How to Use Amazon Parental Controls to Protect Your Account

Amazon provides a few methods you can use to prevent children from making unwanted purchases. Amazon's parental controls can also be used to prevent your kids from watching inappropriate content through Prime Video.

What Can Amazon Parental Controls Accomplish?

Amazon parental controls can accomplish two main things: preventing kids from making unwanted purchases and preventing kids from watching shows and movies you don't approve of. Most parental controls you set up through the Amazon website will apply to all devices, but some devices have parental controls that need to be set locally. Other devices, like the Amazon Echo and Fire tablets, provide you with even more options for what media your kids consume through Amazon Freetime.

How to Prevent Kids From Buying on Amazon

The most important thing you can do to prevent your kids from placing unauthorized orders is to disable 1-Click purchasing. To turn off 1-Click Purchasing, navigate to the Amazon One-Click Manager page, log in if prompted, then select Disable 1-Click everywhere.

How to Create an Amazon Teen Login

If you have a teen, and you want to provide them with a little more autonomy, Amazon allows parents to set up accounts for teenagers. If you set up a teen account and tie it to your Amazon account, your teen will be able to shop for items on Amazon, place them in a shopping cart, then send a message asking if you will approve the purchase. This is a great way to avoid unwanted purchases while giving your teen some extra freedom.

1. Go to the Amazon teen account setup page and sign in if prompted.

2. Select Sign up now.

3. Enter your teen's info, then select Continue.

4. Select your purchase authorization preferences, then select Continue.

5. Sign in again if prompted, then choose which credit card and billing address to use for teen purchases. You'll then be asked to select approved shipping addresses, choose how you want to receive purchase requests, and enter your teen's email or phone number.

6. Your teen will receive an invite to set up an account that's tied to yours. When your teen attempts to make purchases, you will receive a request or notification based on your preferences.

How to Disable In-App Purchasing

In-app purchases are real money purchases that can be made from phone and tablet apps. These purchases often make games easier or unlock new content, so they can be very tempting for kids. To avoid this sort of problem, Amazon allows you to disable in-app purchasing account-wide for any app that you download through the Amazon Appstore.

1. Open the Amazon Appstore on your device.

2. Tap the Menu icon in the upper-left corner.

3. Tap Settings.

4. Tap In-App Purchasing.

5. Tap the Allow In-App Purchases checkbox.

6. Enter your Amazon password and tap Confirm.

How to Set Up Parental Controls for Prime Video

Amazon provides some basic parental controls for Prime Video that allow you to block access to certain types of content. If you choose to block some content, you'll still be able to access it yourself with the help of a personal identification number (PIN) that you'll set up alongside the parental controls.

1. Go to the Prime Video settings page and log in if prompted.

2. Select Parental Controls at the top of the page.

3. Enter a Prime Video PIN, then select Change.

4. Choose the rating level of your choice.

   For example, choosing G will require your PIN to watch any content that isn't G-rated.

5. Select the devices you want the restrictions to apply to, then select Save.