Welcome to Device Setup Sunday — a recurring series where we take one device per week and walk through the complete parental control setup from start to finish. No assumptions, no shortcuts, just the full configuration with screenshots-level detail.

Why a weekly series? Because families don’t just have iPads. They have Android tablets, Nintendo Switches, Chromebooks, gaming consoles, smart TVs, and an ever-growing collection of connected devices. Each one has its own parental control system with its own settings buried in different menus. This series covers them all, one at a time.

Week 1: iPad / iPhone (Apple Screen Time) — The complete Screen Time configuration including the three critical mistakes most parents make. Content restrictions, Downtime scheduling, App Limits by category, Ask to Buy, Siri restrictions, and preventing app deletion. This is the foundation post — see our full guide: Screen Time Settings Most Parents Set Wrong.

Week 2: Android Tablet (Google Family Link) — Google Family Link setup from scratch: creating a child Google account, linking it to your family group, setting daily screen time limits, app approval requirements, content filtering in Google Play, SafeSearch enforcement, YouTube restricted mode, and location tracking. Key difference from Apple: Family Link works across devices, so settings follow the account, not the hardware.

Week 3: Chromebook (Google Admin + Family Link) — Chrome OS has its own layer of parental controls on top of Family Link. Guest mode restrictions, managed browser settings, extension blocking, incognito mode disabling, and supervised user profiles. If your child uses a Chromebook for school, you also need to understand the difference between the school-managed profile and the personal profile.

Week 4: Nintendo Switch — The Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app (separate mobile app) lets you set play time limits with alarms or forced suspension, restrict game ratings (ESRB), disable communication with other players, restrict social media posting, and require a PIN for restricted features. Most parents don’t know this app exists.

Week 5: PlayStation / Xbox — Both Sony and Microsoft have comprehensive family settings: spending limits on the store, communication restrictions (voice chat, messaging), privacy settings for online profiles, content age ratings, and play time management. PlayStation uses Family Manager; Xbox uses Microsoft Family Safety — the same platform that powers Windows parental controls.

Week 6: Smart TV & Streaming Devices — Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, and Roku all have separate parental control settings. Netflix profiles with maturity ratings, Disney+ content restrictions by age, YouTube restricted mode (which resets if you clear cookies), and Roku PIN requirements for purchases. The key insight: streaming app controls are separate from device controls — you need both.

Follow along each week. Set aside 15 minutes on Sunday to lock down one device. By the end of the series, every screen in your house will be properly configured. We’ll link each full guide here as the series progresses.