The Privacy Settings Every Parent Should Change on Their Kid’s Devices

Giving a child a phone, tablet, gaming console, or laptop opens up an enormous world of entertainment, education, creativity, and communication. It also creates something children are not naturally equipped to manage on their own: a surprisingly large digital footprint.

Apps may request location access, games may allow messages from strangers, websites may track activity, and photos can contain more information than families realize. Default settings are not always the most private settings either.

Parents do not need to become cybersecurity experts. A short privacy check can remove many unnecessary risks while still allowing children to use technology normally. The exact menus differ between devices and change over time, but there are several areas worth reviewing on almost every child’s device.

Turn off unnecessary location access

Start by checking which apps can access your child’s location.

A maps app may genuinely need location information while it is being used. A weather app might need approximate location. A random game, photo editor, or entertainment app probably does not need continuous access to a child’s precise whereabouts.

Review location permissions individually and choose the most restrictive setting that still allows the app to function properly. When available, options such as “While Using the App” are generally preferable to permanent background access.

Also review whether the device allows apps to use precise rather than approximate location.

Location sharing with family members can be useful for safety, particularly as children become more independent. The goal is not necessarily disabling location services entirely. It is limiting who receives that information and why.

Restrict who can contact your child

Messaging features are increasingly built into games, social platforms, and entertainment apps.

Review who can send your child messages, friend requests, invitations, or comments. For younger children, limiting communication to approved friends or contacts can significantly reduce unwanted interactions.

Check gaming platforms separately. Parents sometimes secure the child’s phone settings while overlooking the fact that a favorite game includes voice chat with strangers.

Where possible, disable communication from unknown users and restrict who can add the child’s account to groups.

Teach children that blocking someone online is not rude when that person makes them uncomfortable. They do not owe strangers continued access to them.

Review camera, microphone, and photo permissions

Many apps request access to the camera, microphone, or photo library.

Some requests make sense. A video-calling app needs the camera. A voice messaging service needs microphone access.

Others deserve more scrutiny.

Go through the permissions list and remove access when an app does not clearly need it. If the operating system allows an app to access only selected photographs rather than the entire photo library, consider using that option.

This is also a useful opportunity to explain permissions to older children. When an app asks for access, they should learn to pause and ask why.

A permission request is a question, not an instruction.

Reduce ad tracking and personalization

Children should not need to be heavily profiled in order to play a game or watch a video.

Look for privacy settings related to personalized advertising, tracking, advertising identifiers, or sharing activity across apps and websites. Disable unnecessary personalization and cross-app tracking where those controls are available.

Individual apps may have their own advertising settings as well.

This does not necessarily eliminate advertisements. It can reduce the amount of personal information used to decide which ads a child sees.

It is also worth teaching older children how online advertising works. The content appearing on their screens is often deliberately selected to capture attention and influence behavior.

Understanding that makes advertising slightly less invisible.

Check browser privacy settings

Browsers deserve their own review.

Enable protections against known malicious or deceptive websites when available. Consider blocking third-party tracking and review cookie settings.

For younger children, parental controls may also allow you to restrict adult websites or limit browsing to approved sites.

Safe-search features can provide another layer of protection, although no filter is perfect.

As children get older, technical restrictions should increasingly be combined with digital literacy. Teenagers need to understand suspicious links, fake download buttons, phishing attempts, scams, and websites requesting unnecessary personal information.

Eventually, judgment becomes more important than any filter.

Lock down purchases and downloads

Privacy and financial safety overlap quickly when children use connected devices.

Require parental approval or authentication for app downloads and purchases, particularly for younger children. Review whether games allow in-app purchases and whether payment information is stored on the device.

Children may not always understand that digital currencies inside games represent real money.

Subscriptions deserve attention too. Free trials can quietly become recurring charges, while some apps encourage repeated small purchases that accumulate quickly.

Setting restrictions beforehand is much easier than trying to negotiate after an unexpected bill arrives.

Review social media accounts carefully

If your child uses social media, start with account visibility.

For younger teenagers, private accounts can provide a useful additional layer of control over who can view their posts. Review who can comment, tag them, mention them, send direct messages, or see their activity.

Check location-sharing features within individual social apps as well.

Talk about what appears in photographs before posting. School uniforms, house numbers, street signs, regular locations, schedules, and other details can reveal more than children realize.

Privacy settings reduce exposure, but they cannot guarantee privacy. Screenshots exist, accounts can be compromised, and friends can reshare content.

Children should understand that posting to a limited audience is safer than posting publicly, but it is not the same as keeping something completely private.

Hide sensitive information from the lock screen

Notifications can reveal information even when a device is locked.

Messages, verification codes, email subjects, calendar events, and other details may appear on the screen without anyone unlocking the phone.

Consider changing notification settings so sensitive content is hidden until the device is unlocked.

A strong passcode matters too.

Avoid extremely obvious codes such as birthdays or simple repeated numbers. Enable biometric unlocking when appropriate, but make sure the child understands why the passcode itself still needs to remain private.

For older children, this is also a good opportunity to introduce password managers and unique passwords for important accounts.

Turn on account recovery and security protections

A child’s first online accounts are a good place to establish security habits that can last into adulthood.

Use unique passwords rather than repeating the same password everywhere. Enable two-factor authentication on important accounts when available.

Make sure recovery information is accurate and appropriately managed by a parent when the child is too young to handle it independently.

Account recovery deserves more attention than it usually receives. Losing access to an email account can affect access to many other services connected to it.

The goal is to make accounts difficult for strangers to enter but relatively straightforward for the family to recover legitimately.

Check backup and cloud-sharing settings

Photos and files may automatically upload to cloud services.

That can be useful if a device is lost or damaged, but parents should understand where the information is being stored and who can access it.

Review shared albums, family folders, automatic photo backups, and file-sharing permissions.

Older children should also learn that deleting something from their device does not always mean every copy disappears immediately. Backups, shared folders, messages, and other people’s devices may still contain copies.

Digital information behaves differently from physical information, and understanding that is an important part of privacy education.

Revisit settings instead of doing it once

Privacy settings change.

Apps update. Children download new services. Devices introduce new features. A setting that made sense for an eight-year-old may be far too restrictive for a sixteen-year-old.

Create a habit of reviewing privacy and security settings periodically.

You might do it whenever a child gets a new device, installs a major social platform, or reaches a stage where they need more digital independence.

Involve older children in the process rather than changing everything secretly.

Show them what you are adjusting and explain why. The long-term goal is not to personally manage their privacy forever.

It is to teach them how to manage it themselves.

Teach privacy, not just restrictions

Parental controls are useful, but eventually children grow beyond them.

The most important protection is helping children understand why privacy matters.

Teach them to question unnecessary permissions, protect passwords, recognize scams, think before sharing personal information, and come to you when something online feels uncomfortable.

Make it clear that asking for help will not automatically result in losing their device. If children believe reporting an online mistake means immediate punishment, they may hide problems precisely when they most need adult support.

Technology will continue changing, and privacy menus will move around with every new generation of devices.

The underlying habits are more durable.

Share less than necessary. Give apps only the access they need. Protect important accounts. Be careful about who can contact you. Think before posting.

Those lessons will still matter long after parents are no longer the ones changing the settings.