How to use this checklist

Two passes: this week (the boxes you can tick in one evening) and a habit pass (a monthly five-minute re-check). Items are grouped by area — the same map as the iPhone safety guide for parents. If you're starting from a sealed box, the full order of operations is in the iPhone setup guide for parents; this page is the printable version.

Account

  • Child has their own Apple Account — a Child Account through Family Sharing if under 13. Never a parent's ID.
  • Family Sharing set up; you are the organizer; your partner added as parent/guardian.
  • Recovery contact set to you.

Device

  • Updated to the current iOS version, automatic updates on.
  • Six-digit passcode that isn't a birthday or a keyboard pattern.
  • Face ID or Touch ID enrolled.
  • Find My iPhone on.

Privacy

  • Location, camera, microphone, photo permissions walked once, app by app.
  • Nothing granted "always" without a reason you can say out loud.

Apps

  • Ask to Buy on (Settings → Family → [Child] → Apps & Websites → Restrictions → Ask to Buy → Require Purchase Approval).
  • App Store age rating ceiling chosen.
  • Decision made: can the child install apps at all (Installing Apps allowed or blocked)?

Web

  • Filtering level chosen: Ask to Browse (youngest), Limit Adult Websites (default for under 18), or Approved Websites Only.

Contacts

  • Allowed Contacts configured if the child is young: who can call and message, and whether you manage the contact list.
  • Communication Safety on.

Screen Time

  • Screen Time Schedules set: a school window, a night window, a weekend variation.
  • Time Allowances for Games, Social Media, Entertainment.
  • Screen Time passcode set on your device — different from any passcode the child knows.

Purchases

  • In-app purchases blocked or covered by Ask to Buy.
  • Shared payment method understood: the organizer's card receives every bill.

Emergency settings

  • Medical ID filled in the Health app — allergies, conditions, emergency contacts.
  • Emergency contacts reachable from the lock screen.

Family rules (the part with no settings)

  • Where the phone sleeps — not the bedroom, ideally.
  • When it's parked — dinner, homework windows, family time.
  • What happens after a violation — agreed now, in writing, not improvised angry at 9 p.m.

The first week

Check in with the kid, not the settings: "how's the schedule working?", "anything annoying I should fix?" Settings adjusted with the child in week one survive to month six. Settings imposed silently get found and fought.

The full reasoning behind every box — paths, order, and what each item actually protects — is in our parental controls guide, with the security items explained in how to secure a child's iPhone.

The three boxes people skip — and why they matter

Recovery contact. Feels like admin; is the difference between a forgotten password being a five-minute fix and a week of support calls. Kids forget passwords — set the recovery contact and check it once a year.

Emergency settings. Medical ID takes three minutes in the Health app and is the only box on this list that can save a life. Allergies, conditions, emergency contacts — fill it in with the child, so they know it's there and what it says.

Family rules in writing. The only non-technical box, and the one that decides whether the other fourteen hold. Where the phone sleeps, when it's parked, what happens after a violation — agreed when everyone is calm, written where everyone can see it, applied especially on the day you don't feel like it.