Cybervigilance

First Phone Setup Checklist

Twenty minutes of setup before you hand it over saves a lot later. Work down this list once, together where you can, then let it loosen as your child grows. None of it replaces the conversation, but all of it buys you time and a softer landing.

The moment a child gets their own device is the one time everything is off by default and you have their full attention. Use it. This checklist covers the practical setup on an iPhone or Android phone, plus the parts no setting can handle. Print it, tick as you go, and pair it with a family tech agreement so the rules and the settings match.

1 · Before you hand it over
2 · Security base
3 · Controls by platform
4 · Privacy & location
5 · Content & spending
6 · The part settings can’t do

1Before you hand it over

Decisions and accounts to sort first. The single most important one: set it up as a child account under your family, not signed in with your own adult Apple or Google account, or you lose every control below.

  • Decide if a full smartphone is the right step, or whether a basic phone or smartwatch fits this age for now. There’s no rush.
  • Create a child account and add it to your family group: Apple Family Sharing (iPhone) or Google Family Link (Android). Use the child’s real date of birth so age-based protections apply.
  • Make sure you, the parent, are set as the family organiser / guardian on that account.
  • Agree the ground rules together before first use, and write them down. Setup lands better as « here’s how this works » than as a search-and-lock later.

2The security base (do these on any phone)

Five minutes that matter more than any app. These apply on both platforms.

  • Set a strong passcode (6 digits, not 1234 or a birthday) and turn on Face ID / fingerprint. The passcode is your child’s, not shared with friends. You keep a copy.
  • Turn on two-factor authentication for the child’s Apple Account or Google Account.
  • Turn on automatic software updates, so security fixes install themselves.
  • Enable device find-my / locate (Find My iPhone, or Find My Device on Android) in case it’s lost or stolen.
  • Skip saving a payment card to the device. Purchases should route through your approval (step 5).

3Parental controls, by platform

Same goals, different menus. Work down whichever column matches the phone.

iPhone / iPad

Settings → Screen Time, managed via Family Sharing

  • Turn on Screen Time for the child and set a Screen Time passcode only you know.
  • Set Downtime (e.g. overnight) and App Limits for categories like games and social.
  • Open Content & Privacy Restrictions and set age-appropriate content ratings, and block explicit content.
  • Turn on Ask to Buy so every download and purchase needs your approval.
  • Set Communication Safety to on, so the phone blurs and warns on nude images in Messages and more.
  • Use Communication Limits to control who your child can contact during the day and downtime.

Android

Google Family Link app (on your phone and theirs)

  • Install Family Link, link it to the child’s supervised Google Account.
  • Set daily screen-time limits and a device bedtime.
  • Turn on app approval so new installs need your yes, and review the apps already on it.
  • Set Google Play content restrictions by age rating, and require a password for purchases.
  • Turn on SafeSearch, and YouTube restrictions (or use YouTube Kids for younger children).
  • Review app permissions (camera, mic, location, contacts) and switch off what an app doesn’t need.

Samsung, Amazon Fire, and other devices layer their own controls on top; the Family Link or Screen Time settings above still do most of the work.

4Privacy and location

Lock down who can see where they are and how much they leak by default.

  • Set location sharing to family only, and turn location off inside individual apps that don’t need it (most games and social apps don’t).
  • Turn off precise location for apps where an approximate one is enough.
  • Limit ad tracking (iPhone: ask apps not to track; Android: turn off ad personalisation).
  • Set any social or messaging account to private from the first login, before there’s an audience.
  • Turn off location tags on the camera, so photos don’t carry home coordinates.

5Content, apps and spending

Match what they can reach and buy to their age. Loosen these deliberately over time, not by accident.

  • Set age ratings for apps, games, films and music to the child’s age.
  • Turn on web content filtering (Screen Time web restrictions, or SafeSearch and a filtered browser on Android).
  • Require your approval for every install for younger children; review the app list together for older ones.
  • Check each app’s own in-app chat and privacy settings after install; a phone-level control doesn’t reach inside every app.
  • Keep purchases behind approval (Ask to Buy / Play password) and no saved card, so « free » games can’t quietly charge you.
A control the phone can’t set for you: the apps themselves. Sit with your child through the privacy settings of whatever they install first, so they learn to do it, and so the disappearing-message and stranger-DM settings actually get switched on.

6The part settings can’t do

The setup is the easy half. This is the half that actually protects them.

Every control above can be worked around, and gets easier to bypass as your child gets older. That’s not a reason to skip them; it’s the reason to treat them as a speed bump and a tripwire rather than a wall. What carries into the teenage years is a child who feels able to come to you when something goes wrong.

  • Have the no-blame conversation now: « If anything online ever scares or confuses you, come to me. You won’t be in trouble for telling me. »
  • Agree where and when the phone lives: not at meals, not in the bedroom overnight (this protects sleep more than any app).
  • Put it in a family tech agreement you both sign, and revisit it as they grow.
  • Diarise a review in a few months. The right settings for a 10-year-old are wrong for a 13-year-old; plan to loosen them on purpose.
By age, in one line: younger children get tight controls and lots of co-use; tweens keep guardrails but start learning the settings themselves; teens move toward autonomy with a safety net, where the relationship, not the restrictions, does the work.

Sources

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