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Apple’s Family Sharing

Step-by-step guide

Family Sharing makes it easy for you to manage parental controls for your child’s Apple devices. See how to set it up to keep your child safer on their device.
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How to set Family Sharing for Apple parental controls

You will need your own iOS device to set up Family Sharing for your family and set parental controls on your child’s device. If you have an Android device, use monitoring apps to set parental controls on your child’s Apple device.

Both you and your child will also need Apple IDs. In this guide, you’ll learn how you can create an account for your child as well through Family Sharing.

How to set up Family Sharing

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How to set up Family Sharing

To set up Family Sharing, both you and your child(ren) must have Apple devices.

To set up a family:

Step 1 – Go to the Settings on your (parent) iOS device and select Family.

Screenshot of iPhone settings menu.

Step 2 – Select Continue and then select either Invite Others (if your child already has an Apple ID) or Create Child Account (if you need to create an Apple ID for your child).

Screenshot of Family Sharing set up screen on iPhone.

Step 3 – Once you’ve added members to your Family, select Done.

Screenshot of the Family Sharing add family screen with 'Done' highlighted.

How to create a child account

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How to create a child account

When setting up Family Sharing, you will have the option to create a new account for your child. This is only for children under the age of 13.

If your child is 13 or over, you can create a normal account for them here, which you can then add to your Family.

To create an Apple child account:

Step 1 – Go to your Family and select Create Child Account.

Screenshot of Family Sharing screen to create a child account.

Step 2 – Enter your child’s birthdate and select Verify You’re An Adult and follow the instructions for verification. You will need a credit card for this, though you won’t be charged.

Screenshot of child account birthdate screen in Family Sharing.

Step 3Read through the documents that you see before the ID creation page then create an ID/email address for your child.

You may want to consider whether your child will use this email as they grow. If so, consider an email that is appropriate for when they’re older.

Select Continue > Create Email Address.

Screenshot of Apple ID creation page for children in Family Sharing.

Step 4 – You’ll be prompted to choose age and content limits. Follow the prompts to complete set up. You can edit these limits later. See the iPhone and iPad parental controls guide here to help you.

Screenshot of the Screen Time screen during child account set up on Family Sharing.

Step 5 – Set a 4-digit PIN for the Parental Controls Lock.

This should be something your child cannot guess and should be kept private from them. You will need this PIN to edit parental controls for your child’s device.

Screenshot of Parental Controls Lock set up screen.

How to set Family Sharing for Apple parental controls