Spending limits and parental controls
Put a ceiling on spending, on every platform
Every major platform lets you cap spending, require approval before a purchase and set play time. Here is where each setting lives and what it does.
Steam
Steam Families
Parents and guardians can review purchase requests from child accounts, limit the store and set daily playtime. Adults can protect their own account with Family View and a PIN.
PlayStation
Family Management
Set a monthly spending limit for each child account, restrict content by age and set daily playtime from the console or the PlayStation App.
Xbox and Windows
Microsoft Family Safety
Turn on Ask to buy, give a child account its own spending money, set screen time per device and filter by age rating.
Epic Games
Parental Controls
A six-digit PIN can be required before any purchase or friend request, and accounts for under-13s start with restricted features until a parent consents.
Nintendo Switch
Parental Controls app
Restrict eShop spending, set play-time limits that can suspend software, and see daily play reports on your phone.
iPhone and Android
Screen Time and Family Link
Ask to Buy on Apple devices and purchase approvals in Google Family Link send every purchase to the parent first. Adults can require a password for every purchase.
A ten-minute setup for adults
- Require a password or PIN for every purchase. Every store offers this. It stops one-click buys on a shared console.
- Remove saved cards from shared devices. Add store credit from your phone instead, so the console only holds what you chose to spend.
- Set a monthly figure and write it down. Where a platform supports a limit on your own account, use it; where it does not, a gift card for that amount does the same job.
- Turn on purchase emails. Every store can email a receipt. A glance each month is the easiest audit there is.
- Use your bank’s controls too. Most UK banking apps let you freeze a card, switch off online payments for it, or keep a separate card or account for games with a set amount in it.
For parents and guardians
Create a child account under your own family group on each platform the child uses, rather than letting them use an adult account. That is what unlocks approval requests, spending caps and age filters. Each game on this site lists its PEGI rating; several are rated 16 or 18.
For step-by-step help across every device, Internet Matters keeps up-to-date guides for UK families. Our own playing well page covers time and habits.