How to Set Up Safari Parental Controls: Guide for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

To set up Safari parental controls, use the Family Sharing and Screen Time feature. Thus, you can manage the content and privacy restrictions settings on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad of your child remotely.

Apple parental controls allow you to restrict web content on your child’s iOS device. Without Family Sharing, you can use the screen time setting to manage different content and actions directly on the child’s device.

Why is it essential to set up Safari parental controls?

The Safari browser is not safe for children, as it provides access to the entire internet. With internet crime the fastest-growing crime in the US, it brings worrying statistics for kids. 20.54% of teens and 9.94% of tweens have encountered a sexual predator online, while 37% of kids between ages 12 and 17 have been targeted for cyberbullying.

Therefore, knowing how to set up parental controls on Safari will go a long way in enhancing your child’s online safety.

This article will explain how to set up Safari parental controls and include additional tools for comprehensive monitoring for families.

Set Up Family Sharing

It is best to use the Family Sharing feature to apply parental controls on Safari. Family Sharing allows you to manage and monitor your child’s device remotely.

To set up Family Sharing:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tap your name.
   
2. Select Family or Family Sharing.
3. Tap the +button to add family members.
   
4. You can either use the invite family member button or create a child account if your child does not have an Apple ID.
   

To set up Family Sharing on Mac:

1. On your Mac, click the Apple Menu > System Settings.
   
   Or tap on the Settings icon on the desktop.
   
2. Then click on Your name > Family Sharing or choose Family right under your account name.
   
3. Go to the Family section and click Add member.
   
   Choose the way how to send an invitation. Tap on Invite People > select Airdrop/Mail/Messages or Invite in person > Continue.
   

Nonetheless, if your child does not belong to a Family Sharing group, you can still set up screen time by logging in to their Apple account.

Use Screen Time for Safari Parental Controls

Apple allows parents to set up the Screen Time feature for parental controls on iOS. You need to adjust content & privacy restrictions for a kid’s account through Family Sharing or in settings on each iOS device to control activity on the Safari browser.

On iPhone

Setting up screen time for iPhone parental controls allows you to set age-restricted settings for content, downloads, and purchases.

Note that iOS filters websites automatically to limit adult websites in Safari. Still, you can add specific websites to an approved or blocked list or limit web access to only approved websites.

To set up Screen Time on iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app. Scroll down to Screen Time.
   
   You can also get there by going to Settings > Family > Child’s name > Screen Time.
2. In the tab “Family” choose your child’s name.
   
3. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. You may be asked to enter your passcode to turn on this setting.
4. Tap Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content.
   
5. Tap Web Content, then choose Unrestricted, Limit Adult Websites, or Only Approved Websites.
6. You can add specific URLs under Always Allow or Never Allow to block access to web content on iOS.
   
7. If your child uses Siri to search the web, you can also restrict Siri web search. Tap on Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content. Scroll down to Siri and choose the [Restrict web search] or [Prevent explicit language] to block Siri from searching the web and displaying explicit language.
   
8. You can also hide Safari from the Home screen by turning it off. To do this, tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. Enter your Screen Time passcode. Then choose Allowed Apps & Features and click on the green button next to Safari to turn it off.
   

On iPad

iPhone and iPad share a similar operating system. So the parental controls are part of the screen time settings, which you can adjust in the same way.

1. Open the Settings menu on iPad.
   
2. Choose Family tab under your account’s name, then tap the child’s name and go to the Screen Time.
   
3. Scroll to Content & Privacy Restrictions and open.
   
4. Select Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content.
   
5. Tap Web Content.
   
6. Here you can change access to adult content or add websites to a list of approved or not approved to restrict access to various websites.
   
7. Similar to the iPhone, you can turn off Siri for web search and/or showing explicit language by it.
   
8. To remove Safari browser from the iPad Home Screen, go to Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps & Features > turn off Safari.
   

On Mac

To set up Safari parental controls on a Mac:

1. Open the App menu and go to System Settings on your Mac.
2. Click the sidebar and scroll down to Screen Time.
   
3. Click your child’s name in the Family pop-up and then [Turn on Screen Time].
4. Click Content & Privacy and then click [Turn On] in the top-right corner.
   
5. Click Content Restrictions and choose [Unrestricted Access], [Limit Adult websites], or [Allowed websites only].
   
6. Under [Limit Adult Websites], you can Customize the allowed or restricted websites.
   1. Click + below [Allowed List], enter the desired website URLs, and click Done.
   2. Click + below [Restricted List], enter the website you want to block, then click Done.
      
7. Under [Allowed Websites Only], your child will only access the websites on that list. Click Customise to see a default list of allowed websites. To add a specific website, click + below the list, enter the URL, and click Done.

Set Up Safari Preferences on Mac

Safari on Mac has preferences that make browsing the internet safer for your child.

To set up Safari preferences on Mac:

1. Open the Safari app on your child’s Mac. Click Safari > Settings.
   
2. Click Search to choose the default search engine for searching on Safari.
   
3. Click Security to trigger a warning if your child is about to visit a suspected phishing website.
   Choose the Privacy feature to prevent advertisers and other third-party content providers from following your child’s web activities across the web.
   
   The Privacy feature will also remove some or all cookies stored on your child’s Mac. To do this, click on the Manage Website Data… > Remove all.
   
4. Click Websites to block ads, pop-ups, and prevent videos from playing automatically when a web page loads.
   

Can a Child Bypass Safari Parental Controls?

Children can bypass Safari parental controls by bypassing the Screentime passcode.

As one parent claimed on an Apple forum, children can click on Forgot password, and Apple will send a 6-digit code to the phone. They can then change the password and bypass the screen time settings on Safari at any time.

Thus, it is better to use more efficient tools for Safari parental control.

Use Parental Control App

You can set parental controls on Safari using a parental control app. It gives you more features than inbuilt Safari parental controls.

With such apps, you can view your child’s browsing history and bookmarks and record their screen to see passwords to various web apps like Instagram and Facebook.

After researching the best parental control apps for Safari, we concluded that Eyezy is one of the best tools for Apple’s parental controls. Install the app on your child’s iPhone, and it will monitor all activities on the device.

You can apply various parental control settings such as app blocker, keyword alerts to monitor the use of certain words, and social media chats.

Try EyeZy

Screen Time for Safari VS Third-Party App

Basic Safari settings for kids’ safety is a must for parents. But to understand whether you need more parental control tools, let’s compare in the table below.

Conclusion

Safari parental controls are an incredible way of providing children’s online safety. Apple’s Screen time feature offers content restrictions by limiting adult content, and you can also prevent access to specific websites.

Nevertheless, given the number of online dangers and the tech-savvy kids, these settings are not comprehensive. That’s why a parental control app like EyeZy can offer more features for monitoring your child’s iOS device.