As a future parent, I worry about how people online will interact with my child once they have a phone or tablet. The good news for parents struggling with this now: iOS 26 of Apple provides more parental controls to iPhones.
Parents can already control the amount of screen time their children, manage purchases of the child’s application shop and more. Some of the new checks can detect and blur nudity in certain applications, and your child must request access to interact with unknown numbers.
Here are some of the safety characteristics of the iOS 26 child with iPhones. My child is not yet there, so I could not test these features myself, but I will report later.
Note that many of these safety features are automatically activated in iOS 26 as long as they are attached to a telephone number and an Apple account of a minor.
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Approve who can and cannot contact your child
You can already block unknown numbers in messages, and iOS 26 allows parents to approve which figures can send SMS or call their child. When your child receives a message or call from an unknown number, he must send a request to their parents to allow them to receive the message or the call.
So if your child’s friend wants to call them, you will have to approve their number. But if your 12 -year -old child receives strange and adult consonance messages, you can block this sender.
This feature is available on third -party applications, potentially allowing parents to approve with whom their child discusses, follows and makes friends in applications like Instagram, but the developers of these applications must first adopt the Apple framework.
Blur nudity in certain applications
Another characteristic of security for iOS 26 children understands that this will blur the nudity detected during calls FaceTime and in all albums shared on photos on your child’s iPhone.
This is similar to a functionality introduced in iOS 17 called sensitive content warnings. With this feature, you can choose to blur the nudity detected in the content sent to you in applications such as messages. The new feature is automatically activated on behalf of your child.
Changes in the App Store
Part of the security changes in iOS 26 includes the updated age ratings for applications in the Apple App Store, including indications if an application contains content generated by the user, messaging, advertising capacities or content controls.
The App Store will not show your children’s applications with notes above their content restriction range in the tabs, games or applications of the App Store, as well as in editorial stories. And if an application is above your child’s content restriction beach, you can make an exception for this application via the purchase feature.
Experiences integrated into the application adapted to age
If you approve your child to download a third-party application on your device, you can also choose to share your age group (for example 13-17) with the application developer. In this way, your child can view the content and features adapted to age in the application without having to reveal their exact date of birth or to be able to circumvent age restrictions by entering an older date.
For more new iOS, here is My criticism of iOS 26how to activate calls for calls in the operating system and all New ringtones on your iPhone. You can also consult our iOS 26 cheat sheet.
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