Safari is the internet browser that comes with all Apple computers, and it possesses some built-in parental control features to help protect your children online. For these to work, you must first create a user profile for your child on the Apple device, then adjust the system settings to apply to Safari.
NOTE: These instructions apply to Mac computers using Sierra OS. Menu options may vary slightly, but generally the instructions should be similar for other Mac OS versions.
How to Create a User Profile for Your Child on an Apple Computer
- Log in to your administrator account on the device.
- Click System Preferences.
- Next, click Users and Groups.
- Click the lock icon in order to begin making changes. Enter your password when prompted.
- Click the + button below the list of users to add a new user.
- In the New Account drop-down menu, choose Managed with Parental Control.
- Choose the Age:
- 4+
- 9+
- 12+
- 17+
- Add the full name of your child.
- Next, enter an account name.
- Enter a password.
- Create a password hint in case your child forgets the password. (If it is forgotten, you can log in to your administrator account and reset the password).
- Click Create user.
- When finished, click the lock icon again to prevent further changes.
How to Set Parental Controls for Safari
- Click System Preferences.
- Click Parental Controls.
- Click the lock icon to make changes. Enter your password when prompted.
- Select the user account whose parental controls you want to manage.
- Click Enable Parental Controls.
- Click Web. While you can use this interface to implement parental controls for the entire computer, since this focuses on the Safari browser, we’ll ignore the other tabs and options.
- Choose one of the following options:
- Allow unrestricted access to websites
-
Try to limit access to adult websites. You can click the Customize button to add a list of sites to always allow, and a list of sites to never allow.
-
Allow access only to these websites. There are a number of websites in this list, including Bing, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others. Click the + to add another site to the list. Click a site in the list and then the - button to remove a site from the list.
- When finished, click the lock icon to prevent additional changes.