Parental controls for games: where the settings are in Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, Steam and Brawl Stars

Roblox

The settings are inside Roblox itself: age-based accounts for younger children, chat restrictions and a PIN that protects the settings. Turn them on either way. They don't limit how many hours your child spends in the game. Details in Is Roblox safe for kids.

Minecraft

Minecraft needs a Microsoft account, so the settings are there, not in the game. A child account has multiplayer switched off from the start, and the parent allows it in the Xbox settings. The setting applies to every game on the account: open chat for Minecraft and you open it everywhere. Step by step in Minecraft parental controls. The rest of the console settings, from purchases to a PIN on your own profile, are covered in our Xbox parental controls guide.

Fortnite

Epic has the fullest set: a play-time limit with email reports, separate permissions for voice and text chat, a PIN for purchases and age ratings for game modes. The settings apply to all Epic games on every platform. The time limit counts only Fortnite. Details in Fortnite parental controls.

Steam

On Steam a parent needs a family group. There you mark the allowed games, switch off the store, community and chat, and set play time. Your child sends purchases to an adult for approval. Details in Steam parental controls.

Brawl Stars

Brawl Stars has almost no settings inside the game. Supercell recommends creating a Supercell ID for your child on the parent's email: sign-in then needs a code from your inbox, and you can see the friend list. Purchases are limited on the phone, and the game has no time limit. Details in Brawl Stars parental controls.

What game settings can't do

Each game counts only its own time. When the Fortnite limit runs out, the same phone still has Roblox, Fortnite videos and streams. Five games mean five accounts with different passwords, and none of them knows about the others. Some games have no parent settings at all, Standoff 2 among them.

So parents usually combine two levels. Inside the games they switch off chat, purchases and mature ratings. Time is limited on the device: an overall limit on the phone or PC and separate limits on games. In Gardion both are set in one app for the phone and the Windows PC.