With gaming being more popular than ever and many games targeted at children, it’s expected that we will have concerns regarding safety and device usage. If you’re familiar with the Nintendo Switch then you’ll be glad to know that Nintendo has you covered with parental controls to monitor your child’s gaming. In this article we look at setting up parental controls to monitor your child’s gaming experiencing.
Using parental controls through the app
To set up parental controls you will need to download the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls application onto your Android or iOS device. This app is free to download, but data fees may apply if mobile data is used. Once downloaded, open the app and select Settings. Then, follow the on-screen instruction to link the console to the app. When the app is successfully linked you will have access to the parental settings.
The brilliant thing about this? You can do this remotely via the app without needing to watch the console constantly. You can choose from the available settings:
Set a play time limit
If you’re concerned about the amount of time your child may be playing on their switch, why not set a play time limit? A play time limit is a daily limit that you can set which means the console can be used between No Restrictions and 6 hours. If necessary, you can remove any restrictions. When the daily limit has been reached, you are able to choose if the game completely closes or if a notification is sent to advise the limit has been reached. This is ideal for school nights whereby you can ensure your children will be off the game to get a good night’s sleep, but also means you can relax the restrictions on weekends when they may be allowed that extra half hour!
Set content restrictions
In a world where most content is easily accessible, restricting the content itself is an easy solution. This way you can ensure your child is only using content deemed suitable for their age category. To do this, you can select Restricted Software and choose which age you need to restrict the software for. This will base the restrictions on the PEGI rating system, but you can adjust the content rating system to another region if required.
Whitelist software
If there is software with falls under an age restriction category, but you are comfortable with your child using, then you can whitelist it. This setting means that you can exclude selected software from restricted categories. You can remove the software from the whitelist at any time. It should be noted that whitelisting software does not exclude it from play time restrictions, so any set limits will still apply.
Nintendo eShop restrictions
You can also set eShop restrictions to prevent any accidental purchases of software and in-game purchases. This is not done via the parental settings on the app. Instead, visit the official Nintendo website to sign into your account. Then, select ‘Family Group’ and choose the account you wish to manage restrictions on. Here, you can set specific spending restrictions such as disabling purchases and automatic renewal options. You can also set age-based purchase restrictions, meaning that some content will automatically be restricted by the age that is chosen.
To summarise
The options available via the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls and the account settings revolutionise the way we can monitor our children’s gaming experience. This means controlling time limits and the content being played without physically standing over your child’s shoulders.