Pairing with device controls

Windows: child account and Microsoft Family Safety

In short

Create a child account in Settings → Accounts → Family, then manage it from family.microsoft.com. You get screen time limits, app and game limits, purchase approval, and web filtering. Web filtering only applies in Microsoft Edge, which is the setting most people get wrong.

Creating the child account

A separate child account is the foundation — Family Safety has nothing to manage without one, and a child using your account inherits your permissions.

Open family settings
Go to Settings → Accounts → Family. Choose to add someone, then select that the account is for a child. You will need a Microsoft account for them; you can create one during this flow.
Sign them in on the PC
Have your child sign in to the new account once so Windows finishes creating their profile. Until they have signed in at least once, some Family Safety settings will not apply.
Confirm the account type is Standard, not Administrator
In Settings → Accounts → Family, check the account is a standard user. An administrator account can change or remove the very restrictions you are about to set, which quietly undoes the whole configuration.
Open the family dashboard
Go to family.microsoft.com and select your child. Everything from here on is configured in the browser rather than in Windows settings, and applies to any Windows device they sign in to.

What to turn on

Screen time: Set a daily limit and a schedule per device. Windows enforces this at the account level, so it cannot be dismissed the way an in-app reminder can.
App and game limits: Cap or block specific apps. Worth applying to any second browser on the machine — otherwise web filtering is trivially sidestepped.
Content filters — web and search: Blocks adult sites and turns on SafeSearch. Read the note below before relying on this: it applies only in Microsoft Edge.
Ask to buy: Requires your approval for Store purchases and downloads, including new browsers. This is what stops a child installing their way around the configuration.
Activity reporting: A weekly summary of screen time, apps, and sites. Useful as a check that the configuration is actually holding.

How this composes with Watchly

Family Safety decides whether your child is at the PC at all, for how long, and which applications they may run. It has no view inside YouTube — its web filtering works at the site level, so it can block youtube.com entirely or allow it entirely, with nothing in between.

That all-or-nothing property is the reason to pair rather than choose. Block or restrict general browsing with Family Safety, and let your child watch in Watchly, where the library is what exists. They get the videos you approved; they do not get the open catalogue.

If you want the tightest arrangement on a Windows PC: standard child account, Ask to buy on, other browsers blocked under app limits, Edge web filtering on, a daily screen-time limit, and Watchly for video. That closes the browser routes while leaving the content your child actually wants available.

Common questions

Why is web filtering not blocking anything in Chrome?

Because Microsoft Family Safety only filters in Microsoft Edge. Chrome and every other browser bypass it entirely. Block them under app limits and enable Ask to buy so a new one cannot be installed.

My child’s account can change the settings — why?

It is almost certainly an administrator account rather than a standard one. Change it in Settings → Accounts → Family. An administrator can undo any restriction you apply.

Do the limits apply on a second Windows PC?

Yes. Family Safety settings attach to the child’s Microsoft account, so they follow them onto any Windows device they sign in to.

Can Family Safety block specific YouTube channels?

No. Its web filtering works at the site level — youtube.com is allowed or blocked as a whole. Channel-level control is what a curated library provides.

Why Watchly has no device agent — and what to pair it with

The trade behind running in the browser, and how to cover the other half.

Mac: child Apple ID and Screen Time

Child Apple ID, Family Sharing, and Screen Time on macOS.

Devices and browsers

What it runs on, adding it to a home screen, and TV browsers.

Try it with your own kids

The free trial needs no card, and nothing installs — build a library, set a limit, and hand the device over.

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