Apple is handing parents real new powers over their children’s devices, and several of them are things parents and child-safety experts have been requesting for years. Two stand out: children will need a parent’s approval before opening a new website, and parents will finally be able to set screen time limits app category by app category, so games, social media and entertainment each get their own allowance instead of sharing one blanket limit. Apple previewed the features at its developer conference on 8 June 2026, and they arrive with this autumn’s software updates.
The new controls
Four features sit at the centre of the update, and they add up to the most substantial improvement to Apple’s parental tools in years.
Ask to Browse is the one parents have wanted for a long time. A child can no longer wander onto any website they like. When they try to open a site that isn’t already allowed, they have to request permission, and that request goes to the parent to approve or decline, across Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Time Allowances is the other big one. It replaces the single daily limit with limits by category, so you can be generous with educational apps and strict with social media in the same settings screen. The starting points draw on guidance from child development and online safety experts, and you can adjust them to suit your family.
A redesigned Screen Time pulls everything into one clearer dashboard, with a better view of where a child’s time is actually going and the ability to pause access in a single tap.
A simpler setup starts a child’s device with a small set of essential apps and lets you add more over time, which is far easier than handing over a fully loaded phone and clawing things back afterwards.
The content filter now catches violence too
Communication Safety, the feature that automatically blurs nude images before a child sees them, is being extended to cover graphic violence and gore in shared photos and videos. It stays switched on by default for every account belonging to someone under 18, and the detection happens on the device, so the images are never sent to Apple.
The one catch: timing
The only thing to keep in mind is that this is a preview. Apple showed the features to developers in June and will release them with its autumn software updates, so there is nothing new to switch on just yet. It is worth knowing the upgrade is coming, and worth getting ready for it, rather than going looking for Ask to Browse on your child’s phone this week.
What this means for you right now
The good news is you don’t have to wait to benefit. The single most useful thing you can do today is make sure your child’s device is on a child account, because everything Apple announced builds on top of that.
A child Apple Account set up through Family Sharing already gives you Screen Time limits, content and privacy restrictions, and the current version of Communication Safety that blurs nudity. It all lives under Settings, then Screen Time. Switch Communication Safety on now and the new violence and gore filtering will activate automatically when the autumn update lands, with nothing more for you to do.
So if moving your child onto a proper child account has been on your list, this is a good moment to do it. The setup gets easier in the autumn, and every new control arrives on top of protections that are already working for you.
Apple has also launched a dedicated site for parents and built the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Family Media Plan into its products, both available to read today.
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