Amazon Fire tablet

Often a child's first tablet. Amazon Kids builds a walled garden with genuinely good controls inside it, and almost none outside it. The lock screen PIN is the whole wall.

Menu names shift between software versions and between phone makers. If a name here does not match what you see, look for something close by rather than assuming the setting is gone.

1. 1

   Set a lock screen PIN first

   This is the one that matters. Amazon's own setup guide says it plainly: the PIN is what stops your child getting out of their profile and into yours. Without it everything below is decoration.

   Settings → Security & Privacy → Lock Screen Passcode

   1. Open Settings on the tablet, then Security & Privacy.
   2. Set a lock screen PIN or password.
   3. Use something your child hasn't seen you type, and not a birthday.

   Switching out of a child profile now needs your PIN.

   Who holds this: This is set on the device and held by your device passcode, not by the app.

   Already done this?

   Forgotten the lock screen PIN? Get it wrong five times, choose Reset Your PIN, and enter your Amazon password. Nothing is lost. This is the recoverable one. The separate Parental Controls password is not, so do not assume the same trick works there.

2. 2

   Create a child profile

   The child profile is the sandbox. Age filters, time limits and the safer browser all live inside it and apply nowhere else.

   1. Open the Amazon Kids app, or follow the setup prompts on a new tablet.
   2. Tap Add Child.
   3. Enter their name, date of birth and pick an avatar. You can add up to four children.

   Amazon Kids is free. Amazon Kids+ is a paid content library on top of it, and buying it adds no extra controls.

3. 3

   Set the content maturity filter

   This is what decides which books, videos and apps your child sees at all.

   parents.amazon.com → gear icon next to your child → Content Maturity Filter & Languages

   1. Go to parents.amazon.com or open the Parent Dashboard app.
   2. Click the gear icon next to your child’s name.
   3. Open Content Maturity Filter & Languages.
   4. Set the range under "Only show content with a maturity rating up to", and check the language while you are there.

   Recommended by age

   Under 7	Top of the range at their real age, not older
   7–11	Top of the range at their real age, not older
   11–12	Top of the range at their real age
   13–15	Top of the range at their real age
   16–17	Top of the range at their real age

   Two things catch people out. Amazon renamed this: older guidance, ours included until a reader corrected it, calls it Adjust Age Filter. And it is a range with a lower and an upper age, not a single age, so set the top of the range to their actual age rather than nudging it up to give them more choice. Nudging it up is the most common way this gets undone.

   Who holds this: You set this from your own account, and your child cannot change it back.

4. 4

   Decide about the browser

   The browser reaches everything the app filters do not, so for younger children this is the single biggest decision on the tablet. Off entirely is the cleanest answer and also the one most likely to be reversed at the first piece of homework. Hand-Selected costs you ten minutes of setup and tends to last.

   parents.amazon.com → gear icon next to your child → Child Settings

   1. In the Parent Dashboard, open your child’s settings from the gear icon next to their name.
   2. Find the web browsing controls in there.
   3. Turn the browser off entirely, or pick Hand-Selected Websites & Videos, or Filtered Websites & Videos.
   4. You can add your own allowed or blocked addresses either way.

   Recommended by age

   Under 7	Browser off, or Hand-Selected
   7–11	Browser off, or Hand-Selected
   11–12	Hand-Selected
   13–15	Filtered
   16–17	Filtered

   We had this in the wrong place until a reader went looking and could not find it, on desktop or in the app. Amazon’s own wording is that web-browsing controls can be customized for each child in the free Amazon Kids Parent Dashboard, under that child’s settings. Separately, Amazon describes the filtered mode as filtering things like pornography. That is a deliberately narrow claim, so treat it as a filter and not a wall.

   Who holds this: You set this from your own account, and your child cannot change it back.

5. 5

   Set time limits and a bedtime

   A tablet has no natural stopping point, and a scheduled limit avoids the nightly negotiation.

   Parent Dashboard → Settings → Daily Screen Time

   1. In the Parent Dashboard, open Settings, then Daily Screen Time.
   2. Set a daily limit under Screen time, and a window under Schedule.
   3. If you want reading before games, set goals under Learn First.

   Recommended by age

   Under 7	45–60 minutes, off an hour before bed
   7–11	45–60 minutes, off an hour before bed
   11–12	60–90 minutes
   13–15	Agree it together
   16–17	Agree it together

   Who holds this: You set this from your own account, and your child cannot change it back.

6. 6

   Make app downloads a request

   Children ask rather than install, and you get a say without having to police it.

   Parent Dashboard → Content → Store Access

   1. In the Parent Dashboard, open Content, then Store Access.
   2. Turn on approval for third-party apps and games.
   3. Leave in-app purchases requiring approval, which is the default.

   You'll get an email or text when they ask, and the app only arrives once you approve.

   Who holds this: You set this from your own account, and your child cannot change it back.

7. 7

   Check what's outside the sandbox

   Amazon Kids is strong inside the profile and absent outside it. Ten minutes on your own profile is worth more than another setting inside theirs.

   1. Open your own adult profile and look at what's installed and signed in.
   2. Remove or sign out of anything you'd rather they didn't find if the PIN ever slips.
   3. Tell your child the PIN exists and why, rather than letting them discover it.

Menus move. If something on screen does not match these steps, check the official link above.