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Apple has launched a variety of tools dedicated to keeping younger users safe online, allowing parents to be more aware of their children's activities and ensuring that underaged users interact with age-appropriate content from the start.
Here is a simple guide to understanding Apple's newest safety features, primarily available with the latest software updates like iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe 26.
Making Accounts Age-Appropriate
One common issue is when a child ends up using an Apple Account meant for an adult (maybe due to inheriting an older device). Apple has just the fix for this.
Parents can now easily update and correct the age associated with their child’s account.
For kids under 13, correcting the age will prompt the parent to connect the account to their Family group. This automatically converts the account into a dedicated Child Account, applying the full suite of parental controls and default age settings immediately.
Enhanced Default Protections for Teenagers
Previously, certain safety settings required parents to manually switch them on for older children. Now, Apple is activating protections by default for users aged 13 to 17.
From the moment a teenager creates or converts an account (in iOS 26 and newer), they will have automatic age-appropriate protections enabled. What's included as default protections are web content filters (blocking explicit or inappropriate sites), Communication Safety (more on this below), and App Store restrictions that limit access only to apps meeting their specific age rating.
Communication Safety and Limits
Apple is introducing features that help manage who children talk to and protects them from viewing sensitive media.
Managing New Contacts
The Communication Limits tool, which can be found in Settings > Screen Time, has been improved to give parents tighter control over new contacts.
If a child wants to communicate with a new, unsaved phone number (via Phone, FaceTime, or Messages), they must now send a request to their parent. From there, parents can easily approve these requests with a single tap directly within the Messages app.
Protecting Against Sensitive Media
Communication Safety warns children when they are receiving or sending images or videos that contain nudity, and offers resources for them to get help.
In iOS 26 and later, this feature is now turned on by default for all users aged 13–17.
Communication Safety now expands its reach to blur out nudity detected in Shared Albums in the Photos app, and it will also intervene by blurring the image when nudity is detected during FaceTime video calls.
Granular Control on the App Store
Apple is refining the App Store experience to give parents and developers better tools for ensuring content is age-appropriate.
The App Store age ratings will be expanded to five categories, specifically adding ratings for 13+, 16+, and 18+, to distinguish an app's suitability for different age groups. On top of that, when content restrictions are set by a parent, apps with ratings that exceed those restrictions will no longer appear in the App Store's various tabs.
Ask to Buy is a feature that requires a children to request permission for downloads. Now, the feature offers parents more flexibility. A parent can now grant an exception for their child to download a specific app, even if its age rating slightly exceeds the general restriction set on the device. Permission can be revoked at any time via Screen Time, rendering the app unusable.
A new Declared Age Range API allows app developers to request the general age range of a child (with parental permission), helping the developer provide age-appropriate content without compromising the child's privacy.
Other Recent Improvements
Apple has also made key changes earlier this year to improve the foundation of their safety tools.
The initial process for setting up a Child Account is now much easier. Even if a parent can’t finish setting up all the parental controls immediately, child-appropriate default settings are activated, guaranteeing a baseline of safety when the child first uses the device (available in iOS 18.4).
Parents using Screen Time will now receive an alert whenever the Screen Time passcode is entered on their child's device (available in iOS 18.5). This provides a useful reminder to check on the settings and have a conversation with their child if necessary.
Apple has streamlined essential protections as default settings for underaged Apple users, with the hope that it may provide parents some peace of mind over their children's online safety.
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