PlayStation debuts family app for parental control
Parents can monitor playtime limits, social features, and set monthly spending limits for the PlayStation Store.
Sony has announced the PlayStation Family App, which is intended for parental control and family management via mobile devices.
The company shared the news yesterday via the PlayStation blog, detailing that the app is already available for both iOS and Android devices. The features, which are centered around giving parents a remote way of monitoring and managing their children's activity, include options for playtime, visibility into what kids are playing, approving extra playtime requests, and more.
Using the app, parents will be notified what game a child is playing in real time via notifications. They can opt to restrict certain games if they so desire, as well as accept or decline a child's request for extra playtime. Parents can also access daily and weekly activity reports.
Other features are less game-oriented and involve the overall experience of children using a PlayStation 4 or a PlayStation 5. Parents can manage spending activity by adding funds, viewing balances, or even setting a monthly spending limit for a child to make purchases on the PlayStation Store.
There are also content filters, which parents can choose and configure to decide on age-appropriate content. The company says that it has included presets that "automatically apply recommended settings for different age groups," but every setting can also be customized individually. In addition, there are also options available to customize privacy settings and how children connect and play via social features.
PlayStation joins Epic and Roblox in the recent parental control moderation tools spree
Recent examples of increased parental control include the app for the Nintendo Switch 2, which parents can use to restrict new features like GameChat, as well as filtering the download and use of certain content. But it's far from the only one.
In October 2024, Epic launched two new parental controls in Fortnite and UEFN, meant to restrict and track playtime. This allows setting daily limits and specific time frames.
Roblox is another noteworthy example, with the company announcing more parental controls on November 18, 2024, after revamping child safety procedures on the platform. The key difference is that the new safety rules came after numerous reports concerning the lack of real protections for its younger players.
Roblox has continued to iterate on this since. In April of this year, the company made it possible for parents to moderate their child's friend list and block specific experiences within Roblox. Last month, it introduced the "sensitive issues" tag for social, political, and religious experiences (Roblox Corporation's catch-all phrase to describe player-made environments on Roblox). This is meant for developers to label experiences that include mentions or imagery of "issues such as immigration, capital punishment, gun control, marriage equality, pay equity in sports, prayer in schools, racial profiling, affirmative action, vaccination policies, and reproductive rights," to name a few.
"We know that adapting to new guidelines can take time, and our goal is always to equip parents with the best tools to manage their children’s experiences while still allowing creators to innovate and express themselves," the announcement read at the time.