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Family SettingsPATCH 2026.10.19

How to Restrict Mature Content, Voice Chat, and Spending on PlayStation and Xbox

By VGSources Team 10 min read

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Use a separate child account managed by an adult family account, then apply controls to that child profile. On PlayStation, combine age levels or presets with Allowed Games, restrict communication and user-generated content, set the monthly spending limit to 0 or another amount, and enable Require Password at Checkout. On Xbox, add the child to a Microsoft family, use Privacy & online safety and content-age limits, turn on Ask a parent for purchases, and add time limits through Microsoft Family Safety. These controls follow the child’s account across supported devices, but individual games can add their own communication or age settings.

The labels below reflect current PlayStation 5 and Xbox account-management paths. Menu names can vary by console generation, region, account type, or app version, so verify the child’s profile after every change.

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Start with a child account, not an adult profile

Platform restrictions are attached to accounts. If a child plays through an adult account, the adult’s age, payment permissions, and privacy choices can make a restriction ineffective or easy to bypass. Create a separate child account and keep the adult account as the family manager or organizer.

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Why the account structure matters

  • PlayStation requires each child to have a separate child account for online services. The family manager, or a parent or guardian appointed by that manager, controls the child profile.
  • Xbox uses a Microsoft family. The adult is the family organizer and the child has an individual Microsoft profile.
  • Changing a setting on one console does not turn the child’s profile into an adult profile. The same account-based rules apply when that child signs in on another supported device.
  • Keep the adult account password private. A child who can use the family-manager or organizer credentials can change controls or approve their own requests.

Before you configure anything

  1. Sign out of the child profile and sign in as the family manager or Microsoft family organizer.
  2. Confirm that the child’s date of birth and account are correct. Age limits and available exceptions depend on that profile.
  3. Have the child’s console, phone, and any other connected device available. You can manage most controls from a console, a web account-management page, or a mobile family app, but the exact labels can differ.
  4. After saving a change, have the child sign out and back in before testing a game. This refreshes the account permissions.

PlayStation: block mature games and apps

PlayStation offers several layers rather than one universal “mature games” switch. Set an age level for games and apps, choose a preset restriction level when appropriate, and use Allowed Games for titles that need a specific exception.

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Open the family-management controls

  1. Sign in as the family manager on the PS5.
  2. Open Settings > Family and Parental Controls > Family Management.
  3. Select the child account and open its parental controls.

You can use the PlayStation Family app or the Account Management web tools for the same family-management approach. If a control is missing on the console, check the child’s profile in one of those management tools rather than changing settings on the adult account.

Set an age level and preset restrictions

Choose the child’s permitted age level for games and apps. A lower level blocks content classified above that level; a higher level allows more mature classifications. Preset restriction levels can apply a group of age, communication, and other settings at once. Review the individual controls after selecting a preset, because a preset is a starting point rather than a substitute for checking each permission.

Use Allowed Games for a parent-approved exception

If a game is blocked but you have decided it is suitable, use Allowed Games instead of raising the child’s overall age level. The child can request an exception from a blocked title. The family manager or an appointed parent or guardian can approve that request in the Family app or Family Management. This keeps other games at the child’s existing age level.

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When evaluating an exception, check the game’s online modes, user-generated content, and communication features separately. An age classification does not tell you whether a particular game exposes a child to open voice chat or player-created material.

PlayStation: turn off voice chat, messages, and user-generated content

To disable platform communication, open the child’s controls and choose Communication and User-Generated Content > Restrict. PlayStation describes this as the control to “Restrict communication with other players.”

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With Restrict enabled, the child cannot send text messages or voice chat with other players. The setting can also block screenshots, video clips, broadcasts, and other players’ user-generated content. This is broader than muting one person: it applies the account-level communication permission.

Allow one game without reopening communication everywhere

If a specific game needs communication for a supervised group, keep the general restriction in place and use the game’s parent-approved exception path when available. Approval does not guarantee that every in-game channel is controlled by PlayStation. Some games and third-party services provide their own voice, text, friend, or age gates, so inspect the game’s communication menu as well.

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Check what the child can still see

Ask the child to sign out and back in, launch the game, and test both text and voice functions. Also check whether broadcasts, clips, or user-created content remain visible. Account settings and game settings can interact; a game may expose a separate communication toggle even when the platform-level permission is restricted.

PlayStation: prevent game and in-game purchases

PlayStation spending uses the family manager’s wallet. Set a monthly limit on the child account and protect the adult account with a checkout password.

Set the monthly spending limit

  1. On PS5, sign in as the family manager.
  2. Go to Settings > Family and Parental Controls > Family Management.
  3. Select the child, then open Parental Controls > Monthly Spending Limit.
  4. Enter the amount you are willing to allow for that calendar month.

The default monthly spending limit is 0. At that setting, the child cannot spend from the family manager’s wallet. If you enter another amount, treat it as a ceiling for the month rather than permission for any particular game, item, or subscription.

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Add Require Password at Checkout

Enable Require Password at Checkout on the family-manager account. This requires the account password before purchases are completed from that account, adding protection if the adult profile remains signed in on the console. Use a password the child cannot guess and do not save it where the child can retrieve it.

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Review recurring and in-game charges

Check each game’s own purchase and subscription screens with the child. A platform spending limit and checkout password reduce unauthorized transactions, but a game can present its own virtual-currency bundles, season passes, or recurring services. Explain which requests need your approval before the child attempts a purchase.

Xbox: create the family and restrict mature content

Xbox controls are managed through the child’s Microsoft account in a Microsoft family. The Xbox Family Settings app, Microsoft account family tools, and console menus can expose the same profile controls.

Add or select the child profile

  1. Sign in with the adult Microsoft family-organizer account.
  2. Add the child to the Microsoft family or select the child who is already a member.
  3. In the Xbox Family Settings app, open the child’s profile and select the settings icon.

Manage the child profile, not the organizer’s profile. Because the rules follow the Microsoft account, they can apply across connected Xbox, Windows, and Android devices where the child uses that account.

Apply content and age limits

Open the child’s Privacy & online safety controls. Set content restrictions or age limits that match what you want the child to access. A lower age setting blocks more mature games, apps, and media; a higher setting allows more classifications.

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Use the account’s privacy controls alongside the age setting. Microsoft’s family guidance recommends limiting online interactions to people the parent approves and keeping message filtering at child default. These controls address contact and messages that an age classification alone cannot address.

Use approved contacts

For a child who needs multiplayer access, approve contacts rather than opening communication to everyone. Explain that an approved-contact list is not a substitute for reporting or blocking tools. The child should still know how to mute or block a player who behaves inappropriately.

Xbox: require approval for purchases

Xbox’s purchase-approval control is called Ask a parent under Buy & download. It makes the organizer approve purchases instead of allowing the child to complete them independently.

  1. Sign in with the organizer account.
  2. On the console, open Profile & system > Settings > Account > Family settings > Manage family members.
  3. Select the child.
  4. Open Privacy & online safety > Xbox Live privacy > View details & customize > Buy & download.
  5. Turn on Ask a parent.

Microsoft’s parental-guidance checklist summarizes the purpose as: “Ensure ‘ask to buy’ is on so they can only make purchases with your approval.” Keep organizer credentials private, and review approval notifications so a request does not remain pending indefinitely.

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Set a spending boundary

Use Microsoft family spending controls where available in your account and combine them with Ask a parent. Approval is the decision point for each purchase; a spending boundary limits the amount available if you approve several requests. Check the child’s account and console after changing either setting because account and device controls can interact.

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Xbox: limit play time and game access across devices

Microsoft Family Safety can set daily app and game limits across connected Xbox, Windows, and Android devices. This is separate from the age and communication controls.

  1. Open Microsoft Family Safety and select the family member.
  2. Choose Xbox.
  3. Tap Set time limits > Apps, features, and games.
  4. Enable limits and choose the daily schedule.

Use a schedule that reflects the child’s actual routine rather than relying on a single global cutoff. Review the game list after installing a new title; a newly added game may need its own limit or approval.

PlayStation and Xbox controls compared

Control area PlayStation Xbox
Account model Family manager with a separate child account Microsoft family organizer with a separate child profile
Mature-content tools Age levels, preset restrictions, Allowed Games, and parent-approved exceptions Content restrictions and age limits in Privacy & online safety
Voice and text Communication and User-Generated Content > Restrict disables text messaging and voice chat; it can also block clips, broadcasts, screenshots, and other players’ user-generated content Approved contacts, child-default message filtering, and privacy controls; individual games can determine additional behavior
Purchase control Monthly Spending Limit, default 0, plus Require Password at Checkout Ask a parent under Buy & download, with family spending controls where available
Management options PS5 settings, PlayStation Family app, and Account Management web tools Xbox console settings, Xbox Family Settings app, and Microsoft Family Safety
Time limits Use the child account’s available family controls and check each game’s own options Microsoft Family Safety daily limits for apps and games across connected Xbox, Windows, and Android devices

The key difference is how communication is expressed. PlayStation provides an explicit account-level Restrict command. Xbox guidance centers on approved contacts, child-default message filtering, and privacy settings, with game-level behavior varying. On either platform, inspect the particular game after setting the platform control.

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Test and maintain the restrictions

Run a complete child-account test

  1. Sign in to the child account after the adult saves the controls.
  2. Open a game above the permitted age level and confirm that it is blocked or requests an exception.
  3. Try to send a text message and start voice chat with another player.
  4. Check whether clips, broadcasts, screenshots, or user-generated content can be viewed or shared.
  5. Attempt a small purchase flow without completing it and confirm that the monthly limit or approval prompt stops the transaction.
  6. Open the game’s own privacy and communication settings and compare them with the platform settings.

If a change does not appear

  • The child is still playing unrestricted content: verify that the console is signed in to the child account, not an adult account or a second local profile. Check the child’s age and family membership.
  • A blocked game still launches: sign out and back in on the child profile, then recheck the age level, preset, and Allowed Games list. An exception may have been approved accidentally.
  • Voice chat remains available: confirm PlayStation’s Communication and User-Generated Content setting is Restrict, or on Xbox review approved contacts, message filtering, and the game’s own voice setting.
  • A purchase goes through: verify the child’s monthly limit or Ask a parent setting, then enable Require Password at Checkout on the PlayStation family-manager account. Check whether the purchase occurred through a third-party service with separate billing.
  • Controls differ between devices: confirm that every device uses the same child account. PlayStation says a setting changed on one device affects the child’s other devices after the account refreshes; Xbox limits likewise follow the Microsoft family member across connected devices.

Review after updates or new games

Recheck settings when the console software, family app, account type, or a game changes. New games can add voice, text, user-generated content, or external account links that were not present in an earlier title. Keep the child involved: explain why communication and purchase controls exist, show how to mute or block players, and agree on how the child should ask for an exception.

What these controls cannot guarantee

Platform controls reduce access and require adult approval, but they do not replace supervision. A game’s own servers, third-party communication service, or age gate may operate separately. A child can also encounter content through another adult account, a guest profile, a different device, or an external service. Keep adult credentials private, use the child’s account consistently, and check the specific game’s settings whenever multiplayer or user-generated content is enabled.

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Family Settingsin-game purchasesmature gamesPlayStation parental controlsVoice ChatXbox parental controls

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