Online Safety
What are parental controls?
Parental controls help you to block or filter upsetting or inappropriate content, and control purchases within apps. You can install parental control software on your child's and family's phones or tablets, games consoles, laptops and your home internet.
Parental controls can help you to:
- plan what time of day your child can go online and how long for
- create content filters to block apps that may have inappropriate content
- manage the content different family members can see.
How to Set up Parental Controls to Limit Age-Inappropriate Content | iPhone
A free online safety guide on parental controls.
The parental controls on smartphones allow you to block or restrict certain apps, features, content, downloads or purchases that might not be suitable for young people. Setting limitations around age ratings, Siri and web searches enables you to filter out age-inappropriate content and vastly reduce the likelihood of your children being exposed to potentially upsetting material and information.
In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as age-restricted content, explicit websites and inappropriate search results.
How to Set up Parental Controls on iPhone
How to Set up Parental Controls to Limit Age-Inappropriate Content | Android
How to Set up Parental Controls to Limit Age-Inappropriate Content | Android
Find out how to set up more controls here:
nspcc.keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls
What Parents Need to Know About Snapchat
A free online safety guide on Snapchat.
Snapchat is a photo- and video-sharing app which also allows users to chat with friends via text or audio. Users can share images and videos with specific friends, or through a ‘story’ (documenting the previous 24 hours) visible to their entire friend list. Snapchat usage rose during the pandemic, with many young people utilising it to connect with their peers. The app continues to develop features to engage an even larger audience and emulate current trends, rivalling platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as sexting, strangers and excessive use.
What parents need to know about snapchat
What Parents Need to Know About WhatsApp
A free online safety guide on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging service, with around two billion users exchanging texts, photos, videos and documents, and making voice and video calls. The app offers end-to-end encryption, meaning messages can only be read by the sender and the recipient(s). Not even WhatsApp can read them. Updates to its privacy policy in 2021 reportedly caused millions of users to leave the app. But the new policy was widely misinterpreted: it only related to WhatsApp’s business features, not to personal messages.
In the guide, you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as stranger danger, live location sharing and disappearing messages.
What parents need to know about whatsapp
