Nothing is more precious and valuable than your children. For years electronics manufacturers have tried to remember this as they enable their devices to do more. The cable box under your television has a rating system that lets you choose what your kids can and cannot see. Smartphones are equipped with locks that let you decide which apps to download and what features they can tamper with. Xbox One parental controls let you take these policies and apply them to your family’s entertainment and gaming hub.
Xbox consoles have offered parental controls for years, but only in the last few years have they really come into their own. Xbox One and Xbox One S allow every member of the family to use the same digital games and a single person’s Xbox Live Gold status. The addition of this capability meant that Microsoft could encourage everyone to have their own accounts. You are free to choose your child’s account from a menu and fine-tune it at any time. You can decide which games they can play and whether to voice chat with your friends. Activity reports keep you informed of what they are doing.
Here’s how to set up Xbox One parental controls and monitor what your kids see and play.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Xbox One parental controls to monitor what your child is doing, decide which games to play, and manage screen time.
How to Use Xbox One Parental Controls: What You Need
There are some things you’ll need to successfully set up Xbox One parental controls. Some, you’ve probably assumed. Others are not so obvious.
You’ll want your Xbox One console close by, along with the Xbox One wireless controller. You don’t want to try this with the Xbox One Media Remote or by giving voice commands to the Kinect for Xbox One sensor. If possible, sign in to your personal account on Xbox One. If you can’t, be prepared to sign in to Microsoft’s online account management website with the username and password you use for the company’s other products.
How to Use Xbox One Parental Controls: Online
Xbox One is another Windows 10 device that Microsoft lets say. This means you can use the Microsoft Family site to monitor what your kids are doing. This is the same portal that helps monitor activities on smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops running Windows 10.
To start Account.Microsoft.com. Sign in to the site using the same Microsoft Account linked to your Xbox One or Windows 10 PC. Also used for Microsoft Accounts, Outlook.com and Skype. After logging in, select the tab from the top menu.
If you don’t see a child account listed for your child, use the Add Child button to create one. If they already have an account you want to convert to a Kids Account, simply send them an invite. You can also create a new Child Account for them.
Once the account is properly configured, you can use this space to track how much time they’ve spent on Xbox One, what media they’ve seen, and more. You can also use the system to track them and find out their location, provided they’re signed in to a friend’s home Xbox One.
How to Use Xbox One Parental Controls: On Xbox One
You need to get this Child Account from the Microsoft Family website and configure it as your child’s account on Xbox One. This is entirely for them now if you have created a Microsoft Account. If you’ve sent them a Microsoft Family invite to an account they already have, everything should already be working.
to your account on Xbox. This can be your existing account or a newly created account in the console.
The glowing Xbox logo on your controller to open the Xbox Guide. Xbox consoles running older versions of Microsoft-released software may need to press and hold the Xbox logo for a few seconds before the Xbox Guide appears.
Once in the Xbox Guide, use the joysticks on your controller to navigate to the area in the Xbox Guide. Choose from the list.
Look for the option inside the Settings app. Use the joystick to highlight and the A button to enter.
Here you will find every account linked to your Xbox One. If the Child Account you created is not yet there, you can use the Add Account option. Note that for Xbox One parental controls to work effectively, your child must be on a different account than the one the rest of the family uses for Xbox Live.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ve already added the wizard hat account named Paige. Choose an account from your family to delve deeper into parental controls. Everything is divided into categories. There’s Privacy and Online Security, Content Access, and Web Filtering. Web Filtering is an on-off switch that lets you decide what your kids can and cannot see.
Access to Content is one of the more important settings. Xbox offers television shows, music, games and apps. These have their own rating system depending on where you live. Simply choose which age group your child is in.
The Privacy and Online Safety page is where you’ll want to spend most of your time. There are presets that allow you to specify how private or public you want the account to be based on age level and maturity. You can decide on each setting individually using the Custom option. Don’t go with custom options unless you have time to go through all the different settings out there.
Good luck with the Xbox One parental controls.
