iOS 27 rolled out on September 14, and if your teen has already updated, their phone looks and works a little differently. The big headline this year is Siri AI, Apple's smarter, chattier assistant. Apple also rolled out its biggest batch of parental control updates in years, and some of them are genuinely good news for families.
But a few of Apple's safety features still don't go far enough. Below, we'll walk through what's new, what's still missing, how to rein in the new Siri on your child's phone, and a few fun features the whole family can enjoy.
What's New for Parents in iOS 27
Ask to Browse
Think of this as Ask to Buy, but for the internet. When Ask to Browse is on, your child has to request permission before visiting a new website, and you can approve or decline it from your own phone. It's on by default for kids under 13, but parents of older kids will need to turn it on themselves.
Choosing apps from day one
When setting up a new iPhone for a child, you can now pick exactly which built-in apps your kid can use from the setup screen. You can choose Apple's recommended set or hand-pick them yourself. The important distinction is that this only applies to system apps such as Phone, Messages, Notes, Camera, Clock, etc. It doesn’t apply to apps from the App Store, which are still managed by Ask to Buy.
Time Allowances and Schedules
Instead of setting limits app by app, you can now set daily time budgets for whole categories like Games, Social Media, and Entertainment. Schedules let you decide which apps work at certain times, so school hours and bedtime can look different from their free time.
A redesigned Screen Time dashboard
Screen Time got a much-needed makeover, with an at-a-glance view of how your child uses their phone and one-tap options to pause the device or adjust a schedule.
Where Apple Still Falls Short
Kids can still choose to view nudity
Apple's Communication Safety feature blurs photos and videos that appear to contain nudity, and in iOS 27 it now covers gore and violence too. That sounds great until you learn what happens next. Kids are shown a warning and some resources, and then they can choose to view the image anyway. And parents aren't notified when they do.
We at Bark have been saying this for a long time, and we'll keep saying it: kids shouldn't be the ones making that call. A curious 12-year-old faced with a blurred photo and a "view anyway" option is going to tap it more often than not. And when the image comes from a predator or a classmate pressuring them to send one back, a warning screen isn't enough protection.
The new controls don't turn on by themselves
Updating your child's phone doesn't automatically switch on the new parental controls. Every device in your Family Sharing group has to be on the latest software, including that old iPad in the junk drawer, and then a parent has to update Screen Time in Settings. Until you do that, nothing changes.
Controls manage access, not what's actually happening
Even with everything turned on, Apple's tools mostly decide what your child can open and when. They won't tell you if a group chat has turned cruel, if someone your child is messaging starts saying things that make them uncomfortable, or if your child is searching for things that suggest they're struggling.
What Parents Should Know About Siri AI
Siri is now a full conversational AI assistant, with its own app, access to the web, and the ability to answer open-ended questions, brainstorm, and write messages for you. That means every kid with a compatible iPhone now has an AI chatbot built right into their phone.
At this time, it doesn’t appear that Apple gives parents the option to block their child’s access to this AI completely. But they can block some things, including Writing Access and Image Creation (you can find this by going to Settings > Family > Your child's name > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri).
Still, a settings menu can't replace a conversation. Talk with your kids about what AI is good for, when it gets things wrong, and why it's no substitute for a friend or a trusted adult.
iOS 27: The Fun Stuff
Liquid Glass you can actually adjust
If the see-through look from iOS 26 wasn't your thing, a new slider lets you set it anywhere from ultraclear to fully tinted.
Shared Albums that work for everyone
Family members on Android can now join iCloud Shared Albums and add their own photos in full resolution. So now mixed iPhone-and-Android families don’t have to download a separate photo-sharing app just to collect pictures from the family vacation.
Safari Notify Me
Safari can now keep an eye on a webpage and alert you when something changes, like a price drop or an item coming back in stock. Just in time for holiday shopping season.
How Bark Can Help Fill In the Gaps
iOS 27 is a step forward in some ways, and features like choosing system apps in setup and Ask to Browse give parents more say than before. But as long as kids can choose to view explicit images with a tap, and parents stay in the dark about what's happening inside their child's conversations, there's still a big gap to fill.
That's where Bark comes in. The Bark app monitors your child's devices and sends alerts for issues like sexting, predators, bullying, and signs of depression, so you know when it's time to step in. And if your child isn't ready for an iPhone, the Bark Phone comes with parental controls built in from day one. That includes an explicit image blocker that automatically removes child nudity from the device and alerts you, so your child never has to make that call on their own. Check out our full suite of parental control products to learn how Bark helps keep kids safer online.
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Bark helps families manage and protect their children’s digital lives.
