Apple unveils sweeping parental controls at WWDC 2026

Apple Unveils Sweeping Parental Controls at WWDC as Protesters Rally Outside Apple Park

Apple on Monday used the opening day of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference to preview a broad set of new parental control and child safety features coming to iPhone, iPad, and Mac later this year, as child safety advocates staged demonstrations outside the company’s Cupertino headquarters.

New Tools for Parents

The updates, announced via press release alongside the WWDC 2026 keynote, include a feature called “Ask to Browse” that lets parents require children to request permission before visiting new websites in Safari — extending the approval model already used for app downloads through Ask to Buy. A redesigned Screen Time interface will give parents an at-a-glance view of their children’s device usage and let them adjust app access with a single tap.stocktitan

Apple also introduced “Time Allowances,” which provide more flexible controls over how long children can spend in app categories like Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, with guidance tailored to a child’s age based on expert research. A new daily Schedules feature lets parents restrict which apps are available at different times of day, such as during school hours.stocktitan

Communication Safety, which already blurs detected nudity in Messages and FaceTime, will now also intervene to block gore and violent content in shared images and videos, according to the company’s announcement. The feature is enabled by default for users under 18.stocktitan

“Our approach to helping families create safer digital experiences is grounded in the belief that every child is unique,” said Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of Health and Fitness.stocktitan

Protesters Demand Action on Exploitation

Outside Apple Park, activists from the Heat Initiative and UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group, demonstrated during the keynote. UltraViolet members held a banner reading “Apple is powered by child sexual abuse,” while the Heat Initiative displayed signs directed at incoming CEO John Ternus asking, “What will you do?”.appleinsider

Leaflets distributed by the groups claimed at least 47 so-called “nudify” apps — tools that use AI to generate nude images from photographs — remain available on Apple’s App Store. The protests echo similar demonstrations held during Apple’s iPhone launch events in recent years, where the Heat Initiative has pressed the company to detect and remove child sexual abuse material stored on iCloud.youtube

A Final WWDC for Tim Cook

The announcements arrive during what is expected to be Tim Cook’s last WWDC as CEO before John Ternus takes over on September 1. The new child safety features will be available as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 updates this fall.theverge