Keeping an eye on your kid’s smartphone and laptop is easy with parental control and PC spy software. However, this solution is not applicable when you want to monitor your child’s TV watching history.
These days there is a lot of mature content available on TV and it’s a must for parents to stop their kid’s from accessing it. The problem arises, even more, when you own a smart TV because it has a limitless amount of content to stream most of which is inappropriate for kids.
Roku is one of the most popular streaming platforms in the USA, Canada, and other parts of the world. In this article, I will show you some ways using which you can set parental controls on Roku and block inappropriate content on it.
Table Of Contents
- Can You Put Parental Controls On Roku?
- How To Set Up Parental Controls On Roku Channel?
- How To Put Parental Control On Roku TV?
- How To Block Adult Content On Third-Party Apps On Roku?
- How Do I Limit Screen Time On Roku?
- Final Verdict
- FAQs
Can You Put Parental Controls On Roku?
Yes, you can put parental controls on Roku but it is not universal. This means it can only block content from its native channels. Apart from that, you can even block content airing on Cable and Satellite TV (Antenna).
However, it won’t be able to block the content streaming on various OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and video streaming platforms like YouTube. But don’t worry most of these apps have built-in parental control features which you can enable on your Roku TV and be worry-free.
How To Set Up Parental Controls On Roku Channel?
If you want to block inappropriate content on the native Roku channels then you are in luck because it’s really easy to do so. All you have to do is follow the below steps.
- Log into your Roku account.
- Go to PIN preference and select Update.
- Under PIN preferences, select the option “Always require a PIN to make purchases and add items from the Channel Store“
- Now you will need to create a PIN. Create and verify a 4-digit pin.
- Now set your parental control preferences from the following options.
Little Kids: Content with ratings G, TV-Y, and TV-G can be watched without a PIN.
Young Kids: Content with ratings PG, TV-Y, TV-G, TV-Y7, and TV-PG can be watched without a PIN.
Teens: Content with ratings TV-14, PG-13, PG, TV-Y, and TV-G can be watched without a PIN.
After setting your parental control preference if your kid wants to watch or download adult content they will need to enter the PIN. This means they cannot watch anything inappropriate without your consent.
How To Put Parental Control On Roku TV
If you’re using Cable TV or Antenna to stream movies and shows on your Roku TV then you can block channels that are not appropriate for kids using the following steps.
On your Roku TV, go to Settings.
Choose the Parental Controls option.
Now select the TV Tuner option. Enable it and then set the preferred locking options.
Now the next time your child watches the TV, they will require the PIN to watch the blocked channels. This means they cannot watch adult content without you knowing about it.
How To Block Adult Content On Third-Party Apps On Roku
You cannot put parental control on third-party streaming apps on Roku. However, you can make use of their in-built parental control feature to block adult content on them. Here are a few examples;
How To Put Parental Control On Roku NetFlix?
To restrict what type of content your kids can watch on Netflix you can create a separate account for them on the same plan. Once their account is created you can manage their profiles separately.
If you don’t want to manage the profile then you can create their account on Netflix Kids experience which only shows kid-friendly content.
How To Set Parental Controls On YouTube On Roku?
Go to the YouTube app on Roku and click on your profile picture in the top right corner. If you aren’t already logged in then you will need to log in first.
Next, go to the Settings option.
Under Settings, you need to enable the Restricted Mode.
This mode will restrict all the inappropriate content on YouTube that is flagged by users on it. You should know that when you enable the Restricted Mode you cannot comment on the YouTube videos you are watching.
How Do I Limit Screen Time On Roku?
You have blocked mature stuff on the Roku TV and now you are worry-free that your kids are safe. However, your work is not done yet. Even if your kids are watching kids-friendly content they should not overconsume it. That’s not good for their eyes and overall health. Hence apart from blocking adult content, you should also limit their screen time on Roku. And here’s how you can do that.
Go to Settings > System > Time
Now select the Sleep Timer option
Next, you need to choose the time interval. You have multiple options to choose from (30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours, and 3 hours)
With this, you have successfully set the screen time on Roku.
Final Verdict
Monitoring what your child watches on TV is important because these days they can easily access mature content on TV through satellite TV, free channels, and OTT. If you have a Roku streaming platform at home then you are in luck because it allows you to put parental control on your TV. Hence you can restrict your children from accessing adult content on it.
With that being said, Roku does not provide universal parental controls i.e. it cannot block adult content on third-party apps like Netflix, Prime Videos, YouTube, and more. However, you can surely restrict mature content on them using their in-built parental control settings.
FAQs
Can I Put Parental Controls On Roku?
Yes, you can but the parental controls are not universal which means they do not work on third-party streaming apps.
Can I Block YouTube On Roku?
Yes, you can block YouTube on Roku.
Can You Put A Password On Roku TV?
Yes, you can put a password on Roku TV by creating a 4 digit PIN. This PIN will be required every time the kids try to make some purchase or watch restricted content.