How to Block Apps on Your Child's iPad

The short version: If the iPad is your child's own and signed in with their Child Account, block apps from your iPhone: on iPadOS 27 go to Settings > Family, tap your child's name, tap Apps & Websites, pick the app from the Allowed list, and tap Block App. If the iPad is a family tablet signed in with your Apple Account, Screen Time treats it as yours, so either give your child their own account on it or use Guided Access to lock it to one app while they use it. On iPadOS 26 and earlier, the same controls sit under Settings > Screen Time.

The iPad lives on the arm of the sofa. It has a cracked corner, a sticker of a cat, three different kids' games, your work email, and a YouTube app that seems to open itself whenever you leave the room.

That tablet is in most of our houses too. It is the hardest device in the family to set limits on, mostly because nobody can agree whose it is. So start there.

First question: whose iPad is it?

Screen Time follows the Apple Account signed in on the device. That one fact decides which method below will work.

Your child's own iPad, signed in with their Child Account. You can manage it from your phone through Family Sharing, exactly like a child's iPhone. Skip to the next section.

A family iPad signed in with your Apple Account. Any limits you set on it are your limits, and any reports go into your own Screen Time. You cannot set child controls for one person on an iPad that belongs, as far as Apple knows, to someone else. You have two options: move the iPad to your child's account, or use Guided Access each time you hand it over.

A hand-me-down iPad that used to be yours. Before it becomes your child's, Apple recommends backing it up, signing out of your Apple Account, and erasing your personal information, then setting it up again with your child's account. It takes an evening. It saves months of limits that quietly apply to the wrong person.

How to block apps on a child's iPad (iPadOS 27)

Apple's iPadOS 27 parental controls only work when every device in your Family Sharing group is on version 27. Check with Settings > Family > View Family Devices on your phone, update anything listed, then tap Get Started under Settings > Family to switch over.

Then, from your own iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Settings and tap Family.
2. Tap your child's name.
3. Tap Apps & Websites and enter your Screen Time passcode if asked.
4. On the Allowed tab, tap the app you want to block, or tap Add and type its name.
5. Tap Block App and confirm.

Apple keeps the app on the iPad, so no game progress is lost, and it stays closed until you unblock it from the Blocked tab. The steps follow Apple's guides to parental controls and blocking apps and websites.

To stop new apps arriving, keep Ask to Buy on under Settings > Family > your child, and set an app age rating under Apps & Websites > Restrictions. The Restrictions screen also lets you turn off installing and deleting apps, which is worth doing on a tablet that small hands explore freely.

How to lock apps for kids on iPad by time

Most iPad arguments are about how long, not whether. iPadOS 27 handles that with the same tools as the iPhone.

Time Allowances set a daily budget across Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, with a budget for each category. Find it under Settings > Family > your child > Time Allowances, tap Add, and adjust the sliders. Apple suggests a starting point based on your child's age, which you can change. Apple's Time Allowances page even walks through the American Academy of Pediatrics' 5 Cs as a way to choose the numbers.

Screen Time Schedules decide what is open at which time of day. A common iPad setup is an After School window with games allowed and a bedtime window with only reading apps. Turn it on under Settings > Family > your child > Screen Time Schedule.

Always Allowed keeps chosen apps open whatever the schedule says. A reading app or a drawing app is a good candidate on an iPad. Add them under Settings > Family > your child > Always Allowed.

When time runs out, your child can send you a request for more. You can approve 15 minutes, an hour, or the rest of the day from Messages, or decline it.

For the full walkthrough of each tool, including how to keep the block from leaking, our guide to blocking apps on your kid's iPhone covers every step in more detail. The screens are the same on iPad.

iPadOS 26 and earlier

If a device in your family cannot update to version 27, Apple keeps the older Screen Time running. On iPadOS 26:

• Hide built-in apps like Safari or Camera: Settings > Screen Time, tap your child's name, tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, turn it on, then Allowed Apps & Features.
• Block App Store apps by age: in Content & Privacy Restrictions, tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games and set the app rating.
• Limit an app by time: Settings > Screen Time, your child's name, App Limits, Add Limit.
• Block apps at night: set Downtime and turn on Block at Downtime, because Apple notes that by default, limits can be ignored once reached.

These follow Apple's iOS 26 guides to blocking apps and Screen Time schedules, which use the same menus on iPad.

The shared family iPad: Guided Access

If the iPad has to stay on your account, Guided Access is the best tool Apple gives you. It locks the iPad to a single app until someone enters a passcode. For a four-year-old with a drawing app on a long car ride, it is close to perfect.

Here is how Apple's Guided Access guide sets it up:

1. Open Settings, tap Accessibility, then tap Guided Access and turn it on.
2. Tap Passcode Settings and set a Guided Access passcode. Make it different from the iPad's own passcode.
3. Open the app your child will use.
4. Triple-click the top button (or the Home button on older iPads). If a shortcut menu appears, tap Guided Access.
5. Tap Options if you want to set a time limit or turn off the volume buttons, then tap Start.

When the time limit ends, the iPad shows a full-screen message and the app stops. To end the session yourself, triple-click again and enter your passcode.

Guided Access has limits worth knowing. It locks one app at a time, so it suits younger children better than a ten-year-old with homework in one app and music in another. Apple also notes that Crash Detection and emergency services are unavailable during a session, which matters more on an iPhone than an iPad, but it is worth remembering if you use it on both.

Making the block hold on an iPad

iPads cause a few problems that phones do not.

They disappear into drawers. A tablet that spends a week unused stops sending Screen Time reports, and your phone will say Screen Time for iPad has not been available for 7 days. Usually nothing is broken. Our 7-day fix explains how to tell, and what to do when something is.

Passcodes get shared. On a family tablet, the Screen Time passcode is often the one the whole family knows. Set it from your phone under Settings > Family > your child > Manage Screen Time, and change it if you think it has leaked. Apple shows when it was last used on the same screen.

Younger kids hand it to older ones. If a little sibling's iPad has fewer limits, it becomes everyone's iPad after bedtime. Put it on a charger outside the bedrooms at night. That one habit does more than most of the settings above, and it is one of the routines the AAP leans on hardest; our screen time by age guide has the rest by age.

We also find the fights shrink when the block comes with a plan for what happens next. Our guide to reducing screen time without battles covers that part.

Where Unglue fits

Unglue runs on a child's iPhone or iPad using Apple's Screen Time framework, so it blocks the same way Screen Time does. The difference is what happens at the wall. The blocked apps open again when your child earns minutes with real-life habits, like a walk, a tidy room, or reading time, so the iPad turns into a reward for the afternoon rather than the whole of it. For older kids, Selection Lock means nothing comes off the blocked list without a Buddy Code that you hold.

It needs your child's own Apple Account on the iPad to work well, the same as Screen Time does, so it suits a personal iPad more than a shared one. Our comparison of app blockers for kids sets it beside the free options, and the parents page shows how families set it up.

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Common questions

How do I block apps on my child's iPad from my iPhone?

Make sure the iPad is signed in with your child's Child Account and they are in your Family Sharing group. Then, on iOS 27, go to Settings > Family, tap your child, tap Apps & Websites, and block the app. On iOS 26 and earlier, use Settings > Screen Time and tap your child's name.

Can I set different limits for each child on one shared iPad?

Not with Screen Time. It applies to the Apple Account signed in on the iPad, so one iPad gets one set of rules. If each child needs their own limits, each child needs their own device and account, or you can use Guided Access to lock the iPad to a single app for whoever is using it.

How do I lock apps for kids on an iPad so they cannot leave the app?

Use Guided Access. Turn it on under Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access, open the app, triple-click the top button (or Home button), and tap Start. The iPad stays in that app until you end the session with your passcode.

Does blocking an app on iPad delete my child's game progress?

No. Blocking keeps the app on the iPad. When you unblock it, it opens where it left off.

My child's iPad says Screen Time has not been available for 7 days. Are the blocks still on?

Often they are, since blocks are applied on the iPad itself. The message means your phone has not received a report. Open a blocked app on the iPad to check, then work through our 7-day fix.