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TikTok has parental controls to help monitor and filter what content your child sees on the platform. While there are a variety of settings you can put in place, they don’t control everything you may want to monitor. Still, it’s worth setting up these TikTok controls so your child has protection from the more adult content available.
Below, we walk you through how to set up the most important parental filters on TikTok. If you’ve already set these up but still want more protection, consider some of the best parental control apps available. We have suggestions on our favorites and other tips for teaching your teens responsible internet usage.
Yes, TikTok offers several types of controls for parents, including Restricted Mode and Comment Care Mode, which can help parents set limits and make TikTok safer. Since TikTok requires users to be 13 or older, the controls are geared toward parents assisting teens to navigate the platform safely.
TikTok’s parental controls include features such as:
Family Pairing allows you to link your TikTok account with your teens so you can help them manage their online usage of the platform. It enables the linked adult to set controls and customize safety settings.
While you can set up some of the parental controls without Family Pairing, such as Restricted Mode, it will require you to make each individual change to your child’s account. This can be time-consuming, so it’s a lot easier to just link your accounts.
Setting up Family Pairing is simple and shouldn’t take that much time:
To begin setting limits, you need to go into the Family Pairing dashboard. You can access it by:
Now that you’ve set up Family Pairing, you can begin to customize controls for your child. You can turn on time limits, mute push notifications, and change discoverability as well as set other filters.
Restricted Mode is a filter that limits content on TikTok. It filters out more sensitive content and restricts certain features. When Restricted Mode is active, you won’t be able to view the Following feed, go Live, or leave gifts for others in Live Mode. It’s accessible on each TikTok account, or you can set it up through Family Pairing.
To turn on Restricted Mode:
Comment Care Mode helps make TikTok a friendlier place for your teen. We’ve all seen how negative the comments section can be on any video, no matter the content. Enabling Comment Care Mode means you’ll filter out inappropriate or offensive comments and flag them as inappropriate.
To set up Comment Care Mode:
Maybe there are certain keywords you don’t want your child to access. It’s important to talk with your teen about the content they’re viewing, but having keyword filters can ensure they aren’t seeing anything you feel is inappropriate.
Keyword filters can either be set through Family Pairing, or you can manage them for each account individually. To manage keywords for each account, do the following:
You can add up to 100 keywords, but some can’t be filtered. If a keyword isn’t saving, it’s likely because TikTok refuses to filter it.
TikTok is unsafe, but it doesn’t have to be that way. TikTok has the potential to bring joy to teens. Between self-care and cooking videos to BookTok (a popular hashtag), which lets you discover new reads or educational content, TikTok can broaden your child’s world. That doesn’t mean you want everything on TikTok available for your teen.
We recommend taking the following steps to increase your child’s safety:
While TikTok has plenty of controls, it falls short in many places. Parental control apps can keep your child safe if they venture off TikTok. Additionally, you can view information from more than just TikTok and control other social media platforms.
The best parental control apps allow you to scan for signs of self-harm, monitor activity on multiple devices and applications, and help you have conversations with your children about safe and responsible internet usage. Below are some of our favorites if you need more control of what your kid gets up to.
| Parental Controls | 
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| Best for | Best overall | Best bundled identity protection | Best for bundled antivirus protection |
| Price | Plan costs $14.00/mo | Starts at $8.25/mo (billed annually) | Plans costs $49.99/yr | Learn more | Get Bark Premium | Get Aura Parental Controls | Get Norton Family |
Here are some parental control app features that you may find useful:
Like any social media site, TikTok has positives and negatives. Social media lends itself to poor behavior because people imagine they are protected through a screen. Cyberbullies, groomers, scammers, and anyone wanting to put out harmful content, all do it under the guise of anonymity.
Since the operators of many of these sites don’t seem to take the health and well-being of their users seriously, it’s important for parents to monitor content. Here are some things to watch out for when your teen uses TikTok and other social media:
We all know that kids are mean, but it’s not just your child’s classmates that may be bullying. Nowadays, all you have to do is make a comment online that someone doesn’t like, and they may begin a barrage of attacks against you. TikTok has some preventative measures, like limiting comments. Still, parental control apps can help you determine if the bullying goes beyond the app and bleeds over into texts and emails.
Grooming is when an adult finds a child they are attracted to and then ensures that the child will begin a relationship with them after they turn 18. It’s a disturbing practice that you can help catch early if you monitor your child’s online interactions. Please report any grooming to local law enforcement and also disclose the groomer’s account to TikTok and other social media sites.
Content that is overly violent or sexual in nature, as well as content that encourages self-harm, are all examples of inappropriate and harmful content. Sometimes what’s considered inappropriate content is more about parental preference. Still, you should be able to mitigate what’s presented to your teen. Filters and alerts can help you make more informed decisions.
Social media is rife with hackers and identity thieves hoping to trick you or your kid into giving away information. Using a VPN for TikTok or even setting up a password manager will help mask your internet traffic from would-be hackers. Learning about phishing schemes and fake ads can keep you from disclosing too much information. Instilling your kids with a healthy dose of skepticism about someone’s intentions online can help keep them safe.
No, the TikTok app is available only for people 13 and older. While you can add filters and other forms of parental controls to a TikTok account, it’s still inappropriate for children under the age of 13.
If your child isn’t quite 13 yet and wants a TikTok account, you could discuss why that’s not currently allowed. You could also create your own TikTok account, save videos that you find appropriate for your child, and watch them together with your child. This way, you can ease your tween into responsible internet usage before they turn 13 and get their own account.
No, TikTok has many parental controls that help, but none are particularly strong. While keyword filtering, limiting comments, and exercising time restrictions are all possible on TikTok, the app can’t alert you to scammers, hackers, and groomers who may be trying to contact your child.
TikTok’s parental controls are mostly set by filters and machine learning algorithms, so inappropriate videos could still slip through. Parental control apps offer more protection than TikTok controls alone.
Yes, you can block keywords, accounts, and even comments on TikTok, but you’ll likely have to do it all manually. Since TikTok doesn’t have a rating system for videos, your child may still encounter videos and images that may not be appropriate for their age or even feature sexual content.
Yes, with Family Pairing you can monitor your child’s account and what they post. You can also follow your child on TikTok to see their content. Remember that without Family Pairing, your teen may be able to figure out how to block some videos from your view. You’ll also want to ensure your teen doesn’t create a separate or burner account on TikTok where they post other content.
TikTok offers families some control over the content viewed on its app, but it’s not the most comprehensive protection available. If you’ve put all the safeguards in place but are still uncomfortable with the platform, parental control apps can help fill those gaps.
Talking to your teen about TikTok, especially when learning to establish healthy online safety, is a must to ensure they know how to self-regulate later as adults. Opening a dialog is as important as monitoring their online content. Using both safety tools together can help establish boundaries and a healthy relationship with your child, as well as improve the TikTok experience.
Blocks harmful content on mobile devices
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