Letting younger family members use your Mac tin can open them up to a whole earth of content that might not exist appropriate or advisable. To prevent such dangers, Apple includes a range of parental controls in macOS that allows you to restrict the kind of content they see and make up one's mind how long they can use the device.

We show yous how to create a kid'due south business relationship and ready up parental controls on your Mac so the petty ones tin can be condom while using macOS.

Setting upwardly a child account

The outset stride is to create a dedicated account for your child and so that whatsoever restrictions you implement don't end up affecting your own browsing or app usage. In that location are multiple ways to do this, as you tin go to System Preferences > Users & Groups then add together new accounts from there or if you're using macOS Mojave or earlier you can go to System Preferences > Parental Controls and create a child'south account past post-obit the prompts.

The best way to safeguard your child is to use the Family Sharing feature, as it likewise allows you to administer settings from whatsoever of your Apple devices. Setting this up is easy, and y'all'll detect a complete guide to the advantages and capabilities in our How to set up Family Sharing on iPad, iPhone & Mac guide.

Using Parental Controls

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With your kid account now set, information technology'south time to turn on parental controls. The approach is slightly unlike depending on the version of macOS yous're running, as Apple introduced Screen Fourth dimension in macOS Catalina, which replaces the Parental Controls choice.

macOS Catalina

If yous're using macOS Catalina, become to Organization Preferences > Screen Fourth dimension and select your child's account from the drib-down options in the sidebar. Underneath this there are as well a number of other options, including Downtime, App Limits, and Content & Privacy which yous can use to tailor the restrictions.

Click the Options button in the bottom-left corner and in the principal pane y'all'll run into the Screen Time settings. Click Plow On… to enable the feature. Now, Screen Time itself doesn't restrict the usage of the device; instead it acts as the overall name for parental controls.

How to set up parental controls on Mac and MacBook

The two options offered in the Screen Fourth dimension pane are Share across devices and Use Screen Time Passcode. The first will prove you the combined time the account holder spends on their various Apple devices, while the 2nd is one that you should plow on immediately as it prevents children from changing any time limits or content locks y'all ready.

Reanimation

With these in place it'due south time to start configuring the various Screen Time elements. Click on Downtime and you'll be able to fix the times when the Mac will be unavailable to the user. This is useful if you want to restrict a child watching Netflix late at night or but prefer them to exist abroad from screens at sure times.

Plough the characteristic on then choose either Every Day or Custom options and gear up the hours within which the Mac volition be locked.

How to set up parental controls on Mac and MacBook: Screen Time

App Limits

Equally the name suggests, this setting gives yous control over how much fourth dimension your children spend each solar day on sure apps or app categories. Plough the feature on then click the '+' icon in the bottom left of the master pane. You'll at present be able to select detail apps or genres and utilize daily fourth dimension limits.

How to set up parental controls on Mac and MacBook: App Limits

Always Allowed

Another straightforward setting, this volition override both Downtime and App Limits, granting access to detail apps at all times.

How to set up parental controls on Mac and MacBook : Always Allowed

Content & Privacy

The earlier features are more concerned with admission and time limits, only this one lets yous determine the type of content that your child volition see. There are diverse granular settings that restrict developed websites and search results, explicit lyrics and words in movies and music, plus whether y'all want your child to play games online or not.

How to set up parental controls on Mac and MacBook: Content and Privacy

macOS Mojave and earlier

Screen Fourth dimension isn't available on macOS Mojave or its predecessors, but there are nonetheless built-in features to go on your kids safety. To find these, go to Arrangement Preferences > Parental Controls. If y'all haven't already gear up a child account, you'll exist prompted to practice so by selecting Create a new user account with parental controls and clicking Keep.

Follow the instructions on setting upwards an account then, once this is done, return to Parental Controls. You'll now see the new child's account in the sidebar, then click on it then become through the diverse settings that limit the content and times that your lilliputian 1 tin can admission the Mac.

The options are similar to those listed above, with granular controls for the apps they tin can employ, web content, daily time limits, and a few other prophylactic features that are all cocky-explanatory.

With these in place your child should now exist able to utilize their Mac without encountering any of the nasty stuff online, simply of form it's no guarantee and then be certain to proceed an middle on them and teach them about the dangers that lie amid the benefits of modernistic computing.

If you want to add even more protection to the device your kid will be using, then be certain to also read Best parental control apps for iPhone and iPad and All-time Parental Control software.