Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced “PlayStation Family,” a new redundancy with the current Parental Controls system aimed for iOS and Android that will centralize safety features, screen time and spending controls into one dashboard.
The app provides caregivers with real-time insight into what kids are playing, the ability to approve extra playtime on the fly and the ability to enable or disable content and social settings without being near the console.
One hub for family management
Parents have long controlled PlayStation rules using a combination of console menus and the web. PlayStation Family unifies those controls and brings new ones for families on the go. Once you’ve linked them through the app, you’ll be able to see a live activity feed, daily and weekly playtime reports and the top-played games on each child profile.
Real-time notifications will remind parents of the game being played, and they can accept or deny play requests or time extension requests directly from their phone.
Of course, time budgets can be assigned according to the day of the week, as one’s schedule is different on school nights versus weekends.
Content, privacy, and social controls
PlayStation Family also features age-based content filters and presets to help customize each child’s excperience. These settings control access to games and media by age rating, allowing families to restrict console use for children based on guidance from regional rating bodies such as the ESRB (North America) and PEGI (Europe).
Privacy controls are also embedded. Parents have the ability to control who can chat with their child, who can see when they are online, and who can use social features. The aim, according to the company, has been to take the friction out of trying to shut down unwanted interactions, while allowing for the sort of social play that makes modern gaming so compelling.
Spending management is also supported. Caregivers may also add funds to a wallet, view balances and set monthly spending limits to ensure young players form good habits around in-game purchases. As free-to-play games and microtransactions dominated the industry, guardrails for spending have become as important as content filtering.
Live approval meets real life behaviour
The most useful is real-time approvals. Imagine a kid ready to call it quits and put on pajamas midway through a boss fight: The app supplies a request for 15 more minutes, complete with the name of the game the child is playing. A parent can give just the time to make the plea, or reject the plea and not stop their evening at all. Likewise, when a teenager wants to test a more mature game, it’s a click away with enough of an idea in the approval request to make an on-the-spot, informed decision.
How Sony’s stance compares
Family apps are increasingly becoming table stakes for platform holders. Microsoft’s Xbox Family Settings and Nintendo’s Switch Parental Controls provide playtime schedules and content filters, for example. Sony’s competitive angle is aggregation and immediacy: Activity reporting, content controls, social privacy and spending limits are now in one app with real-time signals and approvals. For households of multiple children and divergent play habits, the few extra places to manage settings could be the difference between using controls, or not.
Why this matters now
The rollout lands during a wider focus on children’s safety and transparency in the industry. Roblox, which has a user base filled with a high percentage of kids — company disclosures have long said that about 40% of its users are 12 and under — and has been dogged by persistent questions about moderation and age-appropriate content. In reaction, itÂ’s broadened age assessment and standardized ratings, using the International Age Rating Coalition system that is applied across app stores and consoles.
Families are also navigating increasingly complex play patterns. Online, social, and live-service games can blur the boundary between sessions, and in-game stores are everywhere. Industry groups like the Entertainment Software Association have pointed to high levels of parental involvement in these ratings and rules, but tools must be accessible to be effective. By streamlining oversight and even dispensing same-day decisions from a phone, PlayStation Family reduces the friction that may leave any set of controls unused.
Before you enable, what parents should know
Setup entails adding child accounts to a family manager. From there, work your way from the age-based presets (though really, just make your own rules) and set time limits per weekday, review communications settings and apply a spending cap linked to the household wallet. Return to the weekly reports to tweak rules as habits change. It’s a good moment, too, to have a family discussion on why the settings exist: Clear expectations tend to be met with less pushback than silent enforcement.
For Sony, PlayStation Family is about more than just a shiny new app — it’s an attempt to make parental controls practical enough that you’d use them everyday. For parents, it’s a timely toolset that meets kids where they play and provides caregivers the context to say “yes,” “no” or “five more minutes” confidently.
