Safe gaming: PlayStation debuts family app for parental control

Sony Interactive Entertainment, the entertainment arm of Sony has rolled out PlayStation Family App to help with parental control.

In a blog post on 10 September, the company said it is committed to making gaming safe for players of all ages, and enhancing ways for parents to manage their children’s gaming experience is one way to do it.

Strengthening parental control

PlayStation already has parental control features in place on the PS5 and PS4 console, such as playtime settings and age restriction settings for games.

However, it is introducing PlayStation Family as another step in its commitment to helping parents control their children’s gaming behaviors.

The app is a dedicated parental control mobile app for iOS and Android devices, and is launching around the world starting today.

With it, parents can set up and manage their children’s gaming experience on PlayStation directly from their supported mobile devices.

The app comes with customizable features for parents to manage their children’s playtime, including an activity report, more visibility into what their children are playing, and approving extra playtime requests.

Parents will get real-time notifications on what game a child is playing, and can approve or decline the child’s requests for extra playtime, and communicate from a mobile device.

Another important feature of the app is the ability to manage spending by adding funds, viewing balances, and setting a monthly spending limit for a child to buy content from the PlayStation Store.

The app also allows parents to censor the games their children play by configuring age appropriate content with the tap of a button.

It has presets that automatically apply recommended settings for different age groups, and can be applied to specific children.

Parents can now download the app from iOS or Android PlayStore and startA regulating their children’s gaming experience right away.