Video-centric social media app TikTok is extremely popular with the younger crowd, including teens and pre-teens. If you’re a parent who is worried about your child spending an ever-increasing amount of time on the social app, you should know that TikTok includes a host of parental controls, as well as privacy settings meant to allow young users to enjoy TikTok safely. This tutorial shows how to activate TikTok parental controls.
Good to know: make sure you also show your children how to block people on TikTok if someone is bothering them.
Does TikTok Have an Age Limit?
TikTok will automatically adjust its settings based on the date of birth entered when you create an account. With this in mind, TikTok has different rules for different ages:
- Under 13 – users this age have access to the “under 13 TikTok experience.” It provides a more limited experience designed with additional safety protections. For instance, this age group can’t post videos or comment. For all kids under 18, TikTok automatically sets a 60-minute daily screen time limit that can be extended or modified via parental controls.
- Age 13-15 – by default, accounts created in this age group are automatically set to Private. Only approved accounts can comment on the content shared by kids in this age group, and their videos can’t be used for Duet/Stitching or other collaborative features in TikTok. Users this age also can’t download TikTok videos.
- Age 16-17 – this age group can opt between a private and public account. They can also send direct messages, although they’ll need to first enable this feature from Settings. Duet/Stitching and video downloading cannot be posted by accounts in this age group.
Despite these measures, TikTok does not require age verification checks when signing up, so a young person can easily lie about their age. Parents should take proactive steps to mitigate the risk to ensure a safe online experience on TikTok.
Tip: unlike TikTok, Instagram doesn’t natively allow you to download Reels, but you can, using one of these tools.
How to Set Up Family Pairing in TikTok
In the TikTok app, parental controls exist under the Family Pairing section. You can only set up Family Pairing in the TikTok app and not while using a PC.
Open the TikTok app on your phone. We are using the Android TikTok app. Tap on the Profile icon in the lower-right corner of the display.
Tap on the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner of the display.
Select Settings and privacy from the pop-up menu. Press Family Pairing in the Content & Display section.
Tap the Continue button.
Let’s begin by creating the Parent account. Press Next.
To link the two accounts, ask your child to either scan the generated QR code or send an invite.
If you opt for the former, your child will have to follow the steps above, selecting Teen instead of Parent, and then use their device to scan the code. On the child’s device, press Scan code.
Once the operation is complete, press Link accounts on the child’s device to confirm the connection.
Tap Link in the pop-up to finalize the process.
On the parent’s device, you will see a Parental controls dashboard that shows the accounts that are linked to yours. Add more than one account by pressing the + button. To start managing a child’s account, parents should press the child’s username.
On the child’s device, there is access to a few options, such as Refresh your For You feed, adding keywords to filter videos, and disabling personalized search or feeds. These are available under Content preferences. However, you won’t be able to modify screen time and other privacy and safety options.
Depending on your child’s age, some options under Privacy and safety will also be available to tweak on the child’s device. For instance, setting the account to private and managing interactions, such as comments, @mentions, and syncing contacts and Facebook friends.
Tip: check out these TikTok alternatives, if you have had enough of the Chinese app.
Parental Control Options in TikTok
Once the two accounts are connected, parents can access a series of parental controls from their devices.
- Screen Time Management – set your child’s TikTok screen time limit. Once their time is up, they’ll need a passcode to keep scrolling. You can also extend their time.
- Push notifications schedule – push notifications can prove disruptive, especially if your child is at school or doing their homework. This section allows parents to block TikTok notifications, preventing their kid’s phone from getting flooded at certain hours.
- Restricted Mode – Restricted Mode limits access to content that may not be appropriate for some viewers. This mode prevents your child from logging out or switching to another account, ensuring they can’t bypass the restrictions. The option is under Content preferences.
- Search – lets parents turn off the search function for the child’s account to prevent them from accidentally stumbling upon inappropriate content.
- Privacy & safety – this section allows parents to add extra layers of security to their child’s account. Accounts can be made private, for instance, and we encourage this. It minimizes the chances of children interacting with the wrong people. In the Safety section, parents can set additional preferences for Who can send direct messages to your teen, Who can view your teen’s liked videos, and Who can comment on your teen’s videos. Choices include Everyone (Public), Friends, and No one.
How to Use Screen Time Features in TikTok
If you trust your child, it may not be necessary to set up Family Pairing after all. Tweak some settings on their device instead of using the options offered by Screen Time.
Open the TikTok app on your phone, and go to Settings and privacy. On PC, click your profile picture in the upper right, and select Settings.
Scroll down and tap Screen Time above Family Pairing.
Here you can opt to set several restrictions:
- Daily screen time – set a limit on how much time is spent on TikTok daily.
- Screen time breaks – the app will remind you to take time off from swiping on TikTok after a period of uninterrupted time.
- Sleep reminders – these alerts can help your child get ready for bed and will mute push notifications for the app. To disable all push notifications on Android, check out our guide.
- Weekly screen time updates – you can opt to get screen time information updates directly in your inbox.
- Summary – shows an at-a-glance view of weekly time spent on the app and on TikTok.
- Restricted mode– this used to be available here, but is now found under Settings and privacy -> Content preferences.
Just bear in mind that your child can easily reverse the changes you’ve made to the settings of this app.
Tip: TikTok lets you check who is viewing your profile.
How to Unlink Family Pairing Accounts
At some point, parents may want to grant total autonomy to their kids while using TikTok. If that’s your case, learn how to unlink the two accounts.
On the parent’s device, go to Family Pairing in TikTok, and tap on the child’s account. Press the Unlink button at the bottom.
Confirm your choice by choosing Unlink once again.
The two TikTok accounts will now be separate, and the teenager/young adult will not experience any restrictions while browsing on the TikTok app (other than those imposed by TikTok based on the age category). Note that the unlinking process can be initiated from the child’s account too.
Go to Family Pairing on the child’s device, and tap on the three dots in the upper-right corner.
Select the Unlink account option from the pop-up menu.
The child can press the Unlink button to confirm. The unpairing won’t happen instantly, as Family Pairing settings will continue to apply for the next 48 hours.
The parent account will see a notification that the child’s account has disconnected the two accounts.
If you feel like your child needs even more supervision online, you may want to install Google Family Link on both devices. The app will let you control how much time your youngster uses any of the apps on their smartphone.
Tip: if you also need a kid-friendly browser for safe web browsing, check out these options.
You can also control how much time your child spends on TikTok from their phone’s settings. On Android and iPhone, check out Digital Wellbeing and Screen Time.
Image credit: Freekpik, Flaticon. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
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