PlayStation 5 – Parental Controls and Security Settings

In November PlayStation released their newest console, the PlayStation 5. This blog looks at some of the features that are available including parental controls and certain restrictions you can incorporate to keep young children safe when gaming.

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PlayStation incorporates a variety of settings to help keep your family safe whilst gaming, including ways to keep safety settings in your control from the moment you hit start

If you are a parent or guardian, you may want to give yourself control over what is allowed on your new console. Setting yourself up as the lead account holder can allow you to create Child Accounts for the rest of the family which are then managed by you, the Family Manager. Doing this also gives you options to implement such as:

To create a lead account as the Family Manager, you will need to sign up to the Playstation Network. It’s free to set up and you won’t need to provide any payment information if you don’t want to.

You will be able to create a new account by putting in some basic information, such as your Name, Date of Birth, Address and chosen Password. You find out more about Password Management here.

Please Note: If you had a PS4, you can use the previous log ins for your account. This will be transferred over to your PS5 

If you’re set up as the family manager, you can create individual accounts for other members of the family. To do this, you’ll need to log into your Playstation Network account online. You can do this on your laptop, phone or tablet.

Once logged in, go to your Account Management and then into Family Management. From there, you can select Add a Family Member and you have the option to Add a Child. By entering the family member’s name and date of birth, a new account will be created for them.

Please Note: You can also add an adult family member, however, this requires adding in an email address for them instead

If you access your Account and go into Family Management, you can choose which Child Account you want to edit. Each Child Account can have their own specifications so you can set certain restrictions depending on age, maturity etc.

You’ll be given a list of options to edit. This is entirely up to you and will be automatically put in place once set. The options include:

You also have the option to set predetermined restrictions based on the age group. These include Child, Early Teens and Late Teens. Make sure you are satisfied with what is arranged and in place before accepting these options.

You can follow the step by step guide from Sony right here

As an extra layer of protection you can also set up a passcode which will protect your parental controls from the rest of the family. To do this, you’ll need to access your console Settings. Go into the Family and Parental Controls section and click on PS5 Console Restrictions.

Here you’ll need to input the default passcode which, if not used before is 0000. From there, you have the option to change the passcode to something only you will know. Setting this up will make this a passcode for future access.

As well as this, you can also prevent a family member from creating a new account by selecting User Creation and Guest Login and then setting it to Not Allowed.

You can follow the step by step guide from Sony here

Whilst it is key to ensure your new games console is fun for the whole family, it’s also important to let members be aware of the risks associated with playing on a new games console. Explaining why parental controls and security measures may be needed is an important step forward in bringing online safety discussions to the household.

The good thing about parental controls is that they can be adjusted as time goes on. Having restrictions in place that are slowly lifted, allows family members to understand what responsibility is needed when gaming which in turn, adds to their growth and development.

This blog was originally taken from SWGfL