It’s no secret that streaming services have become the primary source of entertainment for many families. With 99% of households subscribing to one streaming platform or more, it’s important to consider how that platform affects the household itself. The easy access to content that these services provide makes setting up parental controls and safe streaming features necessary for protecting children from material that isn’t suitable for their age.
However, with so many platforms, the process can be confusing. Parents need to understand how these controls work and implement them effectively across each subscription to create a safe viewing environment for their families. Naturally, we at StreamSafley are happy to help!
Why Set Up Parental Controls?
Setting up parental controls on streaming platforms helps reinforce the boundaries and behaviors that are important to you as a parent. These tools give you the ability to monitor and regulate what your children watch, ensuring the content is family-friendly. Not only that, parental controls can help with moderation and establish healthier habits when it comes to screen time. Protecting your family from inappropriate content is particularly important given the risks of unrestricted streaming.
Protecting Children from Inappropriate Content
Streaming services offer gigantic libraries of content, which can be good and bad. Naturally, it’s great to have such a wide selection of content at your fingertips. On the other hand, however, it may not all be suitable for young viewers or aligned with the values you as a parent work hard to instill.
Without proper controls, children might accidentally access content intended for adults. Even some children’s content may be too violent or rude for your comfort levels. Watching inappropriate content can have adverse effects on children’s minds, including setting unrealistic body standards and desensitizing them to violence. Parental controls act as a protective barrier, limiting access to age-appropriate content only.
Managing Screen Time
Aside from filtering content, parental controls help regulate the amount of time children spend watching shows and movies. Streaming can distract from important activities like homework, physical exercise, and family interactions. What’s worse, excessive screen time has been linked to obesity, sleep disorders, and depression. Fortunately, many streaming platforms now include features that allow parents to set viewing time limits and schedule viewing windows.
Encouraging Responsible Viewing Habits
The first lesson for your child to learn with parental controls is that not all available content is worth accessing. However, there are a lot more great takeaways. Implementing parental controls is the perfect entry point to the larger conversation about online security. It can help you introduce healthy viewing habits like sticking to trusted streaming services and password protection.
When communicated from a point of care and concern, parental controls become an educational tool rather than just a restriction. It’s a well of learning opportunities that you can come back to again and again.
Providing a Safe Online Experience
Not all streaming sites are made equal: Some are legitimate and some are pirated. Setting the other numerous risks aside, as a parent, it’s important to remember that pirated content has no parental controls. Unauthorized streaming platforms contain everything from inappropriate advertisements to potential privacy concerns, with no way of filtering them for your child.
Parental controls from legal streaming services add an essential layer of protection to your family’s streaming experience. Create a safe environment where your children can explore content without running into unwanted material.
How To Set Up Parental Controls on Popular Streaming Services
Each streaming platform is slightly different when it comes to parental control features. Understanding how to configure these settings on different services will help you maintain consistent protection across all your family’s viewing platforms.
Netflix
Netflix provides parental control through specified Kids’ profiles. Netflix also offers ways to assign maturity settings and block content as well as add PINs to adult accounts.
Set Up a Kids’ Profile
- Sign in to your Netflix account.
- Navigate to the Manage Profile page.
- On a TV, select, Add Profile.
- On a phone or tablet, tap the bottom-right corner inside the Netflix App, where it says My Netflix. Select your profile, then “Manage Profiles.”
- Online, open the Manage Profiles page.
- Select “Add Profile.”
- Assign a name to the profile, then select “Kids.”
- Hit “Continue.” The new profile should show up on your account.
For troubleshooting Kids’ profiles, go to Netflix’s Help Center.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video allows you to set up content restrictions and establish PINs that allow you to bypass them, essentially making some content and transactions off-limits to other users, like your children.
Set Up Restrictions
- Go to your profile. Tap the Settings icon.
- Select “Parental Controls” then “Viewing Restrictions.”
- Select an age restriction and the devices you want them to apply to.
- Click save.
Set Up a PIN
- Go to your profile. Tap the Settings icon.
- Select “Parental Controls” then “Prime Video PIN.”
- Enter your Amazon account password. Then tap “Change.”
- Enter a PIN, then tap “Save.”
- Click save.
For device-specific instructions, visit Amazon’s Parental Control page.
Disney+
Disney+ allows you to set content ratings, create PINs, or activate Junior Mode, the platform’s built-in family-friendly version.
Set Content Ratings
- Go to your profiles and click “Edit Profiles.”
- Select the profile you’d like to edit.
- Click “Parental Controls” and select “Content Rating.”
- Enter your password.
- Select the rating you’d like to set and click “Save.”
Create a PIN
- Go to your profiles and click “Edit Profiles.”
- Select your profile.
- Click “Parental Controls,” and select “Profile PIN.”
- Enter your password and click “Continue.”
- Enter, change, or remove your PIN, and then select “Save.”
Enable Junior Mode
- Go to your profile and select “Add Profile”
- Select a character icon for your profile
- Enter a profile name
- Under “Parental Controls,” toggle the Junior Mode setting to “On.”
- Select Save
For more information, visit Disney+’s Parental Control page.
Hulu
When you add or edit a profile on Hulu, you can designate it as a kids’ profile. You can also set up an account PIN to make sure your profile stays secure.
Set an Account PIN
- Go to Hulu.com and hover over your Profile icon. Select “Manage Profiles.”
- Toggle or select your desired action:
- “Turn on PIN Protection” to enable.
- “Turn off PIN Protection” to disable.
- “Manage PIN” to change PIN.
- Enter your Hulu password.
- If you’re changing your PIN, enter your new PIN and click “Save Changes.”
Adding and editing a profile can look different depending on what device you’re on. Head over to Hulu’s Help Center to see a full breakdown.
YouTube
YouTube offers a family-friendly version of the app called YouTube Kids, with various age ranges you can select from. For older kids and teenagers, you can choose to supervise their YouTube account by linking their account to yours. As with YouTube Kids, you’ll be able to choose the age rating most suitable for your child.
Create a YouTube Kids Account or Supervised YouTube Account
- Go to accounts.google.com/signup.
- Follow the instructions to create one account for yourself and one for your child, if you both don’t have one already.
- Sign into your own account and opt for Parental Consent on your child’s account.
- Sign into YouTube using your Google account.
- Click your channel icon. Tap “Settings,” then “Parental Settings,” and select your child’s account.
- Choose between “YouTube Kids” and “YouTube Parent Supervised.”
- If you want a supervised account, you’ll see options for “Explore, “Explore More,” or “Most of YouTube.” Select one depending on your child’s age and your preferences.
For more information, go to Google’s Help Center. Google also allows for further customization of YouTube through the app FamilyLink.
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ easily lets you set age ratings on accounts. It’s a simple way to ensure that movies and TV shows are filtered properly according to your child’s age.
Set Up Apple TV+ Age Ratings Online
- Go to tv.apple.com and sign in to the account that you want to restrict.
- Click the account icon in the upper-right corner, then click “Settings.”
- Under “Parental Controls” click the slider to turn on “Content Restrictions.”
- You’ll be prompted to create a four-digit passcode.
- Under “TV Shows and Movies,” choose the age rating that you prefer.
For the exact steps on different Apple devices, go to AppleTV+’s Support page.
Twitch
Twitch is a more mature platform, and they do not allow users under 13 years of age. Users between the ages of 13 and 18 must be supervised by an adult. If your child is under the age of 13 and has created an account, you can contact privacy@twitch.tv to have the account closed.
Set Up Twitch Parental Controls
- Go to your child’s account settings
- Select “Restrict Content”
- Use Content Classification Labels to block content you don’t want your shield to see.
- Set a daily viewing limit or restrict access to certain hours of the day.
Twitch also offers chat filters to block certain language across all chats. Ultimately, Twitch is not for young users, and some streams can be viewed without an account, so parents need to be especially cautious.
General Tips for Effective Use of Parental Controls
Successfully implementing parental controls requires ongoing attention and adjustment. Your child is growing, and the limits you put on their media consumption — and more importantly, how you convey them — will need to change over time. Consider these tips straight from the StreamSafely team:
- Review and update settings regularly, especially as your children grow.
- Maintain open, honest communication about the controls and why they are in place.
- Monitor your child’s viewing habits and discuss content choices.
- Combine controls with other online safety practices.
- Stay informed about new features to your preferred streaming platform and updates.
- Create individual profiles for different family members and age groups.
- Consider peak viewing times when setting limits.
- Establish clear consequences for if and when your child attempts to get around your controls.
- Keep all your PINs and passwords private.
- Regularly check for new content restrictions.
How StreamSafely Can Help You Stream Responsibly
StreamSafely makes it our mission to provide resources and guidance for families navigating streaming and online security. We offer updated information about content ratings, platform features, and the risks of pirated content so that you can keep your family safe and have the best viewing experience possible.
Remember that parental controls work best as part of a broader approach to media education. By implementing these tools thoughtfully and maintaining open communication with your children, you can create positive streaming habits that support their development while keeping them safe from inappropriate content.
