Managing parental controls
Learn the basics of accessing and configuring parental controls from System Preferences
The account you initially set up in your own name on your Mac is an administrator account. Admins can make system-wide changes, such as installing new software. You can use this account to manage the parental controls that are applied to other accounts. You can also set up managed user accounts, from which users can only access apps and content that you specify.
If your kids already have an account on the Mac, follow the steps in the guide opposite to convert their user account to a managed one. If setting up your Mac for the first time, or you and your children currently share a user account, follow the steps at apple.co/2q71m1i to create a managed account from scratch.
Mischief managed
Once a managed account has been set up, click Open Parental Controls (bottom right of Users & Groups). Later on, you can go to System Preferences > Parental Controls. Access to the parental controls pane requires an administrator account’s details to be entered.
In this pane you can work through the options in the various tabs to decide what level of access is right for your child. By default, the Apps tab is selected. The first option here disables all webcams – the Mac’s built-in FaceTime camera, and any external ones you connect. Like all other settings, if your child needs to enable this for a special purpose, you can do so from their account by entering your admin password on a one-time basis.
The second option determines whether or not your child can join multiplayer games that use Apple’s Game Center platform. Bear in mind that not all games you install will make use of this – they may use other technologies to facilitate multiplayer gaming – but you can further restrict individual apps if you want.
Put a tick next to the
third option, then click Manage to set up a pre-approved whitelist of contacts with whom your child is allowed to exchange emails. This restriction applies only to the Mail app itself, not to webmail services, but you can filter websites, too.
Enable ‘Limit Applications on this Mac’ to ensure your child can only open apps on a pre-approved list. This is on an opt-in basis, meaning you must specifically approve each app by ticking the box next to it. Use the search box to quickly find apps you want your child to be able to use. Click the Web tab to configure browser restrictions. By default, standard and administrator user accounts on a Mac are allowed unrestricted access to websites. Select ‘Try to limit access to adult websites’ and click Customise to specifically list which websites are allowed and which should be blocked. If you have very young children, you may prefer the third option which limits web access to a select list of child-friendly sites. You can explicitly add more sites using the ‘+’ button. These restrictions will apply no matter what browser your child is using.
In the Stores tab you can block your kids’ access to the iTunes Store, iTunes U and the iBooks Store. If this seems like overkill, use the other options, which enable you to filter music with explicit content or enforce the age limit on movies, TV shows and apps. You can even block books that are marked as having explicit content.
Set times
If you’re not so much worried about the content your child accesses as how long they spend in front of a computer, click the Time tab. You can limit the overall time a child can spend logged in. You can also prevent them from logging in at certain times, such as after 8pm on a school night.
Certain apps require access to data on your Mac such as Contacts and Calendar. Go to the Privacy tab to disallow access to anything, such as Twitter and Facebook, to which you think apps don’t need access. There is no harm unchecking all of these, as you can always re-enable them later.
While in your checkbox frenzy, head to the Other tab and tick all the options there, too. This will turn off Siri, prevent your child burning DVDs without your permission, and display a simplified version of the Finder which is much harder to hack.