Disney+ Parental Controls Have Improved
(Updated March 19, 2022 for new, mature content settings!)
Now that Disney+ includes R-rated and TV-MA content even in the United States, the streaming service has improved its parental controls. Unlike Netflix, which forces members to make all parental control changes from a desktop, laptop, or Chromebook, Disney+ allows members to change all parental controls right in the app, which is wonderful.
Here to Set-up Disney+ Parental Controls (4 Steps):
- Restrict profile creation – limit who can add new profiles to the account from the “master” account (defined: whoever is paying). Click/tap the profile picture, then Account and then toggle on “Restrict Profile Creation. This means kids can’t circumvent ratings restrictions by adding a dummy profile, watching what they want, and then deleting the profile. See screenshot below.
- Set content ratings – like Netflix, Disney+ allows you to restrict the rating of the shows for each profile. As of March 16, 2022, both R-rated and TV-MA content was added to Disney+ in the United States. See screenshot below. (Bonus! If a kid figures out how to change the rating, an email is sent to the account owner! So you would know).
- Set a 4-digit profile passcode – also like Netflix, you can lock a profile with a 4-digit pin code, indicated by the padlock that you see on the screenshot below. Maybe dad is allowed to watch PG-13, but Blake isn’t. This means Blake isn’t allowed to watch shows on dad’s profile unless he knows my 4-digit pin. If you’re on the master profile, click/tap the profile picture. Then Edit Profiles, select the profile where you want to add a pin, scroll down to Profile Pin. See screenshot 3 below. Bonus: adding or changing the profile pin requires the account passcode (so, be sure that auto-fill passwords are turned off unless you want kids to get past this!). See screenshot below.
- (Optional) Make it a “kid’s” profile – You can toggle on any account as a kid’s profile and require a question to be answered in order to remove the kid’s profile restrictions. The question isn’t difficult, so it would be easy for a kid to exit the Kids Profile. Prevent this by following #3 above and adding a passcode on the other accounts. You can also prevent the creation of a dummy account by doing what’s in #1.
*Note for the March 2022 change! When parents and kids log in, you’ll notice an option to keep the “full catalog” or “not now.” If you want access to the R-rated and TV-MA content, then select “full catalog.” Otherwise, select “not now” and select the rating you want.
And there you have it! Better Disney+ parental controls that are better late than never.
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But it sucks that we parents can not block some shows like you do it with Netflix . Just because Disney’s rating thinks a certain tv show / movie is for a 8 years old doesn’t mean a parent is ok with that ratings . I wish they just add the darn option to block what we don’t want our kids to watch.