How to Install Parental Controls on Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and More

With the amount of content increasing online each and every day, parents have more incentives to allow kids access. In the same vein, parents are often concerned about giving children unfettered access to their Hulu account. They may not want their 7-year-old to watch “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Thankfully, there are tools that streaming video services have incorporated in order to minimize such a possible event. So here is The Streamable’s guide to installing parental controls on your Netflix, Hulu or other accounts.

Netflix

Netflix has installed a variety of tools over the years that help families and parents regulate their children’s online access. In fact, the service recently uploaded an update to their parental controls in April 2020.

These new settings allow parents to “lock” profiles, so that kids who turn Netflix on will have to either use the child-friendly account or use the pin for their parent’s account.

If parents wish to control what their kids are able to see:

1. Access the Account tab.
2. Scroll down to settings and click on Parental Controls.
3. Enter your password and go to your profile.
4. Select the drop-down menu and select the maturity ratings that are desired.
5. Finally, check the Profile Lock box and enter a pin number.

This will allow the parents to protect their own account. If a parent wants to allow kids select access to content:

1. Go to the kid’s profile in your Account settings, or create one if there has not been one made yet.
2. Select the account and pull down the tab for maturity ratings, choosing what you believe will be the best option for the specific child. Relevant ratings for kids goes from TV-Y (Friendly for those 6 or below) to TV-PG (parental guidance).
3. Users can also activate Netflix Kids, which simplifies the interface for when the child might access Netflix independently.
4. Users can also restrict access to specific programs if desired. This can be completed by accessing the account page, scrolling down to Viewing Restrictions and typing in the specific titles they want to be blocked.

Hulu

Like Netflix, Hulu requires the creation of additional accounts in order to regulate what a child might see.

1. Upon logging in on your mobile app, tap the account name.
2. Then tap the account option, which resides on the bottom of the app.
3. You should see the account names listed in a drop-down tab at the top of the device. By accessing that, the user can create or change profiles.
4. Upon creation of the profile, users can click the “Kids” tab on the device then hit “Save” on the bottom of the account. This will keep the new profile child-friendly, especially when the child is using it on a mobile device or television.

Disney+

While Disney+ is designed to primarily serve families and children in its content, it still contains a variety of PG-13 programs that parents may not want young ones viewing just yet. That’s why there are parental filters for adults to optimize.

1. Log on and click on the first profile that appears.
2. Click on the Edit Profiles tab.
3. Click Add Profile. Here, you can add an image and a name for the related profile.
4. Toggle the Kids Profile switch on. This will limit content so the child cannot view anything Disney+ deems PG or PG-13.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon offers simple restrictions for parents to control. Typically, a parent can access the Parental controls through the “My Stuff” > Settings tab at the bottom of the mobile device. Or they can just access it through their browser. There, parents can:

1. Add a pin that blocks child access to content above a certain threshold.
2. Set a limit on what content can be viewed without the pin itself.
3. Change which devices are affected by the parental controls.
4. Limit the ability to purchase content without said pin number.

CBS All Access

Like all other services, CBS has included a pin-based parental control service.

1. Parental controls can be installed by accessing a user’s account settings for CBS All Access.
2. There, they can create a pin that is required for viewing anything set above a certain rating. It also heavily limits access to live content, such as CBS Sports or CBS News.
3. Now set the rating. The content varies between Children, Teens, Older Teens and Adults. This will establish what content requires the pin in order to access it.

HBO Now

Despite HBO’s propensity for adult content and risqué endeavors, their streaming service is now the home of a lot of family-friendly content, from “Sesame Street” to the latest animation projects. So for parents who want to take the risk and offer their kids access to HBO, here are the tools available.

1. Parental controls can be accessed through the Parental Controls tab, which sits in the Profile tab on a computer or the Settings tab on mobile devices.
2. Once there, a prompt for ‘First Time’ may appear, or it may ask you for the prior pin.
3. From there, the user can set what content viewers can watch without typing in a pin, from G to NC-17 oriented content.

Photo credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash