Apple's new parental controls in iOS 27, and how they fit your family week 📱
Apple released iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 on Monday, and the release notes carry a long list of changes to parental controls. If your children have an iPhone, iPad or Mac, plan an evening on the sofa with the Settings app. Below is what changed, and where it overlaps with the way families already plan their weeks in Plannie. :android:
Image: Apple
Update every device before you start
This is easy to miss. Apple says every device in your Family Sharing group has to run the version 27 releases before the new Screen Time experience switches on. That includes the kids' iPads, your own iPhone, the family Mac, and the old iPad in the kitchen drawer. Ask to Browse only shows up once Screen Time has been upgraded. So update the whole household first, then go looking for the new settings. Apple's overview is at apple.com/child-safety.
Time Allowances instead of one big limit
Screen Time used to work with one daily limit per app or category. The new Time Allowances let you set a daily total and decide how it splits across Entertainment, Games and Social Media. One pot can be shared across categories, or each category can have its own. You can build your own categories, move apps between them, and give a new app an allowance at the moment you approve it through Ask to Buy. Websites that belong to an app follow the same allowance.
Schedules that know Tuesday is not Saturday
This is the part that will feel familiar if you run a family calendar. Screen Time schedules can now differ by day of the week and by time of day. A school morning can allow only the essentials, homework time can open the education apps, and Saturday afternoon can look completely different. You can switch between schedules quickly. There is also a pause button for dinner and a temporary unlimited mode for the long car ride. Neither one removes the protections underneath.
Image: Apple
If you have set up a weekday routine in Plannie, you already think this way. The school morning, the after-school block, the weekend with its own rules. Apple is letting the devices follow the same rhythm. When the Plannie calendar says Tuesday is football and Thursday is homework club, the Screen Time schedule can now say the same thing.
Ask to Browse, and asking for more time
Ask to Buy has been around for a while: a child requests an app, the parent gets a message and approves or declines. iOS 27 brings the same idea to the web. With Ask to Browse, a child who hits a blocked website in Safari can send a request, and the parent takes a closer look in Messages before answering. New contacts work the same way now. Children on a Child Account ask before adding someone in Phone, FaceTime or Messages.
Image: Apple
Screen Time itself got rebuilt
Apple rewrote Screen Time so that changes sync faster across a Family Sharing group. Parents get a weekly usage summary and can see the most used apps at a glance. New Child Accounts are quicker to set up: you start from a small set of essential apps, a recommended starter set, or a list you pick yourself. Communication Safety, which already stepped in for nudity in Messages and FaceTime, now also reacts to gore and violence in shared photos and videos, with a warning and links to resources.
Image: Apple
Where Plannie fits
Apple's tools decide what a device will and will not do. Plannie is where the family decides what the day is for, and the two meet in a few places.
A Screen Time schedule is only as good as the routine behind it. If the family week already lives in Plannie, you know when homework, training and dinner happen, and the schedule becomes a copy of that plan instead of a guess.
Time Allowances set the ceiling. Plannie's habits and rewards give kids a reason to reach it, and a way to ask for extra time that does not start with an argument.
Apple says the rebuilt Screen Time keeps every parent's device on the same rules. Plannie does the same for the calendar, the lists and the chores, on everyone's phone and on the shared tablet in the kitchen.
Start here
- Update every device in the Family Sharing group to iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or macOS 27, then open Settings → Screen Time and upgrade it when asked.
- Read the suggested Time Allowances for each child before you set your own numbers.
- Build one weekday schedule and one weekend schedule. Keep them simple at first.
- Turn on Ask to Browse and contact approval for younger children, and agree as a family on how requests get answered.
- Open Plannie next to it and check that the routines match. If Thursday is homework club in one place, it should be in the other.
Apple's child safety guide has step-by-step instructions for every setting mentioned here.
One more thing
We have been busy with iOS 27 as well. Plannie and your iPhone are about to get a lot closer, and we will have more to say about that very soon. Keep an eye on this blog. :eyes:
The Plannie team