How to Setup Parental Controls on iPhone & iPod Touch (iOS4 Edition)

Here is a step-by-step guide to setup parental control restrictions on the iPhone or iPod Touch with iOS 4. For a similar tutorial for the iPad, click here. Though this page is long, the steps are generally intuitive and easy to follow. This article was also published as part of a popular Google Knol collection. If you prefer, catch the video tutorial on YouTube instead.

Mobicip Safe Browser Setup

Mobicip Safe Browser Setup Mobicip™ offers a best-selling alternate browser for Safari that enables parental controls on your child's iPhone or iPod Touch. It is simple to setup and works anytime anywhere! The Mobicip Safe Browser is protected by a mobicip.com account setup by the parent.

From the home screen on the device, touch the App Store icon.

Touch the search tab, and search for "mobicip"

Select the Mobicip Safe Browser from the search results.

Touch the price button, it will turn into BUY NOW. Touch this button and enter your iTunes username and password. 

NOTE: Please make sure you purchase the app from your iTunes account, even though your child may have a separate iTunes account to which the device is regularly synced with. 

Once purchased, the app will be installed on your screen.

When installation is done, touch the Mobicip icon to launch the app.

If you don't have a Mobicip.com account already, touch the Create New Account button.

Once the account is created, login into the app. You should see the browser open up like this.

Visit www.mobicip.com from your PC to upgrade to the Mobicip.com Premium web application. Mobicip.com Premium is a web-based parental control application that can be accessed from any browser. The Premium application allows you to setup custom Internet filtering settings and policy, and monitor Internet usage on the iPhone and iPod Touch that uses Mobicip as the primary browser.

General Parental Control Restrictions Setup

From the home screen, select Settings > General.

Select Restrictions

Enter a 4-digit passcode. Make sure you remember this passcode, in case you need to change these settings.

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You will see the restrictions screen. Set Safari, YouTube, and Installing Apps to OFF on this screen.

NOTE: Some parents may choose to allow apps to be installed with age restrictions setup, but be aware that there are still issues with the age-based ratings and browsing the App Store itself.

UPDATE: With iOS 4.2, Apple has added additional features to make the restrictions even more useful. If you have upgraded already, please do so now. iOS 4.2 includes an option to prevent the deletion of apps installed by the parent or administrator.

In another much sought after enhancement, Apple has added an option to disallow email accounts from being setup. Whether you have setup a child-friendly email service like Zilladog or Zoobuh, or you simply want to turn off email access, this gives you the ability to lock email accounts and not allow your child to setup an alternate email account. Simply scroll down on the same Restrictions screen to setup this option.

We believe that these are valuable additions and that there is enough reason to upgrade your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to iOS 4.2.

Scroll down the screen to the Allowed Content area.

Set In-App Purchases to OFF.

Select Music & Podcasts. Set Explicit to OFF.

Select Movies. Select the rating you would like to allow.

Select TV Shows. Select the rating you would like to allow.

Select Apps. Select age-based filtering for apps you would like to allow. 

Select Ratings For to change your location if necessary.

Hit the Home button to return the home screen.

NOTE: If you have multiple devices to setup, see this article.

That is it! You can be rest assured that your child will have a safe and secure Internet enabled device that he/she can use anytime anywhere!