Minecraft parental controls guide

Step 1 – From the Xbox Family Settings homepage, select the child account you wish to manage.

Step 2 – Within the account’s settings, select Social.

Step 3 – Under the Social heading, you can go through the options to decide who can communicate with your child, what content is in messages and whether they can add friends without your permission.

Step 4 – Scroll down to Social Default Details, where you can decide whether others can friend or follow your child, and manage who can view their friends and followers list.

Step 5 – Under Messaging Default Details you can filter messages to hide offensive text and block media and web links from appearing in them.

Step 1 – Within your child’s account settings, select Content Restrictions.

Step 2 – In Content Restrictions you can apply age features to prevent your child from accessing content that is too mature for them.

Step 3 – You can also decide whose community creations they can see. It is recommended to set this to Friends Only.

Step 1 – From your child’s account settings, select Spending.

Step 2 – In the Spending settings you can view your child’s spending history and add money to their account balance to allow them to make purchases.

Step 3 – Enable the toggle next to Ask to buy to require your approval before your child makes a purchase.

Step 1 – From your child’s profile overview, select Screen Time.

Step 2 – Within Screen Time, you can set custom screen time schedules. You can edit how long your child plays, during which time range, on each day.

Step 1 – While playing, access the options menu and select the player you wish to action.

Step 2 – Choose the relevant action and follow the in-game instructions.

Step 1 – While playing, pause the game and click on the player’s username.

Step 2 – Customise the permissions. You can limit the actions they can take like attacking others.

Step 1 – From the above website or ones like it, find the server address for the one you would like to access. One example is Towncraft’s address, which is play.towncraft.us. Make note of the address you choose.

Step 2 – In Minecraft, from the main menu, select Multiplayer, read the message and Proceed.

Step 3 – The next screen will show all the servers your child has joined. You can delete any that are inappropriate and add new ones that you approve. Select Add Server.

Step 4 – Enter the Server Address in the bottom field and select Done. Select the new server and then choose Join Server. Your child can start playing within the server you’ve added.

Step 1 – From Minecraft’s main menu, select Options… and then Chat Settings…

Step 2 – Switch Chat to Commands Only or Hidden to protect your child from unexpected language or from oversharing.

Step 3 – Set Web Links and Prompt on Links to Off. This will mean they can’t receive links in-chat that could lead to scams like phishing.

Step 4 – Customise appearance of the text, colours and more to help support your child’s needs.

Step 1 – From Minecraft’s main menu, select Minecraft Realms. Then, select Buy a realm!

Step 2 – In your device account, you will see the purchase options for the realm. You can choose a one-off purchase or a subscription. You may want to work with the parents of your child’s friends to spread the cost among each other for a collaborative way to keep your children safe on Minecraft.