Summary
- Apple is enhancing the tools for parents to protect children when using its devices and services, with a new and simplified process being rolled out to set up Child Accounts.
- These accounts are compulsory for U13s and aim to ensure that kids’ data remains private and that they cannot circumvent parental controls.
- The new process will simplify the setup for parents and ensure that the device defaults to child-appropriate settings until the account is established.
- Additionally, Apple is improving the tools available to app developers, so they can offer age-appropriate experiences to each child.
- This will involve the creation of new APIs, allowing developers to categorize users by a range of ages, rather than a specific birthday, and offer content and experiences accordingly.
The new protections are set to arrive for parents and developers in 2025, with enhanced app age ratings also deployed, to help ensure kids do not access content unsuitable for their age.