Frequently Asked Question
Parental Controls for Macs
Last Updated 9 years ago
Setting up Parental Controls on a Mac
This document is based on the controls available for Mac OS X 10.10.4
To setup Parental controls you will need to have an administrative account and at least one restricted (non-administrative) account.
Step One:
Log in with the administrative account and create a non-administrative account.
Step Two:
Open “System Preferences” and go to “Users & Groups”, then click the pad lock icon in the lower left corner, supply username and password when prompted.
Step Three:
Click the “+” button directly below “Login Options” to add a new account.
Select “Manage with Parental Controls” from the pull down list.
Enter full name and username as desired, select “use separate password” radio button.
Enter password once, then again to confirm.
Add password hint if desired and click “create user”.
Step Four:
With the new user created selected, click the “parental controls” button to begin configuring the desired controls.
Enter administrative username and password when prompted.
Step Five:
Alter the default selections to suite your needs.
The apps tab is for restricting use of specific apps, legacy applications, widgets and utilities.
In the example below I have restricted all applications except iMovie by selecting the “Limit Applications” check box and then selecting “iMovie” from the list of allowed applications. To restrict access to the App Store, select "Don't Allow" from the "Allow App Store Apps" pull down list.
Step Six:
Restricting web sites – you have 3 options
Step Seven: Restricting contacts - In my example I’ve restricted access to Game Center friends and joining Game Center multiplayer games along with restricting messaging to Mom and Dad via AIM messaging and Grandpa Fred via email, all other messaging has been restricted.
Additional steps are available for time restrictions and options such as restricting the web camera, changing passwords, burning cd’s, etc.
Step Eight:
Ensure you click the pad lock icon in the lower left corner so that it is in the locked position.
This prevents further configuration changes without entering the administrative username and password.
Congratulations, you have successfully configured Parental Controls.
Please consider that the selections I’ve made in this document are random and not an endorsement or a recommendation of what or whom to block, but merely an example of the setup.
At this point your son should be using one of the restricted accounts and not have access to the administrative account.
For more information see the Apple support article here
This document is based on the controls available for Mac OS X 10.10.4
To setup Parental controls you will need to have an administrative account and at least one restricted (non-administrative) account.
Step One:
Log in with the administrative account and create a non-administrative account.
Step Two:
Open “System Preferences” and go to “Users & Groups”, then click the pad lock icon in the lower left corner, supply username and password when prompted.
Step Three:
Click the “+” button directly below “Login Options” to add a new account.
Select “Manage with Parental Controls” from the pull down list.
Enter full name and username as desired, select “use separate password” radio button.
Enter password once, then again to confirm.
Add password hint if desired and click “create user”.
Step Four:
With the new user created selected, click the “parental controls” button to begin configuring the desired controls.
Enter administrative username and password when prompted.
Step Five:
Alter the default selections to suite your needs.
The apps tab is for restricting use of specific apps, legacy applications, widgets and utilities.
In the example below I have restricted all applications except iMovie by selecting the “Limit Applications” check box and then selecting “iMovie” from the list of allowed applications. To restrict access to the App Store, select "Don't Allow" from the "Allow App Store Apps" pull down list.
Step Six:
Restricting web sites – you have 3 options
- Unrestricted access to all websites
- Try to limit access to adult websites automatically (provides and override section)
- Allow access to only these websites (this will require a substantial number of adjustments over time, e.g. continually adding websites) and should be used as a last resort.
Step Seven: Restricting contacts - In my example I’ve restricted access to Game Center friends and joining Game Center multiplayer games along with restricting messaging to Mom and Dad via AIM messaging and Grandpa Fred via email, all other messaging has been restricted.
Additional steps are available for time restrictions and options such as restricting the web camera, changing passwords, burning cd’s, etc.
Step Eight:
Ensure you click the pad lock icon in the lower left corner so that it is in the locked position.
This prevents further configuration changes without entering the administrative username and password.
Congratulations, you have successfully configured Parental Controls.
Please consider that the selections I’ve made in this document are random and not an endorsement or a recommendation of what or whom to block, but merely an example of the setup.
At this point your son should be using one of the restricted accounts and not have access to the administrative account.
For more information see the Apple support article here