Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed on Wednesday that it's introducing a new parental control application named “PlayStation Family” for both iOS and Android devices. This app comes packed with a variety of new features, allowing parents to oversee their kids' console use—including activity summaries, better insight into what games their children are playing, and options to approve or deny requests for more playtime.
Although Sony has provided parental control options in the past, this app gathers all those features into a single, easy-to-access location, while also introducing additional functions.
Through the app, parents receive instant alerts about what games their child is currently playing and can either grant or deny requests for extra time or access to restricted titles. Daily time limits can also be set for each individual day of the week.
Daily and weekly activity summaries within the app let parents monitor how long their children spend on the console and see which titles are played most frequently.
Image Credits:Sony
The app also provides content filtering, enabling parents to set access based on age-appropriate guidelines. Sony points out that there are default options that automatically apply suggested restrictions depending on the child’s age group, and these settings can be personalized for each user.
Beyond content controls, parents are also able to adjust privacy preferences, manage social feature permissions, fund their child’s account, check balances, and establish a monthly spending cap.
This app rollout comes as part of a larger movement in the industry toward strengthening protections for younger gamers.
Recently, Roblox—a platform where 40 percent of users are 12 or younger—has faced criticism regarding its safety measures for children. In response, Roblox has extended its age-verification tools to all users and teamed up with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to supply age and content ratings for games and applications available on its service.
