PlayStation's New App For Parental Controls Is Excellent

It's about trying to "build trust between parents and kids," the company tells Crossplay.

The sheer amount of parental controls you have to keep track off these days is overwhelming. “Uh, do I change this in the game or the console? Wait, if I changed this on your iPad will it also be changed on your PlayStation?” The least companies can do when they’re trying to extract time and money from your child is make it convenient, you know? Which is why it was a pleasant surprise to see Sony launch a dedicated parental controls app called PlayStation Family. It’s very slick and very good.

Here are links to download the app across both major storefronts:

• App Store

• Google Play

“I really don’t like the idea of parental controls,” said Sean Whitcomb, program director for child safety and education at Sony Interactive Entertainment, in a recent interview. “I always like to say this is actually just a family management feature.”

(Side note: I have noticed a growing trend of folks pushing back on the term “parental controls.” This idea came up in an interview regarding Roblox earlier this year, too.)

The goal, as Whitcomb put it, was to “build trust between parents and kids.”

PlayStation Family makes accessing the controls available on a PlayStation easily accessible from a phone. Yes, there was already a website where you could manage them, too, but it’s much nicer to get a push notification from your kid asking for more time. Plus, it gave Sony a chance to introduce some new quality of life features, as well.

You can see a little tour of the app that I recorded myself below:

Like I said, pretty good! It’s easy to switch between different child profiles, too. (I have a “dummy” account for Crossplay testing and a “real” account for my oldest daughter.)

There are instances where the app does kick you into a web browser to check on some settings, which means you might be logged into the PlayStation Family App but not logged in on playstation.com. It adds a (small) occasionally irritating wrinkle. For most day-to-day tasks, you’ll be able to stay in the app and the necessary changes.

One small tweak that Whitcomb is especially proud of is that when you change a setting in the PlayStation Family app, the changes are saved immediately. Previously, you had to hit a “save” button. The little things do add up, because in my own experience and anecdotally, any element of friction or something not working the way you’re expecting or hoping for is going to introduce a scenario where you disengage.

Love when companies give you this level of specificity with screen time.

This also gives me a chance to to rant again: please, Apple, let me dynamically modify screen time requirements for my children’s devices. You can do this easily with Google’s Family Link app. You can do it easily with Sony’s PlayStation Family app.

/rant over (for now)

It’d be great if parental controls didn’t have to exist, that you could just hand the controller over and know things will be fine. While it might have worked that way when I was a kid, not only do I know better because I play video games myself, the medium is just inherently more complex and potentially predatory in 2025 compared to “the good old days,” between endless live service games, microtransactions, voice chat, and more. When you’re handing over a controller, you’re also handing over responsibility, a responsibility a child might not be ready for or even understand.

I don’t like saying no. Most parents don’t. Which isn’t to say you’re trying to dodge responsibilities as a parent insomuch as it’s better for it to feel like a collaboration, about working hand-in-hand to develop healthy habits and learn about boundaries.

“It’s not necessarily about being that helicopter parent, but just being aware, having that line of sight,” said Whitcomb. “We also wanted to make sure that the technology was more about an opportunity to connect with children about something they’re really passionate in. It’s a hobby, it’s an outlet, it’s something they do for recreation and fun after school on weekends.”

The app is also an acknowledgement of different comfort levels for different caretakers who might not fully understand video games. My mom, for example, is happy and comfortable downloading apps on her iPad, but she’s scared to death of websites. She’ll pay a bill through her iPad, but the same thing on a “website”? Nope.

Could she approve a time request that’s a push notification on her phone? Probably.

“We understand that there’s parents who have different levels of comfort with the family management features,” said Whitcomb. “We have gamers who have children who grew up with parents who were gamers, too. But we also have parents and family managers who don’t and it’s just unfamiliar territory. But they do have phones. They do understand how to navigate an app. They can do online shopping. So it’s really built for the seasoned gamer parent who just wants to do something quickly, but it’s also built for that parent who wants to be involved with their children’s experience, but is just a little more intimidated about the granularity.”

Maybe managing “parental controls” is too much, but can you handle a time limit that you’re extending based on the requests your kid makes? I often worry the complexity of some parental control menus can accidentally scare off well-intentioned parents.

Whitcomb wouldn’t comment on the future plans for the app, but did encourage folks to submit feedback through the app itself. Anything you’d like to see from Sony?

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

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Also:

• Unfortunately, this app is not really relevant to me. My kids prefer using an iPad and/or Switch. They’ll hold a PlayStation controller but it’s usually co-op with me.

• I am encouraged by this trend and hope it continues. Roblox has gotten better, PlayStation has gotten better. Too bad it’s alongside bad faith online ID stuff.

• Yes, I need to return to my pet Crossplay project that documents parental controls. We did PlayStation’s parental controls already but I’ve fallen behind.