Technologies

Every Parent Should Know These 3 iPhone and iPad Parental Controls

Apple’s newest updates make it easy to remotely manage your child’s screen time, content access and even set location alerts. Here’s how to use these features and where to find them.

As a parent of three young kids with limited screen time, the prospect of handing them their very own iPad or iPhone sends me into an anxiety-induced spiral. The prospect of having to micromanage screen time (and the overstimulated meltdowns that follow), plus trying to protect them on social media and against all the other horrors lurking online, is enough to make me want to swear off screens altogether. But I’m also a realist and know I can’t fend off screens forever. In fact, their peak device years are just ahead. So when that time comes, I want to be prepared with all the tools.

Fortunately, Apple already has a surprising number (at least to me) of guardrails and parental controls in place, with features like child accounts, screen time settings, and communication limits that help parents create safer digital environments. And there’s more on the way.

Apple’s latest tools, rolling out to the iPhone and iPad with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 respectively, help parents set age-appropriate content filters, monitor app use, limit communication, and even blur explicit images before they appear on-screen. Here’s how to find them, set them up and feel more confident handing over that screen to your kids — no matter what age they are.

Setting up a child account: The key to unlocking parental controls

Setting up a child account is the key that unlocks all these great parental control features so if you haven’t already, make sure you do this first. Apple lets you create a dedicated child account for an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, giving parents full control over settings remotely through their own device. If it’s a shared iPhone or iPad, you’ll need to choose between setting it up as an adult or child account — unlike an Apple TV, there’s no multi-user option. Starting in September, iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 will also let you convert an existing device into a child account without needing to reset it — meaning you can keep whatever content that you already have on your Apple device.

There are three ways to set up a child account on a new device:

The first (and simplest) is using your own device. As soon as you bring the two devices close together, setup instructions should automatically appear on screen using Quick Start.
If you’re not using Quick Start, you can still set it up directly on the new device. Just choose Set Up Without Another Device and follow the on-screen instructions. If you’re setting up a device for a child age 12 or younger, it must be linked to your adult account.
You can also create a child account in advance, even without the child’s device nearby. Go to Settings > [your name] > Family, then tap the Add User icon in the top right corner. Select Create Child Account and follow the prompts.

Screen Time: the command center for parental controls

When you create a child account, you’ll be asked to select an age range: 12 or younger or 13–17. This automatically sets baseline filters for content and services but you can fine-tune things even more through the Screen Time settings on your own device. From here, you can manage what your child watches, how long they use their device and who they can communicate with (among many others).

To access Screen Time controls, go to Settings > Family, tap on your child’s name and select Screen Time.

Once you’re in, here’s everything you can take charge of:

Downtime: Schedule breaks from screen time. You can schedule specific times and days when your kid won’t have access to certain apps (determine which ones in the Always Allowed section) or choose to block the devices entirely. They’ll get a five minute heads up when downtime is coming.
Always Allowed: Choose which apps and contacts your child can access and at what time.
Screen Distance: Alerts your child when they’re holding the device too close to their face to help protect their still maturing eyesight.
Communication Limits: Sets detailed rules about who your child can contact and when. For example, you can allow calls from parents or emergency contacts during Downtime, even when everything else is blocked.
Communication Safety: Detects nudity in photos before they’re sent or received and alerts your child, offering a moment to pause and consider whether they want to view. This one’s a no brainer and one you’ll want to keep on at all times. It also suggests age-appropriate resources to inform the child without Apple ever seeing the content.
Content & Privacy Restrictions: Micromanage purchases and downloads. You choose whether or not your kid can download and purchase apps, and then restrict in-app purchases for the ones they have access to, or block access to the App Store altogether. You can also disable features like AirDrop under Allowed Apps & Features.
App Store, Media, Web & Games: Set age-based ratings restrictions for everything from TV shows and movies to games, books and apps (anything from G to NC-17, or the equivalent). You can even block music videos or restrict private messaging in games to prevent sneaky workarounds with unapproved contacts.
Managing Screen Time: Receive an alert if your child enters the Screen Time passcode so if they’ve guessed it, you’ll know. This is part of iOS 26 and will be available this fall. In the meantime you can still change the code remotely if you suspect they’ve cracked the code, without needing access to your child’s device.

Beyond that, you’ll find options to manage which subscriptions your child can access, and whether they can send and receive Apple Cash, or remove the option entirely from the menu.

Location Sharing: Get a heads-up about your child’s whereabouts in real time

Whether it’s an iPhone, Apple Watch or even an iPad, one of the biggest benefits of giving your child their own device is being able to keep a watchful eye on their whereabouts (just make sure they know about it too). Not only can you check where they are, you can also set alerts to notify you when they’ve arrived at or left a specific location.

You’ll find the Location Sharing option under your child’s profile in your Family account settings (it’s the last option on the list). From here you can block your kid from changing their location settings, but to take full advantage of the feature, you’ll want to jump into the Find My app.

Once you open Find My, tap on your child’s name to see their location. Next, swipe up to reveal the full menu, tap Add Notification > Notify Me. From here, you can choose to get alerts when your child arrives at or leaves a certain location like home, school or a friend’s house. Tap New Location to enter an address manually or tap the screen to drop a pin on the map. You can choose whether to receive the alert just once or every time they come and go.

Want to return the favor? Tap Notify [your kid’s name], and follow the same steps. Your phone will automatically let your child know when you’ve arrived or left a designated location too.

The exact settings may vary slightly depending on the age range you choose but the core controls remain the same.

With iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, Apple is adding even more granular parental tools. The nudity filters will be expanded to FaceTime (and potentially third-party apps), you’ll get alerts when your child enters a Screen Time passcode and you’ll be able to revoke app permissions remotely even after your child has already started using the app.

There are already enough things to worry about as a parent (especially with online risks), but hopefully, these features will help take at least one worry off your plate. Just remember that even the best tech tools aren’t a substitute for in-person guidance from a parent or caregiver. When introducing screens to kids, make sure you’re having age appropriate conversations about online safety and helping them build healthy screen time habits of their own.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Sept. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 19.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I didn’t get off to a great start with today’s Mini Crossword, completely blanking on 1-Across. Thankfully, the other clues were easy, and that answer filled itself in. Need some help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cancel on plans at the last moment
Answer: FLAKE

6A clue: Shade of light purple
Answer: LILAC

7A clue: ___ acid (protein builder)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Sarcastic «Yeah, sure»
Answer: IBET

9A clue: Sardonic boss on «Parks and Recreation»
Answer: RON

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Stylish panache
Answer: FLAIR

2D clue: Party game that tests how low you can go
Answer: LIMBO

3D clue: Visitor from outer space
Answer: ALIEN

4D clue: Philosopher who posed the question «What can I know?»
Answer: KANT

5D clue: Environmentally friendly prefix
Answer: ECO

Technologies

Your Old Android Isn’t Dead. These Tweaks Can Bring It Back to Life

Clear space, optimize your battery and update the basics. These quick changes can make an old Android phone feel snappier.

You don’t need the latest Android flagship to get good performance.

Thanks to longer software support from brands like Google and Samsung, older models can still run smoothly, as long as you give them a little attention. Clearing out unused apps, updating your software and tweaking a few settings can breathe new life into a device that feels sluggish. These quick fixes can help your phone last longer and save you from spending on an early upgrade.

Before you start shopping for a replacement, try a few simple adjustments. You might be surprised by how much faster your phone feels once you free up space, optimize battery use and turn off background drains.

Whether you use a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus phone, chances are you can still improve battery life and overall speed without buying something new. Just remember that Android settings vary slightly from brand to brand, so the menus may look a little different depending on your phone.

Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%

The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses.

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for «brightness» to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization

These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use.

Some Android phones have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for «battery» to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option.

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background.

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on system-wide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use, whether or not you have Android 10.

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at sunset and sunrise.

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off.

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Read more: Best Android Phones You Can Buy in 2024

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. Don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To prepare for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

If you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, which is found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile.

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone.

If you have trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there, you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you, or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, a simple software update could fix bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device.

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone. Here are the best ways to boost your cell signal, and here’s a flagship phone head-to-head comparison. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.