Listen up, parents!
Microsoft has unveiled a brand-new Xbox Family Settings app for mobile, allowing you to manage your child's Xbox account and "balance gaming with other responsibilities like school and time with friends."
The app, which has been in preview form for the past few months, includes the following features:
- Screen time limits – set limits for each day of the week; for example, you can allow for more game time on the weekends or reduce it during the school week. And a new feature available today allows parents to proactive grant additional screen time – a great option if they did well on a test or completed their homework!
- Content filters – set filters based on the age of each child; for example, an 8-year-old can only access games that are rated E and will be blocked from accessing titles that are intended for more mature players
- Play and communication settings – choose the option to block all access to play and communication with other players, limit access to “friends only” or grant permission for older children to play and chat with “everyone”
- Friends list – new with the app is the ability to approve or decline friend requests your child has made to add friends; parents can also view their friends list
- Activity reports – view daily and weekly activity reports for each child to understand how they are spending their time on Xbox
You can download the app now from the Google Play Store (Android) and App Store (iPhone, iPad).
"At Xbox, we believe that gaming is a source of joy, inspiration, and social connection with friends and family – and this is true now more than ever before. With COVID-19 continuing to have impact our daily lives, gaming has helped people stay connected while social distancing. Gaming is a great way to unify and bring people together, but we also believe that gaming should be part of a balanced life as well as safe and welcoming for all, and we know this is especially important to families."
Planning to make use of this? Did you try the app while it was in preview? Let us know down below.
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Comments 4
@Xiovanni In my case, it'd be more used to enforce the rules when I'm not at home. Easy for a sitter to be convinced of different limits than my kids and I have agreed upon.
I wish they’d update the current app because mine constantly crashes after a few minutes of use
@Xiovanni because part of being a child is to rebel against parental figures in order to establish your own identity, and in some of those cases they make self destructive choices, and the role of the parent is to guide those choices the best you can.
Having control over digital spaces is important. Having that option in your parental toolbox is important. Then it's up to you as a parent to proper manage the implementation of that tool through both soft and hard limits.
Such an important area of modern life.
I hope all parents get to grips with this even if they're not gamers themselves.
It's another string to Microsoft's arsenal, even if it doesn't make the big news, such as SSD prices, preorders and takeovers.
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