Parental controls on PS5, Xbox and Switch
How to set spending limits, age restrictions and screen time on each console — and the two settings that matter most.
Every current console has parental controls, and they are more capable than most parents realise. The three things worth setting are spending, age ratings and time.
One principle first: create the child a child account under your adult account rather than letting them use yours. Almost every control depends on that structure, and retrofitting it later is harder than doing it at the start.
How do I set parental controls on PS5?
Go to Settings > Family and Parental Controls.
From there you can set, per child account:
- Monthly spending limit — including zero.
- Age level for games, which blocks titles above the rating you choose.
- Play time — daily limits and permitted hours, with the console either warning or logging out.
- Communication and user-generated content — whether they can message and see content from other players.
How do I set age limits on Xbox?
Go to Settings > Account > Family settings, or manage it from the Xbox Family Settings app on a phone, which is easier.
The app gives you age-appropriate content filters, screen time schedules, spending controls with purchase approval requests, and activity reports showing what has actually been played.
How do I limit screen time on the Switch?
Download the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app on a phone and link it to the console. This is the main tool and it is more capable than the console''s own menus.
It lets you set a daily time limit, set a bedtime after which the console suspends play, restrict games by age rating, and see a monthly report of what was played and for how long. You can also extend or cut a session remotely from your phone.
How do I block purchases on my child''s account?
Three layers, and using all three is the reliable approach:
1. Set the spending limit to zero on the child account.
2. Remove the saved payment method from the account entirely. This is the one people skip, and it is the most effective — a setting can be changed, a card that is not there cannot be charged.
3. Require a password at every purchase, so nothing completes silently.
For a child who wants to buy things, gift cards are the ideal answer: they can only spend the balance you loaded, and they learn to budget it.
Where overspending actually happens
Not usually on games. It happens inside free games — microtransactions, battle passes and in-game currency, where there is no purchase moment a parent would notice.
If you set only one thing, remove the saved card. Everything else is a refinement on top of that.