Twitch

Live streaming with live chat. Twitch added real parental controls in 2026, but the teen has to start the link and can undo it. The setting that matters most is whether your child can go live themselves.

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

   Link your account to theirs in the Family Center

   Everything else depends on this. Note that your teen starts it, not you, and either of you can unlink later.

   Teen: Settings → Family Center → sharable link → Parent accepts

   1. Ask your child to open Settings, then Family Center, and send you the sharable link.
   2. Open the link on your own Twitch account and accept.
   3. You can link up to ten teen accounts. They can link to only one parent.

   You'll be emailed if they unlink, but by then the controls are already off. Twitch says these controls are not mandatory for 13 to 17 year olds, so this is a weaker arrangement than Screen Time or Family Link.

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

2. 2

   Stop them going live

   This is the highest-value control on Twitch. A live feed from a bedroom to strangers, with a chat attached, is the thing worth stopping first. Wanting to stream is not automatically a no, though. It is a conversation about doing it somewhere other than a bedroom, with someone keeping an eye on the chat.

   Family Center → Streaming & Video Uploads

   1. In the Family Center, open Streaming & Video Uploads.
   2. Turn off the ability to go live.

   Recommended by age

   13–15	Off
   16–17	Off unless you've talked it through properly

   Twitch documents viewers daring minors into things on stream, and warns that a full name, school or town said out loud on a live stream cannot be taken back.

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

3. 3

   Turn off direct messages

   Whispers are Twitch's DMs and are the main private contact route from a stranger.

   Family Center → Disable DMs

   1. In the Family Center, open Disable DMs and turn whispers off.
   2. On your child's own account, also check Security and Privacy Settings for Block Whispers from Strangers.

   Twitch's own help pages disagree about whether Block Whispers from Strangers is on by default, so check the toggle rather than assume. Also worth knowing: if your child whispers a stranger, that person can reply for the next 48 hours.

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

   If someone is being cruel to them

   Whispers are the private route and this closes them. Chat during someone else’s stream is moderated by that streamer rather than by you, which is worth knowing before your child starts watching regularly.

4. 4

   Restrict sensitive content from the parent side

   Under-18 accounts hide some categories by default, but the teen can turn their own protections back off. Setting it from the Family Center is what puts it in your hands instead.

   Family Center → Protect from Sensitive Content

   1. In the Family Center, open Protect from Sensitive Content.
   2. Leave the restrictions on.

   Be clear with yourself about what this does. Hiding a category removes it from browsing and recommendations. If your child follows a streamer, or goes straight to a channel page, they still see everything.

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

5. 5

   Set a daily time limit

   Live content has no episode ending. The limit applies across every device they watch on.

   Family Center → Enact Time Limits

   1. In the Family Center, open Enact Time Limits.
   2. Set a daily limit.

   Recommended by age

   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

   Turn on chat filters on their account

   These are the most under-used control on Twitch. They follow your child from channel to channel rather than depending on each streamer's moderation.

   Any channel → Chat settings → Chat Filters

   1. On your child's account, open Chat settings on any channel.
   2. Turn on filters for Discrimination, Sexually Explicit Language, Hostility and Profanity.

   Filters catch categories of language. They do not catch someone being friendly with bad intentions, which is the thing that actually matters.

   Who holds this: This lives in your child's own settings, so they can change it back. There is no parent-side lock for it.

7. 7

   Agree what to report, and read the weekly email

   You'll get a weekly summary of who they whispered, who they blocked, which channels they watched and what they spent.

   1. Read the weekly email when it arrives, and ask about anything you don't recognise.
   2. Agree that any request to do something on camera gets shown to you.
   3. Show them how to report a channel or a user.

   If an adult makes a sexually suggestive request to your child, report it under Child Endangerment. Twitch escalates those to NCMEC and law enforcement.

8. 8

   Add a device-level backstop

   These settings only cover this one service. A device-level control catches the app they download next.

   1. Set up Screen Time, Family Link, Microsoft Family Safety or your console's own controls.
   2. Require your approval for new app downloads.

   SafeStart has a separate guide for each of these. Pick your device on the home screen.

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