Parental Controls and Safe Game Accounts

Most accidental charges and unpleasant surprises are prevented by settings that take ten minutes to switch on.

Turn on purchase protection first

Both major platforms offer parental controls that require approval for downloads and purchases. On a child's device, set purchases to “ask every time” or require a parent's approval. This single step prevents the most common complaint of all: a large bill from in-game buys made without anyone realising.

Set age and content limits

• Use the built-in content ratings to hide games above a chosen age.
• Restrict or disable in-game chat where you can, or limit it to known friends.
• Review app permissions; a game rarely needs contacts, location or the microphone.

Review the permissions games ask for

Games request permissions at install and sometimes later, and many ask for more than they need. A puzzle rarely needs your contacts, your location or your microphone. Go through the installed games now and again and withdraw anything that does not fit what the game does; the game will ask again if it genuinely needs it. This keeps a child's device leaner and limits what a careless or pushy app can gather.

Protect the account itself

A game account can hold years of progress and sometimes payment details. Protect it like any other: a unique password and, where offered, a second login step. Keep recovery email and codes somewhere safe, because a lost account is often impossible to get back.

Talk about pressure, not just safety

Children meet the same designed pressure that adults do, with less experience of it. A short, plain conversation, that countdowns and “limited offers” are there to make you buy quickly, and that it is fine to miss them, does more than any single setting.

Keep purchases visible at home

Where you can, route a child's games through a shared or family account so that purchase requests come to an adult first, and use a small prepaid balance rather than a linked card, so any spend has a built-in ceiling. Reviewing the purchase history together once a month turns an invisible drip of small charges into something everyone can see and talk about, and makes the rare large bill far less likely.

A ten-minute setup

1. Require approval or a password for every purchase.
2. Set content and age limits.
3. Review permissions and chat settings.
4. Secure the account with a strong password and second step.
5. Agree a simple rule for new downloads together.

None of this has to be strict to be effective. The goal is a device where mistakes are hard to make and surprises are rare.

Checked 2026-11-10