Apple previews its biggest parental control update in years, weeks ahead of UK and US regulatory deadlines
The TL;DR
Apple has previewed major child safety updates for iOS 27, including Request Browsing, Time Allowances, and blood blocking, as UK and US regulators press for deadlines.
Apple previewed a series of new parental controls at WWDC 2026 on Monday, introducing tools that give parents more control over what their kids can see, who they can touch, and how much time they can spend on apps. The updates, coming this fall with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, came the same day UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave Apple and Google a three-month deadline to introduce device-level controls that prevent children from viewing or sharing graphic images. The US Congress is also advancing the Children’s Online Safety Act, which cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March and a wave of school district lawsuits over social media addiction.
A headline addition is Ask to Browsing, a feature that requires kids to ask for parental permission before accessing a new website in Safari. It works across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and pairs with the existing Ask to Buy app that already opens App Store downloads. Together, these two controls mean that parents can require permission for both apps and web content from a single child’s account.
Apple is also introducing Time Allowances, which allow parents to set daily limits for all app categories, including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, rather than managing individual apps individually. The program provides age-based recommendations informed by expert research as a starting point. Parents can also create Daily Schedules that restrict access to certain apps at certain times, such as school hours or meals.
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Communication Safety, which already dims nudity when receiving FaceTime messages and calls from users under the age of 18, will now also block pornographic and violent content in shared photos and videos. The expansion addresses a gap that critics have identified in Apple’s existing protections. The feature uses machine learning on the device to detect harmful content before it is displayed, which is compatible with Apple’s extensive privacy architecture that keeps sensitive processing on the device rather than sending it through external servers.
The redesigned Screen Time gives parents an at-a-glance view of their kids’ average device usage and most-used apps, with the ability to adjust access with one tap. Parents can quickly limit access during family sessions or extend the time if a child needs to complete something in the app. The interface replaces what has been, since Apple introduced Screen Time in iOS 12, a menu of dense settings that many parents find difficult to navigate.
Apple said it is working with the American Academy of Pediatrics to update the AAP’s Family Media Plan into a guide that parents can refer to when fixing their devices. The company also announced tools for developers, including the Declared Age API that lets apps request a child’s age bracket without revealing their birthday, and PermissionKit, which lets apps submit requests to contact young people through parents for permission. The SensitiveContentAnalysis framework helps developers detect nudity and violence within their applications.
Time has the weight of control. Starmer’s deadline, delivered at London Tech Week on June 8, demands that Apple and Google implement controls that prevent children from taking, sending, receiving, or viewing nude images at the device level. Apple’s existing social media security system warns rather than blocks in some cases, and excludes all photo sharing from the app. Whether the new features satisfy Starmer’s requirements remains to be seen. The UK government has indicated that it will legislate if companies do not comply voluntarily.
In the United States, KOSA cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 5 with a 28-24 party-line vote, while the Senate simultaneously passed COPPA 2.0 revisions unanimously. The law would require platforms to conduct risk assessments, enable stronger privacy settings for children automatically, and provide parents with meaningful monitoring tools. Apple has publicly endorsed KOSA, and the area of extensive child safety litigation has generated billions of dollars in damages and judgments against social media companies in 2026 alone.
The child safety updates are part of a wider WWDC 2026 software release that includes a redesign of Siri AI, Apple Intelligence enhancements, and performance improvements across iOS 27. A child account, required for users under 13 and available to those up to 18, enables age-appropriate protection for the entire system from the moment the device is set up. Parents are guided through account creation during initial device setup and can choose to start their child with a few essential apps, a select set, or a custom selection.
The vice president of Apple Health and Fitness, Sambul Desai, said that this company’s approach is based on the belief that all children are different. The tools are designed to allow parents to create protections rather than set a single standard. Whether that parental discretion philosophy satisfies regulators who continue to demand mandatory, device-level usage is a question Apple will need to answer before Starmer’s September deadline.
