Key Takeaways
- PS5 parental controls are free and built in — you set them up by making your child a member of your family, with you as the family manager.
- You can set age-level ratings for games, apps, and Blu-ray, cap daily play time, restrict chat and user-generated content, put a monthly spending limit in place, and lock the web browser.
- Play time and requests can be handled remotely from the PlayStation Family app, on both iOS and Android.
- A separate system restriction passcode guards the console-wide settings so kids can't quietly undo them — change it from the default 0000.
- In-console play-time limits work best alongside broader screen-time habits at home. They're one piece, not the whole thing.
You've just set up the PS5 for your kid — or they've unwrapped one themselves — and you want spending, chat, and late-night play locked down before you hand over the controller. Trouble is, the settings feel scattered across a dozen menus.
Good news: the PlayStation 5 has a full, free set of parental controls built right in. The reason they feel so confusing is that they live in two different places — a family account that holds the per-child settings, and, for the console-wide options, a separate system restriction passcode.
You can also handle the day-to-day limits from the PlayStation Family mobile app on your phone. This guide stitches every PS5 parental controls setting into one connected walkthrough, with the exact menu paths for each. So here's what you can actually control, and how to set it all up, step by step.
Does the PS5 have parental controls? What you can manage
Yes — the PS5 has a complete set of free, built-in parental controls, and you apply them by adding your child to your family as a managed member. Once your child has their own account inside your family, you control what they can see, play, spend, and do online, all from a single set of restriction menus.
The PS5 parental controls features fall into six categories, and you can manage each one for every child in your family:
- Family and child accounts — who your child is, and which role you hold over their account
- Age-level restrictions for games, apps, and Blu-ray or DVD content
- Daily play time limits, plus a schedule for when the console can actually be used
- Communication and user-generated content — messaging, voice and party chat, and content made by other players
- Spending limits on the child's PlayStation Store wallet
- Web browsing restrictions for the PS5 internet browser
Every one of these controls lives under your family settings, or behind the system restriction passcode. According to PlayStation Support, these settings are free and available to any account set as family manager — there's nothing extra to buy.
How to set up a family and add your child
To set up parental controls on the PS5, you first make yourself the family manager and add your child as a family member. Sign in with your own adult account on the console, then open Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management. The console may ask you to sign in again, just to confirm you're the account holder.
From the Family Management screen, choose Add Family Member → Create User to make a new child account, then enter your child's name and date of birth. The date of birth matters here — the PS5 uses your child's age to apply sensible default restrictions automatically, which you can then fine-tune. And if your child already has an account, you can add them to the family instead of creating a new one.
The PS5 family has two adult roles. The family manager is the primary account holder — you set up the family, control every restriction, and manage spending. You can also add another adult as a guardian, who can view and adjust a child's parental controls but can't manage the family itself. Setting a second parent as a guardian lets you both keep an eye on the same child account, which is genuinely useful when parenting is a two-person job.
Set age-level restrictions for games, apps, and Blu-ray
Age-level restrictions block games, apps, and discs that are rated above the level you choose for your child. Open Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management → [your child] → Parental Controls / Restrictions, where you'll set three separate limits: an age level for games, an age level for apps, and a rating limit for Blu-ray Disc and DVD playback.
In the United States, the game and app age levels map to ESRB age ratings — the ratings you already see on the box, from Everyone through Teen and Mature. When your child tries to open something above their set level, the PS5 blocks it and shows a message saying the content can't be used because of parental controls. To override it, the console prompts for the restriction passcode.
What each age level allows
Each age level corresponds to an ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) rating, and permits every title at or below it. A lower level for a young child allows Everyone-rated games and blocks Teen and Mature titles; raise the level as your child grows, and higher-rated content unlocks. The ESRB assigns these ratings by content — violence, language, mature themes — so picking an age level is really about which rating categories you're comfortable letting your child reach on their own. It sounds simple, but that's the whole decision.
Set daily play time limits
Play time limits let you cap how long your child can use the PS5 each day, and set the hours the console is even available. In your child's settings under Family Management → [your child] → Play Time Settings, start by setting your time zone. Then choose a daily duration and the allowed play window for each day of the week — you can set different limits for weekdays and weekends, which most families end up wanting anyway.
You also decide what happens when the limit is reached. The PS5 can either show a warning and let your child keep playing, or automatically log them out so play just stops. The PlayStation Family app mirrors these same play-time controls, so you can adjust the schedule from your phone without ever touching the console.
Console timers work best as one part of a wider routine. If you're trying to decide what a reasonable daily cap even looks like, our guide on how much screen time kids need and our simple screen-time rules can help you land on numbers everyone can actually live with.
Manage communication, messaging, and user-generated content
Communication controls decide whether your child can message other players, join voice and party chat, and see content created by other users. In your child's Parental Controls / Restrictions menu, you can allow or block messaging and chat, and — separately — allow or block viewing user-generated content, meaning anything made by other players rather than the game's official content.
These settings shape online multiplayer. Turning off messaging and chat still lets your child play online, it just removes open communication with strangers. It also affects sandbox and cross-play games where players share their creations — for a game-specific walkthrough, see our guide to Minecraft parental controls, which plays cross-platform on the PS5.
Control spending and the child's wallet
You can set a monthly spending limit for your child's account so they can't overspend in the PlayStation Store. As family manager, open your child's settings and set a monthly spending limit — the maximum amount they're allowed to spend from the wallet in a calendar month. Once they hit that limit, the PS5 blocks any further purchases until the next month rolls around.
The child account spends from a shared family wallet funded by the family manager, so there's no card of their own attached to anything. Setting a low or zero monthly limit means every purchase effectively needs your involvement — and that's what protects you from those surprise charges from add-ons and in-game buys.
Restrict the web browser and mature content
The web browsing restriction blocks your child from using the PS5 internet browser to reach the open web. In your child's Parental Controls / Restrictions menu, turn on the Web Browsing restriction to filter or disable the built-in browser, so your child can't freely browse websites straight from the console.
This control is separate from the age-level ratings that govern games and apps. The web restriction covers the PS5's own internet browser only, so it doesn't touch in-game content — the game and app age levels you set earlier handle that side. Using both together closes the two main ways mature content tends to reach a child on the console.
Manage everything from the PlayStation Family app
The PlayStation Family app lets you manage play time and review your child's requests from your phone, instead of the console. Download the PlayStation Family app free from the App Store on iOS or Google Play on Android, then sign in with your family manager account to link it to your family.
From the app you can adjust your child's daily play time, change the allowed play window, and respond to requests. Say they ask for extra time, or to play something above their age level. Managing from the PlayStation Family app is handy precisely because you can approve or deny a request in the moment — no walking over to the PS5, no signing in on the console itself.
How to change or turn off PS5 parental controls
To change or turn off PS5 parental controls, go back to Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management → [your child]. Open the restriction you want to edit, then raise the age level, remove a play-time schedule, or switch a control off. Any change you make as family manager takes effect right away on your child's account.
Console-wide settings sit behind the system restriction passcode — a four-digit code that stops kids from undoing your work. The passcode ships as 0000 by default, so change it under Settings → Family and Parental Controls → PS5 System Restrictions. Leave it at 0000 and, honestly, anyone can walk straight past the restrictions.
If you forget the passcode, you can reset it by following the passcode-recovery steps on PlayStation Support. And if your child keeps getting around your limits, our guide on why kids get around screen-time limits covers the common workarounds and how to close them off.
Frequently asked questions
Does the PS5 have parental controls?
Yes — the PS5 has a full set of free, built-in parental controls. You add your child to your family as a managed member, then set age-level ratings, daily play time limits, communication and content restrictions, a monthly spending limit, and a web browsing block. And you can manage all of it from the PlayStation Family app too.
How do I set up parental controls on the PS5?
Set up PS5 parental controls by going to Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management as the family manager. Add your child with Add Family Member → Create User and enter their date of birth. Then open your child's Parental Controls menu to set age levels, play time, communication, spending, and web restrictions.
How do I change parental controls on the PS5?
Change PS5 parental controls under Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management → [your child], then open the specific restriction you want to edit. As family manager you can raise or lower age levels, adjust play time, or toggle communication and spending settings — and the change applies to your child's account immediately.
How do I turn off parental controls on the PS5?
Turn off PS5 parental controls by opening Settings → Family and Parental Controls → Family Management → [your child] and switching each restriction off, or raising the age level to its maximum. Console-wide restrictions require the system restriction passcode — so if you changed it from 0000, you'll need that code to make changes.
How do I take off or remove parental controls on the PS5?
Remove PS5 parental controls the same way you set them: go to Family Management, select your child, and clear each restriction, or reset the PS5 System Restrictions passcode to remove the console-level limits. If you've forgotten the restriction passcode, reset it using the recovery steps on PlayStation Support before you can remove the settings.