Windows 11 Family Safety — step-by-step

Step 1: Create the kid’s Microsoft account

If your kid doesn’t have their own Microsoft account, create one at account.microsoft.com. Use the kid’s real date of birth.

Why the real DOB matters: under-13 accounts get automatic protections that 13+ accounts don’t. Activity reports are on by default. Spending defaults are tighter. Some settings are harder to disable. The DOB is the trigger; if it’s wrong, the protections don’t apply.

For the email address, an existing kid email is fine. If you don’t have one, Microsoft can create an @outlook.com address during signup. Avoid using a parent’s email address — the kid’s account is theirs.

Step 2: Add the kid to your family group

Sign in to family.microsoft.com as the parent. Click Add a family member. Choose Member (not Organizer). Enter the kid’s email.

The kid then signs in to their account at family.microsoft.com (or clicks the link in the invite email) and accepts.

Once the kid accepts, your family is linked. You can now manage their settings from your dashboard.

Step 3: Install the Family Safety apps

Install the Microsoft Family Safety mobile app on your phone. iOS or Android, both work. This is where you’ll approve "more time" requests, see notifications, and review activity on the go.

On the kid’s PC, make sure the kid is signed in with their child Microsoft account. The Family Safety app on the PC is normally installed by default in Windows 11 — if it isn’t, install it from the Microsoft Store.

If your kid has an Android phone too: install the kid version of Family Safety on it. Time limits and app caps then apply across the PC and the phone.

iPhone: Family Safety on iPhone is more limited because of Apple’s restrictions. Use Apple Screen Time alongside Family Safety on iOS.

Step 4: Screen-time limits

From your dashboard at family.microsoft.com, click your kid → Screen time → Devices. Toggle on, set hours per day, set an allowed time-of-day window (e.g., 4pm to 9pm).

Day-of-week schedules are supported. You can do "1 hour weekdays, 3 hours weekends" with separate windows. Most parents find different weekday and weekend rules reduce daily arguments.

The "ask for more time" workflow: when the cap hits, Windows shows a block screen with a Request More Time button. Your kid taps it; you get an email and a notification on the Family Safety app. You grant +15 / +30 / +60 minutes or a custom amount. It’s the most-used parent feature in Family Safety.

Schedule by day-of-week independent of the cap is also available — e.g. "no PC at all on Sunday morning before 11am." Use this for homework hours or meal times.

Step 5: App and game limits

From Screen time → Apps and games, pick installed apps from the activity-report list and set a per-app cap.

This is the setting most parents skip and then regret. Without app-level caps, your kid can burn three hours on Discord and you’ll see "PC time: 3h" without knowing what they were doing.

What we recommend capping:

• Steam.exe — aggregate Steam time. Pair with Steam Families per-game caps.
• EpicGamesLauncher.exe and FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe — Epic launcher and Fortnite specifically.
• RobloxPlayer.exe — Roblox time.
• Discord.exe — Discord app. Useful even when chat itself is fine.
• Minecraft.exe / javaw.exe — Minecraft Bedrock and Java.
• Chrome.exe / Firefox.exe — if you allow non-Edge browsers.

Per-day-of-week schedules apply here too. "30 min weekdays, 90 min weekends" on Fortnite is a common pattern.

Step 6: Content filters

From Content filters, set the rating ceiling for apps and games. Anything above that ESRB rating on the Microsoft Store can’t be installed or launched.

Recommended ceilings:

• Under 10: E (Everyone)
• 10 to 12: E10+
• 13 to 15: T (Teen)
• 16+: M (Mature) at parental discretion

Note: Minecraft is E10+. If your ceiling is E and your kid plays Minecraft, raise it to E10+ or Minecraft will be blocked.

Web filtering. Toggle on if you want it. Two important things to know:

• Web filtering enforces in Microsoft Edge. Other browsers (Chrome, Firefox) are blocked entirely on the kid’s account when web filtering is on.
• If your kid needs Chrome for school or a specific tool, leave web filtering off and lean on app-level limits and content-rating ceilings instead.

Step 7: Spending controls

From Spending, turn on Ask-to-buy for Microsoft Store purchases. Every Store purchase now requires parent approval.

You can also add funds to the kid’s account — the kid spends from this balance without further approval, like a digital allowance. Useful for letting them buy small things without a back-and-forth.

Step 8: Activity reports

Activity reports are on by default for kid accounts. The weekly email lands in your inbox every Sunday with: total screen time, top apps, websites visited (in Edge), search terms, and any blocked-content attempts.

What the report shows you: volume and headlines. How long they were on the PC. Which apps got the most time. Which sites they visited (in Edge). Anything they tried to install that got blocked.

What it doesn’t show: conversation contents inside Discord or any game. The view inside a Twitch stream they watched. What anyone said to them in voice chat. The activity report is volume, not contents. We frame this as a feature: it’s a "what your kid is doing" tool, not a surveillance system.

The most useful pattern is to open the report with your kid, weekly, for ten minutes. Walk through what they played. Ask which experiences were good. The conversation around the report is the parenting move; the report itself is just the prompt.