannot delete them. Safe phones for kids compares them, from starter plans with no app store to Google Play behind a parent. Most need the maker’s service or a monthly software fee.

If calls, texts, and an SOS key are enough, dumbphones for kids have no open app store and need no dashboard. You give up the parent app, so there is no location or contact control from your phone.

Common questions

Can my child turn off Family Link at 13?

No. At 13, your child can update the account, but stopping supervision needs your approval until 18, and you both get a notification. In some countries, the age is higher than 13. You can end supervision yourself at any time after 13.

Can I set up my child’s iPhone from an Android phone?

Not with Family Link, because it cannot supervise an iPhone. Set Screen Time and its passcode on your child’s iPhone itself instead. Approving Ask to Buy requests takes an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.

Why don’t I see the new parental controls on iOS 27?

Every device in your Family Sharing group has to run version 27 first. If the device holding you back is an old one you no longer use, remove it from your Apple Account. A device that cannot update keeps the old Screen Time menus.

Final thoughts

Start with the account and the passcode, because every other control depends on them. Then close the app store and the browser, set the hours, and keep Phone and Messages always available.

Check the settings again after each system update, since iOS 27 and Android 17 both moved menus this year. If you keep patching gaps, the next step is a different phone, not another setting.