Apple enhances child safety features, including letting parents decide who kids can talk to

While much of the attention at WWDC 2026 was focused on Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, Apple is also introducing a range of new child safety features across iPhone, iPad, Mac and other devices.

The new tools are designed to give parents more control over who their children can communicate with, what content they can access and how apps provide age-appropriate experiences.

Apple says the new updates build upon existing Screen Time and family safety features already available across its ecosystem.

Parents can approve new contacts

One of the biggest changes is a new permission system for communications. The feature allows parents to manage who their children can connect with over Messages, FaceTime and Phone.

With iOS 27, parents can approve or decline requests when their children want to communicate with a new phone number. This adds an extra layer of control before kids can start messaging or contacting someone they have not interacted with before.

Stronger protections against sensitive content

Apple is also expanding Communication Safety, which is designed to help protect children from viewing or sharing sensitive images.

According to Apple, children will receive warnings when they receive or attempt to send images or videos containing nudity and it uses on-device machine learning. These protections extend across Messages, AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app and other supported experiences.

The Communication Safety feature will blur detected sensitive content and provide guidance before a child chooses to view the image.

Apple is also expanding communication safety interventions to FaceTime video calls, where nudity can be detected and blurred during calls.

More age-appropriate app experiences

Apple is introducing a new Declared Age Range API which allows parents to reveal their child’s age range to apps without revealing their actual date of birth.

According to Apple, developers can use this information to provide age-appropriate content and experiences while minimising the amount of personal information collected from children.

The company is also updating age ratings on the App Store with additional age categories, allowing parents to make more informed decisions when choosing apps for their children.

Meanwhile, developers can also integrate the feature into their apps using a new PermissionKit framework, This allows children to send requests to their parents when they want to chat, follow or add new users within supported apps.

Easier child account setup

Apple is also making it easier for parents to create and manage Child Accounts.

When setting up a new device, parents can now more easily configure age-appropriate settings and protections. If a child has not yet been added to a family group, Apple says default child safety protections can still be enabled on the device.

A child account is required for children under 16 and is available for children up to 18.

Screen Time and family controls continue to expand

The latest updates also introduces a redesigned Screen Time which provides parents a quick glance view of their kids’ average device usage and most popular apps.

Parents can quickly make immediate changes to their kids’ access to apps and web browsing access immediately with a single tap. For important family moments such as meal time, parents can simply limit their usage with Device Pause.

If their children requires more time to complete something within an app, parents can also easily extend access.

Apple says the new child safety features are designed to give parents more tools to manage their children’s digital experiences while maintaining privacy and security. The new features will roll out alongside Apple’s latest software updates, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27 and tvOS 27.

This new enhanced parental controls comes at a time where governments are pushing tech companies to provide stronger protections for children online. In the UK, online safety regulations are placing greater emphasis on age-appropriate experiences and protections for minors.

In Malaysia, the MCMC has introduced measures aimed at banning social media access for users under 16 years old which requires users to verify their age using MyKad and official identity documents.

For more info, you can check out Apple’ Child Safety page.