How to use Netflix's new parental controls

Netflix has always had some parental settings, but these used to be quite limited. However, the streaming giant has now greatly expanded these, giving parents more granular control over what a child can watch, including the ability to block specific shows or movies all together.

Importantly, parents can now add a PIN to their profiles. This will prevent kids from accessing them to get around any content restrictions on their own profiles.

The easiest way to set up parental controls is by opening up Netflix in your web browser. This functionality doesn't appear to have been added to Netflix mobile apps yet.

Here's how to put a PIN on a Netflix profile:

• Navigate to netflix.com in your web browser
• Select your profile
• Mouse over your profile icon in the top right hand corner and then click Account
• Scroll down to Profile & Parental Controls
• Click on the Account you want to add a PIN to
• Click Profile lock
• You'll be asked to enter your account password. Do this and then press Continue
• Tick Require a PIN to access this profile, and enter a four digit PIN. You'll probably also want to tick require PIN to add new profiles, if given the option. This option is only provided for the profile of the account's owner.
• Click Save

Repeat these steps for every profile you want to secure with a PIN.

Here’s how to restrict the content a Netflix profile can watch:

• Navigate to netflix.com in your web browser
• Select your profile
• Mouse over your profile icon in the top right hand corner and then click Account
• Scroll down to Profile & Parental Controls
• Click on the Account you want to add viewing restrictions to
• Click Viewing restrictions
• You'll be asked to enter your account password. Do this and then press Continue
• Here you can select the maximum rating that a profile is able to view, ranging from G to R18+. You can also make an account a Kids profile, which will ensure only kid friendly titles are viewable. Lastly, you'll have the option to enter individual show or movie names that won't be visible on this profile
• When you're done, click Save

If you have multiple kids with different profiles on your Netflix account, you'll want to follow these steps for each profile.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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