Spending limits and parental controls

Every major platform now lets an adult control spending, but they do it in three different ways, and knowing which one you are dealing with saves a lot of confusion:

A cap. A figure the account cannot exceed each month — only PlayStation offers a true adjustable monthly limit. A balance. The child can only spend what you have loaded — the Xbox and Nintendo model. An approval. Every purchase waits for an adult to say yes — Steam, Apple and Google work this way.

Platform by platform

Steam: Steam Families

Steam Families replaced Family Sharing and Family View in 2024. A family holds up to six people as adults or children, and a child's purchases become requests that an adult approves and pays for.

1. Open Account Details, then Family Management, and choose Manage.
2. Expand the child's entry and open Parental Controls.
3. Set which games and features are allowed, and set playtime limits if you want them.
4. When the child adds something to the cart, they send a purchase request; approve it from the Steam mobile app or the email link, and the game lands in their library.

Adults can also gate their own store access behind a PIN with Family View, found under Settings, Family. Steam does not offer a fixed monthly money cap.

PlayStation: Family Management

The only platform here with a genuine monthly spending limit you can set in pounds. It starts at £0 for a child account, and the child spends from the family manager's wallet.

1. Use the PlayStation Family app, Account Management on the web, or on a PS5 go to Settings, Users and Accounts, Family Management.
2. Choose the child and select the monthly spending limit.
3. Set play time under Manage Playtime, and decide which games are allowed; the child can request exceptions, which you approve from the app or by email.

For your own account, turn on Require Password at Checkout: PS5 Settings, Users and Accounts, Account, Payment and Subscriptions, Purchase Settings. Note that guardians you appoint can change a child's spending limit too.

Xbox and Windows: Microsoft Family Safety

Microsoft uses a balance rather than a cap: you add money to the child's Microsoft account and they can spend only that. You can also require your approval for every purchase.

1. Open the Family Safety app or family.microsoft.com and pick the child.
2. On the Spending page, add money to their account and choose Manage spending.
3. Turn on “Require approval for every purchase” to have each request sent to you.
4. For time, go to the child, choose the platform, then Set time limits and turn on app and game limits.

Epic Games: Parental Controls

Accounts belonging to under-13s have an automatic daily limit of $100 on purchases made with Epic's own payment system; going beyond it needs the parental PIN. That limit is fixed rather than something you set.

1. Sign in to the Epic account portal and open Parental Controls; create a six-digit PIN.
2. Turn on “Require a PIN for Epic Games payments” so every real-money purchase needs it.
3. Set total time limits and weekly time reports from the same page or inside Fortnite.

Under-13 accounts are treated as “cabined accounts”, with chat and some features switched off until a parent consents. The limits do not cover purchases made through a console's own store.

Nintendo Switch: Parental Controls app

Nintendo does not offer a monthly cap or purchase-by-purchase approval. Instead you either restrict eShop purchases on the child's Nintendo Account, or load a set amount so they can only spend that.

1. From the parent's Nintendo Account settings, restrict or switch off eShop purchases for the child's account.
2. Or top up the child's eShop balance with a fixed amount, for example with a gift card.
3. Install the free Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app for daily play-time limits and a bedtime window.

Most Switch controls apply to the whole console, so set them for the youngest person who uses it.

iPhone and iPad: Screen Time and Ask to Buy

Apple works on approval rather than a cap. With Ask to Buy on, a child's purchase — including in-app purchases in games — waits for an adult to approve it.

1. Go to Settings, Family, choose the child, then Apps & Websites (Restrictions), Ask to Buy, and turn on Require Purchase Approval.
2. Approve or decline each request from the notification on your own device.
3. Set daily game time with Screen Time, App Limits.

On your own iPhone you can block or password-protect in-app purchases under Screen Time, Content & Privacy Restrictions, App Store purchases — protected by the Screen Time passcode.

Android: Family Link and purchase approvals

Google also works on approval. A parent chooses whether approval is needed for all content, all paid content, or only in-app purchases.

1. In Family Link (g.co/yourfamily), pick the child and open Controls on Google Play.
2. Choose Purchase & download approvals and set it to “All purchases” or “Only in-app purchases”.
3. Set a daily limit and bedtime under Screen time, plus per-app limits if needed.

For your own phone: Play Store, Profile, Settings, Purchase verification — require your password or fingerprint for every purchase. Approvals cover purchases made through Google Play's own billing only.

For adults, too

These controls are not only for children. A password or fingerprint on every purchase is the single most useful setting for anyone who has bought something at midnight and regretted it by breakfast — PlayStation, Steam, iPhone and Android all offer one for your own account.

A pound-for-pound budget works too: load a fixed amount with a store gift card at the start of the month and let the balance be the limit. It is old-fashioned and it works.

Questions we get asked