Want to limit your child’s internet time or block internet access on their device? You can do both with AT&T Secure Family.
Secure Family's parental controls include options for controlling internet access on a child's device. You can:
FYI: To use the time features and parental controls, you must pair your phone with the Secure Family Companion app on your child's device.
Review the Secure Family FAQ (PDF, 637KB)
Use Time Limits to limit the amount of time your child or family member spends each day on the internet. You can specify an overall amount of time that they can use apps, websites or categories and/or specify a custom amount of time your child can spend using a particular app or category. You can set time limits for weekdays and weekends.
Total internet time takes priority over other limits. If you set time limits for the internet and a mobile app both at four hours, the mobile app will be blocked if the child’s total usage reaches four hours on any site or app.
Your child can see their time limits on their dashboard. It displays their total internet time and other set limits. When they reach any of their limits, they’ll get an alert, letting them know they have no more internet time left. If they reach their limit for total internet time, all internet access will end even if there's time left for an individual app, website, or category.
You can also set a time limit by reward only, which blocks your child from using the internet, app, or category unless you extend time limits as a reward.
Good to know: Time limits only apply to apps, websites, and categories set to Allow in the Filter section. You can't set individual time limits for unfiltered apps or sites, but their usage counts towards the total internet time limit.
Set internet Off Times to block internet access for scheduled times during the day to help a child avoid distractions and focus on important moments, such as doing homework, enjoying family time, or bedtime. During Off Time, internet access is blocked from allowed and unfiltered apps, websites, and categories on the child device. You can toggle the scheduled times on and off as needed. Apps, websites, and categories set to Always Allow aren’t blocked.
If your child tries to access a website or internet-based app during an Off Time, they’ll get a message letting them know their device is on Off Time, their app doesn’t have a connection, or a website can’t load. In their dashboard, they can see a countdown to the finish of an Off Time. If they aren’t in an Off Time, they’ll see a countdown to the start of the next one.
FYI: To create a new Off Time, select the plus icon at the top of the Off Time screen.
With the Bedtime option, you can block internet access at night and make night surfing a thing of the past. When a bedtime is set, internet access for allowed and unfiltered apps, websites, and categories is blocked on the child’s device from bedtime to awake time. Apps and websites set to Always Allow aren’t blocked.
If your child tries to access a website or internet-based app during bedtime, they’ll get an alert that their device is on Bedtime, their app doesn’t have a connection, or a website can’t load. Your child can see a countdown to the start or finish of their bedtime schedule on their dashboard.
Stop internet access to allowed and unfiltered apps and websites on a child’s device with the Block Internet option. You can also use Internet Block if you don’t have any filters applied to a child’s profile. In that case, all internet-based apps and websites are blocked.
You have three ways to use the Block feature. You can block the internet for:
If your child tries to access an app or website that is blocked, they’ll get an alert that the site is blocked, their app doesn’t have a connection, or a website can’t load.
Want to block your child from using mobile data too? Learn how to turn data on or off for your devices.