Apple iPad how-to: the best way to set up your child’s tablet, from app restrictions to location sharing

What apps should kids see on their first iPad? Should they access the camera? Share their location? This is how to set it up right from the start.

Preparing your child’s first iPad can be trickier than dressing them, convincing them to do chores, or even choosing the right school.

Get it wrong and there could be severe financial and emotional consequences.

Get it right and you can enjoy stories about their favourite apps for months to come.

We consulted experts to find out the best way to set up an Apple iPad correctly the first time to avoid family heartbreak. These are our five tips.

1. CREATE A NEW APPLE LOGIN FOR YOUR CHILD

Before you even turn on this new tablet, and perhaps while it’s charging, it’s smart to create a new Apple ID just for your child.

This will let you set up the iPad as theirs from the start, create settings just for them, and will let them send you messages.

It will also prevent the embarrassment of having your Mail or iMessages show up on their device (and letting them send demands to your colleagues).

You can create a new Apple ID for children under the age of 13 in the Family Sharing menu on your own Apple device, and set up an email address for them there.

Apple advises taking extra care when recording their birth date, as this cannot be changed later.

2. SHARE YOUR LOCATION (AND THE LOCATION OF THE IPAD)

This feature is not just useful if your child loses their iPad but also if family members need to find one another quickly.

Location-sharing options are in the Family Sharing menu, where parents can turn on Find My iPad and Share My Location.

Apple iPads feature a location-sharing option.

In practice, you can look up people and devices in the Find My app, pinpointing their device’s last known spot on a map. Options also let parents play a sound on the iPad or even erase the device remotely.

Naturally, this is something adults should discuss with kids before setting it up and all participants should recognise that location-sharing works both ways.

3. ESTABLISH HOW LONG KIDS CAN PLAY

Setting out how long your child can use their iPad and when it’s appropriate for them to use it can be established in the Screen Time menu. It’s worthwhile spending more time with these settings to head off arguments before they begin.

Downtime lets parents schedule a regular and final screen-off moment for the iPad, and it can be customised by the day as well as the time of day; allowing extra time on the weekends, for example.

Parents can also set daily time limits for apps in these menus and restrict them by categories rather than by name, such as social media or game apps.

There are also settings for controlling your child’s contact book, when they can call or message contacts, and establishing what apps your child can always access (FaceTime and Maps, for example).

4. ESTABLISH WHAT CONTENT IS OK (AND WHAT IS NOT)

Deciding what apps, websites, songs, TV shows and movies your child can see is a question for each parent (and perhaps a team of experts).

Apple iPad menus offer plenty of options in this regard inside the Content and Privacy Restrictions menu.

It’s here that you can set what pre-installed apps your child should be allowed to access (you can turn off access to the camera, for example, or AirDrop), and even the ratings of the apps they can install or videos they can stream.

Apps, movies and access to features can be set up in the Content and Privacy Restrictions menu of an iPad.

A separate menu called Content Restrictions delivers a long list of options for appropriate movie and TV ratings, app age limits, and even whether they can play games against friends or send private messages in Game Center.

It’s also here that parents can set restrictions on the iPad’s web browser, Safari, and voice assistant, Siri, to limit access to adult websites. Those who want even finer control over web content can create a list of allowed websites or a list of banned sites.

5. LOCK DOWN YOUR CREDIT CARD

This might be the fifth step but it is one of the most important: turn on Ask to Buy to avoid giving your child a digital blank cheque.

This setting, in the Family Sharing menu, will mean your child must send you a message every time they want to download and install a new app or make an in-app purchase.

It sounds like a simple setting but it could be the difference between going on holiday or getting a lot of virtual gold in a game you didn’t realise you were playing.

Originally published as Apple iPad how-to: the best way to set up your child’s tablet, from app restrictions to location sharing