App Control Parental Mac

We show you how to create a child's account and set up parental controls on your Mac so the little ones can be safe while using macOS. Then be sure to also read Best parental control apps for.

6 Ways to Prevent Your Kids from Bypassing Circle Parental Controls

Circle has become a handy tool for parents looking to balance their family’s screen time by blocking online content and setting limits. For that reason, it’s not always a welcome addition for the whole family. Curious and crafty kids may try to find ways to bypass parental controls. Here are ways you can prevent what is called kid evasion with Circle Home Plus’s advanced features.

Tactic 1: A kid tries to delete the Circle App
The easiest way for kids to bypass parental controls is to simply delete the app from their devices. Circle will immediately send you a notification that the app was deleted, but you can also set up your kid’s device so that they can’t delete or add any apps without your permission. We recommend the following articles for more details:
- How to resolve evasion issues for iOS
- How to resolve evasion issues for Android

Tactic 2: A kid tries to access admin privileges to change settings from your Circle App
Circle allows you to password protect your Circle App by setting a four-digit pass code, so only you (or anyone who has your pin) can access and change the application settings. Here’s how to set up your pin so that a lock code is always required to gain administrative access to your Circle account.

Tactic 3: A kid tries to factory reset your Circle settings
All parental control settings for your Circle account are saved in the cloud, not on the device, so they remain intact if a manual factory reset is mysteriously deployed on your device. You’ll also receive a message that says, “Your Circle Home Plus has been reset to factory defaults” if this should occur.

Tactic 4: A kid removes the Circle device from its power source
Circle Home Plus comes with a temporary battery backup that will keep the device running if a kid tries to remove it from its power source. Parents will also receive a notification when the battery is low or when Circle Home Plus is powered down.

Tactic 5: A kid disconnects the Circle device from the home networkCircle Home Plus also informs you when your device becomes unplugged from the Ethernet cable or removed from your home’s Wi-Fi so you can address the issue immediately. Kids may also try to unplug the Ethernet connection between Circle and your router. One way to pre-empt this is to use the Circle App to set up Wi-Fi backup or to connect your Circle device over Wi-Fi only so you can hide it out of view but still keep it close to your router.

Tactic 6: A kid tries to break the Circle device
Circle Home Plus has been built with tampering in mind. Kids will have a difficult time attempting to physically open or break it because of the way the hardware was designed. Now you won’t have to worry about probing minds trying to pry open the device to experiment with wires and cables.

Have a super tech-savvy tween or teen?
No matter what you do to manage and filter screen usage, some kids are just extremely motivated to bypass parental controls settings. Here are more evasion tips for parents of the super tech savvy:
- MAC spoofing: What does MAC spoofing even mean? Simply put, this is when someone creates a new ID number for a specific device and uses it to access the network. Circle allows parents to see these different ID numbers pop up so they can address the issue.
- Installing a new VPN: A virtual private network, or VPN, can be used to get around your standard Wi-Fi and Circle settings. If you’ve set up your kid’s device to prevent app installation and deletion without your permission then you’re covered. You can use also Circle’s VPN and proxies filter category. (Circle will also alert you if any unusual activity occurs.)
- Using another device as a hotspot: A hotspot basically broadcasts a new network that’s not managed by Circle. Talk to your carrier about how to disable hotspot functionality on your kid’s mobile device.
- Using admin-level permissions on a device or router: Some powerful configuration settings for a router or device are only available to administrator-level users. To prevent these from being used to override Circle, we recommend setting up kids as normal users on their devices and keeping admin passwords for the router to yourself.

Kid evasion and Circle 1st generation
The first-generation Circle with Disney device offers pin code lock and app notifications to help avoid kid evasion issues. Here are more differences between the latest Circle Home Plus system and the original first-two Circle generations.

Set Content & Privacy Restrictions

Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Continue, then choose 'This is My [Device]' or 'This is My Child's [Device].'
- If you're the parent or guardian of your device and want to prevent another family member from changing your settings, tap Use Screen Time Passcode to create a passcode, then re-enter the passcode to confirm. In iOS 13.4 and later, after you confirm your passcode you'll be asked to enter your Apple ID and password. This can be used to reset your Screen Time passcode if you forget it.
- If you're setting up Screen Time on your child's device, follow the prompts until you get to Parent Passcode and enter a passcode. Re-enter the passcode to confirm. In iOS 13.4 and later, after you confirm your passcode you'll be asked to enter your Apple ID and password. This can be used to reset your Screen Time passcode if you forget it.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode, then turn on Content & Privacy.

Make sure to choose a passcode that's different from the passcode you use to unlock your device. To change or turn off the passcode on your child's device, tap Settings > Screen Time > [your child's name]. Then tap Change Screen Time Passcode or Turn Off Screen Time Passcode, and authenticate the change with Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode.

If you forgot your Screen Time passcode, update your device to the latest iOS or iPadOS then reset your passcode. If you can’t update your device, erase it and set it up as new to remove the passcode and choose a new one. Restoring your device from a backup won't remove your passcode.

Learn more about using Family Sharing with Screen Time.

Prevent iTunes & App Store purchases

You can also prevent your child from being able to install or delete apps, make in-app purchases, and more. To prevent iTunes & App Store purchases or downloads:

Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases.
Choose a setting and set to Don't Allow.

You can also change your password settings for additional purchases from the iTunes & App Store or Book Store. Follow steps 1-3, then choose Always Require or Don't Require.

Allow built-in apps and features

You can restrict the use of built-in apps or features. If you turn off an app or feature, it won’t delete it, it’s just temporarily hidden from your Home screen. For example, if you turn off Mail, the Mail app won't appear on your Home Screen until you turn it back on.

To change your Allowed Apps:

Go to Settings > Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap Allowed Apps.
Select the apps that you want to allow.

Prevent explicit content and content ratings

You can also prevent the playback of music with explicit content and movies or TV shows with specific ratings. Apps also have ratings that can be configured using content restrictions.

To restrict explicit content and content ratings:

Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.
Choose the settings you want for each feature or setting under Allowed Store Content.

Here are the types of content that you can restrict:

Ratings For: Select the country or region in the ratings section to automatically apply the appropriate content ratings for that region
Music, Podcasts & News: Prevent the playback of music, music videos, podcasts, and news containing explicit content
Music Videos: Prevent finding and viewing music videos
Music Profiles: Prevent sharing what you're listening to with friends and seeing what they're listening to
Movies: Prevent movies with specific ratings
TV shows: Prevent TV shows with specific ratings
Books: Prevent content with specific ratings
Apps: Prevent apps with specific ratings

Prevent web content

iOS can automatically filter website content to limit access to adult content in Safari and apps on your device. You can also add specific websites to an approved or blocked list, or you can limit access to only approved websites. Follow these steps:

Go to Settings > Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap Content Restrictions, then tap Web Content.
Choose Unrestricted Access, Limit Adult Websites, or Allowed Websites Only.

Depending on the access you allow, you might need to add information, like the website that you want to restrict.

Restrict Siri web search

To restrict Siri features:

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Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.
Scroll down to Siri, then choose your settings.

You can restrict these Siri features:

Web Search Content: Prevent Siri from searching the web when you ask a question
Explicit Language: Prevent Siri from displaying explicit language

Restrict Game Center

To restrict Game Center features:

Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.
Scroll down to Game Center, then choose your settings.

You can restrict these Game Center features:

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Multiplayer Games: Prevent the ability to play multiplayer games
Adding Friends: Prevent the ability to add friends to Game Center
Screen Recording: Prevent the ability to capture the screen and sound

Allow changes to privacy settings

The privacy settings on your device give you control over which apps have access to information stored on your device or the hardware features. For example, you can allow a social-networking app to request access to use the camera, which allows you to take and upload pictures.

To allow changes to privacy settings:

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Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
Tap Privacy, then choose the settings you want to restrict.

Here are the things you can restrict:

Location Services: Lock the settings to allow apps and websites to use location
Contacts: Prevent apps from accessing your Contacts
Calendars: Prevent apps from accessing your Calendar
Reminders: Prevent apps from accessing your Reminders
Photos: Prevent apps from requesting access to your photos
Share My Location: Lock the settings for location sharing in Messages and Find My Friends
Bluetooth sharing: Prevent devices and apps from sharing data through Bluetooth
Microphone: Prevent apps from requesting access to your microphone
Speech Recognition: Prevent apps from accessing Speech Recognition or Dictation
Advertising: Prevent changes to advertising settings
Media & Apple Music: Prevent apps from accessing your photos, videos, or music library

Allow changes to other settings and features

You can allow changes to other settings and features, the same way you can allow changes to privacy settings.

Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
Under Allow Changes, select the features or settings you want to allow changes to and choose Allow or Don't Allow.

Here are some features and settings you can allow changes for:

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Passcode Changes: Prevent changes to your passcode
Account Changes: Prevent changes to settings for Accounts & Passwords
Cellular Data Changes: Prevent changes to cellular data settings
Volume Limit: Prevent changes to volume settings for safe listening
Do Not Disturb While Driving: Prevent changes to Do Not Disturb While Driving
TV Provider: Prevent changes to TV provider settings
Background App Activities: Prevent changes to whether or not apps run in the background