If your house is anything like mine, it’s always a struggle to get the kids to turn off their screens and do something else. They can quickly become addicted to endlessly scrolling social media feeds and watching videos without feeling like they’ve spent too much time staring at a screen.
Of course, you could just tell them to turn it off, but in my experience that’s about the least effective option. Instead, and to avoid arguments, a better option is to use the controls built into Amazon’s Fire tablets.
All Amazon Fire tablets include settings to control how much screen time your kids allow. This article explains how to use them and alternative apps if Amazon Parental Controls don’t do what you want.
What parental controls are there on Amazon Fire tablets?
The controls allow you to set an overall time limit or limits for different types of activities, such as gaming and apps, reading, watching videos, and more. They also have a Bedtime feature that renders the tablet unusable between the bedtimes you set.
You can even monitor what your child is doing on their tablet via Amazon Parent Dashboard from your phone or a web browser, and adjust settings from there without needing to have the tablet in front of you.
Amazon’s controls aren’t perfect, however. For example, you can’t block specific apps (without uninstalling them completely) and you can’t set periods of the day when the tablet can’t be used. You can suspend access to a device from the parent dashboard on an ad hoc basis, which is the only workaround.
The restrictions also won’t help if your child has access to other devices, as they will simply switch to one of them when their Amazon Fire locks.
However, there are other ways to limit screen time. I recommend apps like Qustodio. This works across all of your child’s devices and allows you to block apps in real time as well as limit the amount of time they can use specific apps.
Unlike Amazon controls, you can set multiple periods per day when they can or can’t use their device, and for smartphones, you can track your child’s location – ideal for kids commuting to school by their own means.
Still, if you want to try Amazon Parental Controls, I’ll walk you through how to create a child account (profile) on a Fire tablet and then apply restrictions on when they can use their tablet, as well as a time limit for Stop. they stare at the screen too long every day.
It doesn’t matter whether you own a Fire Kids Edition tablet or not: the settings are present on all Fire tablets.
How to Create a Child Profile on a Fire Tablet
Before screen time can be limited, there must be a profile for each child who will use the tablet.
If the tablet is new, follow the on-screen instructions to set it up and, when prompted, sign in with your Amazon account. You will have to do this to download applications, even free ones.
You will be prompted to create a child profile as part of the setup.
Fill in their contact details: name and date of birth. You can also tap Edit under their profile picture – they’ll probably want to choose that part.
You will then be asked to set a screen lock, which is necessary to prevent your children from simply using your adult profile and having unlimited access to everything.
You’ll likely receive trial offers for various Amazon services and prompts to download apps and games for free, but after going through them, you’ll see the home screen.
If you did not set a PIN or password when initially setting up the tablet, go to Settings and tap Security & privacy, then tap Screen lock passcode to enable it and enter the chosen access code.
To switch between your profile and your child’s profile, swipe down from the top of the screen, then swipe down a second time and tap the person icon, highlighted below.
A list of users is displayed: just press the child’s name to access their profile:
How to Set Time Limits on an Amazon Fire Tablet
The easiest way to set a screen time limit is to go to your child’s profile settings.
From an adult account (or the child account in question), swipe down twice from the top of the screen to view the full notification shade. Tap the cog icon in the bottom right corner to open Settings. (If you’re doing this from a child account, you’ll need to enter an adult account’s PIN, as the settings are inaccessible to children.)
Tap Profiles & Family Library (this step and the next step are skipped if you’re already signed in to a child profile).
Tap Set daily goals and time limits
You’ll see various options, including bedtime, goals, and total screen time.
Bedtime
Set the “Turn off before” time to the time you want your child to start winding down in the evening. It’s a good idea to prepare this at least an hour before going to sleep.
You can set different times for weekdays and weekends.
Screen time limits
There is a total screen time bar that shows the total amount of time the child can use the tablet. When exhausted, the tablet locks itself until the “Stay off until” time the next morning.
If you want, you can set “educational goals” and block videos or games until the child has read for a certain amount of time first.
You may prefer to use the “Time by Activity Type” sliders instead, as they allow you to control how much time your child has for different things, like reading, watching books, and accessing the Internet through the web browser child safe from Amazon.
Again, there’s no way to set time limits for specific apps and games, so you can’t limit a particular app to, say, 30 minutes, but allow them to use more others longer.
ADVICE: If the tablet is shared by two or more children, you will need to log in to each profile and set these time and activity limits for each of them.
How to Set Up Parental Controls on a Kindle Fire Tablet
Parental controls are different from screen time limits. There are some crossovers, such as restricted hours, but they have options to prevent purchases, block various types of content and much more.
To enable them, go to Settings (as explained above) and tap Parental Controls.
If you haven’t enabled them before, tap the toggle switch and you will be asked to choose a password, which must be at least four characters long.
When the password is set, parental controls are activated and you will see new options on the screen.
App pinning is new. It allows you to limit the use of a single application by your child. To use it, enable App Pinning, then launch the app you want them to use.
Tap the square navigation button (shown at the bottom right of the image above – swipe up if you don’t see the buttons), then tap the downward-pointing arrow on the icon of the application. Now tap Pin from the options that appear.
Further down, you’ll find options for blocking different types of content. Unfortunately, these are only broad categories, such as “Music”, “Books” and “Photos”. Even apps and games are grouped into one category, so it’s all or nothing.
In Password Protection, you can choose to put a password on Wi-Fi, location services, and video playback and Twitch, so that they can only be accessed or changed by entering the password parental control.
Note that Alexa is blocked by default when you enable parental controls.
It’s a good idea to make sure “Password Protected Purchases” is enabled, as this prevents kids from installing apps or purchasing anything from stores you haven’t blocked.
If you own one of Amazon’s smart speakers, you might like to read our guide on how to use parental controls on Amazon Echo. For recommendations on other ways to limit screen time, take a look at our best parental control software roundup.
For more kid-friendly devices, read our roundup of the best tablets for kids.
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