Set up parental controls on Mac
As a parent, you want your children to have a safe and happy experience on the Mac. You can monitor and control the time your children spend on the Mac and websites they visit.
To set up parental controls for your children, follow these steps:
Turn on parental controls for each child. If you haven’t added a user account for your child to your Mac, see Add a new user to manage with parental controls. If you’ve already added an account for your child, see Turn on parental controls for a child with an existing account on your Mac.
Change the restrictions you want for each child. For example, you can decide which websites your child can visit, and how long they can use the Mac each day.
If you want, copy the settings for one child and use them for another child.
When you decide your child is ready, you can turn off parental controls for them.
Add a new user account and turn on parental controls for it
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Parental Controls.Open Parental Controls preferences for me
If you see a tickbox labelled “Manage parental controls from another computer”, you’ve already added a user account. See Turn on parental controls for a child with an existing account on your Mac.
Select “Create a new user account with parental controls”, then click Continue.
Enter an administrator name and password (or if your Mac has Touch ID, use Touch ID).
Click the Age pop-up menu, then choose an age.
This setting determines the default restrictions for the account. For example, each age bracket has age-appropriate rating restrictions for movies, TV shows and apps from the iTunes Store and App Store. You can set different restrictions after creating the account.
Fill in the name and password information, then click Create User.
Turn on parental controls for a child with an existing account on your Mac
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Parental Controls.Open Parental Controls preferences for me
If you see the message “There are no user accounts to manage”, you haven’t yet added a user account. See Add a new user account and turn on parental controls for it.
Click the lock icon
to unlock it.Enter an administrator name and password (or if your Mac has Touch ID, use Touch ID).
Select a user.
If the user you want to turn on parental controls for isn’t in the list, click the Add button
to create a new user. Click the Age pop-up menu, then choose an age. Fill in the name and password information, then click Create User.
Change restrictions for a child
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Parental Controls.Open Parental Controls preferences for me
Note: If you see the message “There are no user accounts to manage”, you need to create a user account for the child you want to manage.
Click the lock icon
to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password (or if your Mac has Touch ID, use Touch ID).Select the user you want to set restrictions for, then click a button at the top.
Apps: Prevent the child from using the built-in camera and joining multiplayer games in Game Center. Restrict a child’s contact with other people through Mail. Specify which apps the child can access.
Web: Limit access to websites, or allow unrestricted access.
Stores: Disable access to the iTunes Store. Disable access to the Book Store in Apple Books. Limit a child’s access to music, movies, TV shows, apps and books to only those with age-appropriate ratings.
Time: Set time limits for weekdays, weekends and bedtime.
Privacy: Prevent apps and services from accessing your child’s data.
Other: Prevent the child from using Siri and Dictation, editing printer and scanner settings, and burning CDs and DVDs. Hide profanity in the dictionary and other sources. Prevent the Dock from being modified. Provide a simplified view of the Mac desktop.
Copy parental controls from one child to another
You can copy the parental controls settings for one user and apply them to another user.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Parental Controls.Open Parental Controls preferences for me
Note: If you see the message “There are no user accounts to manage”, you need to add a new user account and turn on parental controls for it.
Click the lock icon
to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password (or if your Mac has Touch ID, use Touch ID).Select the user whose settings you want to copy.
Click the Action pop-up menu
, then choose Copy Settings.Select the user to whom you want to apply the copied settings.
Click the Action pop-up menu
, then choose Paste Settings.
Turn off parental controls
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Parental Controls.Click the lock icon
to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password (or if your Mac has Touch ID, use Touch ID).Select the user, click the Action pop-up menu
, then choose Turn off Parental Controls.