Screens for under-fives. Locked down properly.

At this age the risk isn't a child seeking out harmful content — it's a device handed over for ten minutes where two taps lead somewhere nobody intended. The fix is an allowlist, and it's genuinely easy at this age in a way it never is again.

The principle: allowlist, not blocklist

For older children you block what's harmful and allow the rest. For under-fives, invert it: allow a specific short list, block everything else. It's simple, it's airtight, and there's no social cost at this age.

iPad or iPhone

Guided Access — the single best toddler feature

Locks the device into one app until you enter a code. A toddler cannot exit the app, press home, or reach settings.

1. Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access → turn on.
2. Set a passcode under Passcode Settings.
3. Open the app you want, then triple-click the side button and tap Start.
4. Triple-click and enter the passcode to exit.

Set Time Limits inside Guided Access and the session ends on its own — which removes the negotiation entirely.

Screen Time restrictions

1. Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → on, with a passcode.
2. Web Content → Allowed Websites Only. Trim the default list to what you actually want.
3. iTunes & App Store Purchases → Installing, Deleting, and In-app Purchases all Don't Allow.
4. Allowed Apps → turn off Safari, Camera if you prefer, AirDrop, and anything else unnecessary.
5. Content Restrictions → Apps → 4+.

Android tablet

Google Kids Space or a child profile

Set up a child profile through Family Link. Approve each app individually, and use Kids Space for a curated launcher.

Screen pinning — Android's Guided Access

1. Settings → Security → App pinning (sometimes under Advanced) → turn on.
2. Turn on Ask for PIN before unpinning. Without this, the pin is a formality.
3. Open the app, then use the recents button and the pin icon.

YouTube: the thing most worth getting right

Standard YouTube is where most unexpected exposure at this age happens. Autoplay moves from a nursery rhyme to something else within a few videos, and some of what circulates in that space is deliberately disturbing content disguised with children's characters.

1. Use YouTube Kids, not YouTube. Block the main app.
2. In YouTube Kids, set the age range to Preschool.
3. Turn off search in YouTube Kids settings. This is the important one — it restricts viewing to the curated set.
4. Better still, use Approved content only mode, where you select every channel or video individually.
5. Turn off autoplay.
6. Set a timer in the app settings.

Approved-content-only is more work up front and is the only mode with no algorithmic recommendation at all. For this age group it's worth the twenty minutes.

The rest of the checklist

• No stored payment method. Toddlers tap. Remove the card entirely.
• Autoplay off everywhere — YouTube Kids, Netflix, any streaming app.
• Turn off ads where possible. Ad-supported children's apps are a common route to somewhere unintended.
• Airplane mode for offline content. Downloaded shows with the network off is the most locked-down option available and requires no configuration.
• Device-wide DNS filtering underneath everything, so a stray tap can't resolve anywhere harmful.

On screen time itself

Guidance from paediatric bodies generally recommends very limited screen use under two beyond video calls, and roughly an hour a day of high-quality co-viewed content for two to five year olds.

Worth saying: nearly every parent exceeds this sometimes, and the guidance is written for a household without a bad week. Co-viewing — watching alongside and talking about it — consistently comes out as mattering more than the exact number of minutes.