Now is the time to set up iCloud's 'Family Sharing' for your family - and take back control of the kids' technology

Many of you will already be aware that Apple's new set of iPhones will be announced this coming week, on Sept 12th. There are already lots of rumours about what these new iPhones will look like - here is just one article about this from The Age this week: Apple's iPhone Xs: What we know about the three new iPhone models expected next week.

Also arriving in the next week or two will be iOS 12, the upgraded operating system for our Apple Mobile devices. 

As has been previously mentioned in this blog, this new version of iOS is going to be a must-have for families with children on i-Devices, as it includes an amazing set of new Parental Controls - known as Screen Time - that will allow parents to take back some control of the devices in their children's lives!

iOS 12's Screen Time features will include great features to help parents ...

Screen Time will provide the following controls that parents can apply to their child's devices:

• ​​Downtime for their child's device/s - a daily schedule for when all, or nearly all, of the apps on the device are disabled,
• App Limits for individual (or all) categories of apps, allowing daily time limits can be set for these apps,
• Always Allowed apps, for those apps that should not be impacted by Downtime and App Limits, and
• Content and Privacy Restrictions, which correlate to the current Restrictions settings found in pre-iOS 12 devices, in Settings -> General -> Restrictions

Parents will also be able to View reports of their child's usage of the device/s, including websites they visit! 

Of course, screen time is not just about managing our children's time on devices - it is also about helping us to manage our own screen time!

However, as a business that regularly runs sessions about protecting children on technology and helps parents manage all the technology in their household, we at iTandCoffee see the Screen Time settings as such an important step by Apple in helping parents manage their child's use of devices.

​Here is Apple's press release about these new features: iOS 12 introduces new features to reduce interruptions and manage Screen Time

Why something called Family Sharing is important when it comes to Screen Time

As with the current set of Restrictions​ available as parental controls in iOS 11 and earlier, the new Screen Time settings will be able to be set on a device-by-device basis (ie. on each device). A Screen Time Passcode must be set on the device to keep the child from changing the controls that are set up.

Make sure this Screen Time Passcode is a different passcode to your device's unlock passcode, as we know that kids are notorious for 'hacking' these!

A key feature of the new Screen Time settings is that a parent will be able to set up the Screen Time controls on their child's device from their own device! We love this addition, as it gives parents so much more dynamic control over what their children can do on their devices, without needing to even be in the same room as the device!

However, the ability to set the Screen Time controls from a parent's device depends on all the devices in the family being linked by something called Family Sharing.

What is Family Sharing

Family Sharing is a feature of iCloud that allows families to share content, music, iCloud Storage, their location, and - under iOS 12 - to also manage a child's Screen Time settings from the parent's device.

​Each member of the family must have their own Apple ID - including each child in the family. If you are sharing your own iCloud Apple ID with your child/children, this is something you will need to resolve in order to manage your child's Screen Time settings from your own device.

​We have covered this issue - a condition we call iCloud Confusion - in previous iTandCoffee articles.  Here are just a few on this topic:

• What to do about a case of iCloud Confusion in your family
• Was iCloud to blame for this family's sad state of upheaval?  
• Is your iCloud set up correctly?​ 

We won't cover here how to resolve a case of iCloud Confusion. We do discuss this at the information session described below. If you need assistance with sorting out your iCloud mess, give us a call on (03) 9886 0814 or email [email protected]. Or book an appointment online - at your place or ours.

How to set up Family Sharing

I was going to write out the instructions for how to set up Family Sharing and a Child Apple ID. But just this week, I saw an article that does a very good job of describing the steps - so, why re-invent the wheel!

Here is the article:

• How to create and add a child account to Family Sharing - iMore

Upcoming Information Sessions on Screen Time and Family Sharing

iTandCoffee runs regular information sessions on the topic of 'Keeping Kids Safe on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch'. These sessions now include details of the new parental controls offered by iOS 12.

Check the list below for the 'in-school' and 'at iTandCoffee' sessions currently scheduled. School sessions are for parents of the listed school only. Sessions at iTandCoffee are open to anyone. Choose Book Now if you would like to come along!

​If you would like to see the session run at your own school, please contact us on (03) 9886 0814 or email [email protected].