Apple and American Academy of Pediatrics release new guide to help families manage screen time

Apple has partnered with the American Academy of Pediatrics to release a new guide designed to help parents build healthier digital habits for their children.

The new resource combines guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics with Apple’s parental controls, including several features introduced across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

Called “Building Healthy Digital Habits: A Guide for Families,” the guide is designed to help families balance screen time with sleep, exercise, schoolwork, and time spent with friends and family.

Rather than recommending a single screen-time limit for every child, Apple and the AAP encourage families to discuss technology use and create a plan that can change as children get older.

The guide is structured around six steps, beginning with having a conversation about screen time and establishing expectations that include children in the process.

Parents are then encouraged to create a Child Account, which enables age-based safeguards and provides access to Apple’s parental controls.

Apple highlights tools including Ask to Buy and the new Ask to Browse feature, which can require children to request permission before downloading a new app or visiting a new website.

The guide also recommends creating schedules around device use so time online can be balanced against sleep, schoolwork, physical activity, and family time.

Parents can control who their children communicate with, while Apple’s Communication Safety feature can intervene when sensitive content is detected.

Communication Safety is enabled by default for users under 18.

Apple and the AAP also encourage parents to revisit their family’s approach over time rather than treating the initial settings as permanent.

The guide includes more detailed AAP recommendations covering different age groups from infants through teenagers.

The release follows a significant expansion of Apple’s parental controls in iOS 27.

Screen Time has been redesigned to give parents an at-a-glance view of average device usage and the apps their children use most. Parents can also set total daily allowances across categories including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media.

Schedules allow different apps to become available at different points during the day, while parents can decide which apps a child can access when initially setting up their device.

Apple says the new Screen Time features are available now with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.

For the updated Screen Time experience to work across a Family Sharing group, Apple says all products in the group need to be running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, or visionOS 27 as appropriate.

The guide is available through Apple’s Support website and is intended to give families a starting point for deciding how technology fits into everyday life rather than prescribing the same rules for every household.