TikTok Parental Controls

Welcome to the Children of the Digital Age, TikTok Parental Controls Guide. TikTok is essentially a video sharing app. It enables it's users to create, share and watch content posted by others on the app. This App is rated as Parental Guidance. However, essentially this is an app that has a considerably amount of mature orientated content entirely unsuitable for children under 13 years. The company has been active to improve it's safety advice content and portal since 2021.

 

AGE RATING:   PG Parental Guidance

This App is in no way suitable for young children. In fact a recommendation would be for the Age Rating to be 15 years or above

 

NOTE: We have some immediate concerns relating to the use of this App by children and strongly advise against it

• When creating a TikTok account users are asked to sign in using an existing Social Media Account. If the user signs up this way the application has access to the user's contacts and other information on that platform.

 

• It is well known that TikTok collects a multitude of personal information from its users. This relates to technical and behavioural information, location, shared social network information, messages, metadata, contacts etc.

 

• There is a considerable amount of inappropriate content on this platform entirely unsuitable for children, some of which does appear under the Recommended for you feature of the app regardless of the setting

 

• Content relating to a graphic beheading video managed to make it on to the platform in June 2021, after it was placed in the middle of a harmless looking piece of content. This issue does impact on other social media platforms also, so parents are always advised to preview any content young children are going to view.

 

• The parental controls for TikTok specifically refer to “your teen”. Parents should take strong notice of this message from the platform creators. This platform is not in any way intended for young children and they should never be afforded access to it.

 

• The app has been responsible for a far higher number online challenges than other social media platforms. Many of these are harmless, by others not so.

 

• The app originally known as Musical.ly was primarily an app that encouraged users to mime songs. Even then there was a risk that some of the songs may have contained sexually graphic or explicit lyrics. The app has evolved far beyond this and you could literally find anything on it.

 

• The app also has a feature by which users can make in-app purchases, of gifts or coins users can share. This is designed to encourage creativity among the TikTok community. Virtual Coins can be exchanged for real world money if the user gets enough. Roughly 10,000 coins are about €100. The monetisation of content encourages users to come up with more creative or extreme content. Remember to toggle off “in-app purchases” in the Restrictions section.

 

• It can be easy to find inappropriate content due to the ability to #hashtag content on the platform

 

• A negative that we can observe it setting up parental controls is requiring access to your teens device. This is an issue which in of itself can cause heated arguments in the home. Often teens do not wish to afford access to their digital devices. Our stance on this is very clear, without parental access, monitoring and supervision, no teen under 15 should have access to a digital device.

 

Restrictions Available

• Online Chat Restrictions
• Online Privacy and identity Theft
• Restrict Access
• Restrict Content
• Restrict Data Sharing
• Sharing Location

 

Setting up the parental TicTok Account

• Open the TikTok App
• Sign Up for TikTok by selecting the most relevant option
• Use phone or email
  • Continue with Facebook
  • Continue with Google
  • Continue with Twitter
• Next you will be prompted to enter a date of birth. We strongly advise that you never enter your correct date of birth, the reason being, that in the event of a data breach your personal information will not be accurate.
• The next screen that appears allows you to select specific themes or content you may have a preference for .
• Finally you arrive at the TicTok Home Screen
• At the bottom right of the screen you will see a person Icon with ME in writing underneath, Select the icon

 

• This is the profile page of the account
• On the top righthand corner you will see three dots. It is from here all of the account settings can be reached.
• Select the three dots
• The following options will be available

 

 

Account

• Manage Account
• Privacy
• Security and login
• Balance
• QR Code
• Share Profile

 

Content & Activity

• Push Notifications
• App Language
• Content preferences
• Digital wellbeing
• Family Pairing
• Accessibility

 

Cache & Cellulare Data

• Free up Space
• Data Saver

 

Support

• Report a problem
• Help Centre
• Safety Centre
• Creator Portal

 

About

• Community Guidelines
• Terms of Service
• Privacy policy
• Copyright Policy

 

Login

• Switch Account
• Log out

 

 

Select the Family Pairing option

Here you have the ability to do the following

• Set a limit on your teens watch time
• Limit content that isn't suitable for your teen
• Manage your Teen's privacy and safety settings
• Choose whether your teen can have a private or public account

 

Linking Accounts

• To Begin select continue
• On the next Family Pairing screen you are prompted to enter if the Account is a Parent or Teen Select Parent
• You will now see a QR Code

 

Setting up your teen's device

• Using your teens device, Log in to TikTok
• Select the Me icon on the bottom right of the screen
• Select the three dots on the profile page
• Select Family Pairing
• Select Teen
• You will now be able to use the teens device to scan the QR code to link both devices.
• Once the QR code has been scanned select Link Accounts at the bottom of the screen

Select Screen Time Management to

• Set a limit on watch time for your teen
• Once you teen reaches the time limit, they won't be able to use TikTok unless you give them a passcode
• If Screen Time Management is on, your teen wont be able to log out or stitch to another account

 

Select Set a time limit

The default setting is for one hour. Unfortunately, the lowest limit a parent can set is 40 Min. The options are

• 40 minutes
• 60 minutes
• 90 minutes
• 120 minutes

Select Restricted Mode to

• Limit content that may not be appropriate for some viewers.
• If Restricted mode is, your teen won't be able to log out or switch to another account

To Enable Select Restricted Mode from the menu

At the bottom of the screen select Restricted Mode to activate

 

 

Privacy and Safety

Under this option there are two sections

Discoverability

Private account

If turned on, your teens account will be set to private

– Toggle On/Off

 

Suggest your teen's account to others

• If turned off your teens account can't be suggested to people who they may know    –  Toggle On/Off

 

Safety

Your teen can choose more restrictive settings than what you have chosen for them in Family Pairing

 

Who can send direct messages to your teen

The options available are

• Everyone
• Friends
• Followers that you follow back
• No One

 

Who can view your teen's liked videos

The options available are

• Everyone
• Only Your Teen

 

Who can comment on your teen's videos

The options available are

• Everyone
• Friends
• Followers that follow you back
• No One

 

How to set a TikTok account to private and prevent others from finding me

• Open the TikTok app
• At the bottom right of the screen select the person icon or me
• On the screen that opens up select the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen
• Select the Privacy option
• Activate Private Account by switching the button to ON

This ensures that only users you approve can follow the account

• Directly underneath is the option to Suggest your account to others
• There are several options here to be reviewed and set up. Toggle the appropriate settings as required

 

 

Other TikTok Parental Controls available under Privacy and Settings/Safety

There are a number of options to restrict who can interact with the account user

• Open the TikTok app
• At the bottom right of the screen select the person icon or me
• On the screen that opens up select the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen
• Select the Privacy option
• Under the Safety option there are several items which need to be enabled or disabled depending on a child's requirements

How to turn on Restricted Mode on TikTok

• Open the TikTok app
• At the bottom right of the screen select the person icon or me
• On the screen that opens up select the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen
• Select the Digital Wellbeing option

• Activate the Restricted Mode by switching the button to ON
• You will be asked set a passcode, enter the four digit Pin number and press next
• To confirm the four digit Pin number passcode, press next
• The passcode will now be required before restrictive content can be accessed

 

How to set up Screen Time Management on TikTok

• Open the TikTok app
• At the bottom right of the screen select the person icon or me
• On the screen that opens up select the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen
• Select the Digital Wellbeing option

• Select the Screen Time Management option
• Select Turn on Screen Time Management
• When prompted set a four digit PIN number and select Next
• Confirm the PIN and select Next
• The time is now restricted to 60 minutes per day. To use the app after this time will require the Pin number

How to block or report a user

• If you encounter inappropriate content on the platform you can report/block the user by first selecting the users profile name
• Then on the profile screen selecting the thee dots option in the top-right corner of the screen
• Then select Block to block the user or Report to report the user

 

 

How to access the TikTok Safety Centre

• Open the TikTok app
• At the bottom right of the screen select the person icon or me
• On the screen that opens up select the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen
• Under the Support Heading select Safety Centre
• Here you will find a huge amount of content under the following headings
  • New User Guide
  • Parents and Care Givers
  • Our Approach to Safety
  • Privacy and security on TikTok
  • Safety and Privacy Controls