How to block social media on your child's phone

Australia's under-16 rules changed what platforms have to do. They didn't change anything on the phone in your kid's pocket.

That catches a lot of parents out. The law is a duty on the platforms — it isn't a switch on the device, and nobody comes to your house to flip it. If you want social media actually blocked on your child's phone tonight, that part is still yours to do.

Here's what's built in, where each option stops, and what to do if you want it covered properly.

What the ban actually does

From 10 December 2025, the law requires age-restricted platforms to stop under-16s holding accounts.

It includes Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, X, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and Kick, and more services have self-assessed since. The published lists cover the services eSafety has assessed or that platforms have self-assessed — they are not a list of all online services.

Two things follow, and they're the ones worth knowing:

It's about accounts, not access. A platform's job is to stop an under-16 holding an account. A browser can still open the site.

It doesn't cover everything your child uses. Games, group chats and messaging aren't in scope. Fortnite, Minecraft and AI companion apps appear on neither eSafety list — they haven't been assessed, which is not the same as being ruled exempt.

The built-in options, and where they stop

On an iPhone. Go to Settings > Screen Time > [your child's name] > Content & Privacy Restrictions > App Store, Media, Web & Games > Web Content, and choose Limit Adult Websites or Only Approved Websites. The second is stricter: nothing opens unless you've listed it.

On Android. In the Family Link app, pick your child, tap Controls, then Google Chrome and Web. Under Manage sites, tap Approved sites and Blocked sites, then Add a website. Google notes this applies "no matter what other Chrome browsing settings are enabled for your child." Your child can tap Ask in a message to request a site, which comes to you for approval.

On the home wifi. Router-level filtering is real and free, but it only covers your home network. The moment they're on mobile data or a friend's wifi, it's gone.

Three honest limits apply to all of the above:

• Anyone who knows the Screen Time passcode can undo it. Kids watch you type.
• It's per-device. A tablet, an old phone in a drawer, a school laptop — each needs doing.
• Anything that filters network traffic — router filtering, content-filter apps — can be routed around with a VPN. Approaches that work inside the browser or at the app level are affected differently.

None of that makes the built-in tools pointless. It just means "I turned on Screen Time" isn't the same as "it's handled."

What you can do tonight

1. Pick the devices, not the apps. List every screen your child actually uses, including the forgotten ones. Whatever you set up has to cover each.
2. Set a Screen Time or Family Link passcode your child hasn't watched you type. Not their birthday. This is the single thing that most often undoes everything else.
3. Block at the account level too. If they already have accounts on the restricted platforms, the accounts don't disappear on their own.
4. Tell them what you did and why. A block discovered by accident is a fight. A block explained beforehand is a rule. Same setting, completely different week.
5. Decide what happens when they ask. They will. Deciding in advance is easier than deciding at 9pm.

The part that isn't a setting

Blocking works on the things you can name. It does nothing about a group chat that turns nasty, a stranger being friendly in a game lobby, or a video that shouldn't have been in a kids' feed.

That's not an argument against blocking — do block. It's an argument against thinking the job is finished when the toggle goes green. The ban stops at the App Store. Bullying doesn't.

A note from us

Our oldest son was chatting online with another "child" who wanted him to travel from Brisbane to Sydney to meet up. Luckily we caught it in time.

We're Sunshine Coast parents and tattoo-studio owners, not software developers. We built Aunty Bea because no parent can watch every second, and we didn't think we were alone in that.

When you install Aunty Bea on your family's devices, social-media blocking — Aunty Bea Social Lock — is free. No expiry, no cost, no card.

If you want to know exactly which services are covered and which aren't, our plain-English list is at which apps are in Australia's social media ban — and Aunty Bea is at auntybea.app.

Sources

1. Apple Support (AU) — "Use parental controls on your child's iPhone"
2. Google Families Help — Family Link, manage sites in Chrome

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