Technology

How to . . . set up a child’s Netflix account

PIN controls and new profiles: how to keep Peppa out of your Netflix recommendations

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Ciara O'Brien's face
Ciara O'Brien
Fri Dec 30 2016 - 12:00

Sick of “seasonal” TV yet? How about the younger members of your family? Luckily streaming services offer a wide variety of content, including TV shows from your childhood they’re unlikely to have binge watched just yet.

But unless you want to get suggestions for Pocoyo and Peppa Pig mixed up with House of Cards and Stranger Things, your best best is to set them up with their own profile under your Netflix account. Not only will it keep your recommendations separate, but it will also allow you to implement a few parental controls to make sure your kids can't access content that's inappropriate for their age.

If the account is for a child under a certain age, and you have a spare slot on your profiles list, it’s simple to set controls that will strip out anything remotely adult. When you add the profile first, there is a “kid” check box beside the profile. Checking this will ensure that the profile is set to a child’s one by default.

If you don’t have the available slots to set up a dedicated child’s profile, you can easily keep them away from content they shouldn’t access. For older children and teenagers, you can set access to a certain level of content - Netflix divides it into Little Kids, Older Kids, Teens and Adults - and protect it with a PIN. To access anything above the level you set, you’ll need to enter the PIN. Little Kids can only access content rated a G, older kids will add PG into the mix, and Teens accounts can access anything except 18-rated content.

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To access this, got to the Menu, then access Your Account>Parental controls. You’ll have to confirm your password to proceed. You can then set a PIN and the level of parental control you want to impose. Click Save.

However, it can take several hours for the changes to take effect; logging out of the account and logging back in can sometimes speed the process along.

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