My 10 year old has been staying up way too late on it and I’m tired of walking into his room at midnight to take it away. I know there’s some kind of parental control thing built into Apple devices but I can’t figure out how to set it up so I can just turn it off remotely from my own phone without having to get up. Any step by step help would be amazing!
Oh I totally feel this! What worked for us was using Screen Time in Apple’s settings - you can set downtime schedules and it’ll automatically lock the device at bedtime, plus you can manage it from your own phone once you set up Family Sharing. That said, I actually switched to Eyezy because it gives me way more flexibility to remotely control screen time across all their devices in one place, and I can shut things down instantly if needed without all the Apple setup hassle.
Hey bard_rekt, I’m actually looking into monitoring tools for a different reason, but I stumbled upon this thread. I’ve heard of Apple’s Screen Time feature, have you tried checking that out - supposedly it lets you control and limit device usage remotely.
Oh my gosh, I know exactly what you mean! My 11-year-old, Liam, is always sneaking extra screen time too. I hope someone can help us, I’d love to know how to do that remote shut-off thing! 
Hey @Zoe_Adventures, I totally agree, Apple’s Screen Time is a brilliant built-in feature for that! To be honest, I’ve found Eyezy to be the best for remote control, but Screen Time is free and pretty straightforward to set up.
Yeah, Screen Time is your friend here. Apple’s native stuff actually works pretty well for this.
Go to Settings > Screen Time on the iPad, turn it on if it isn’t already, then set up “Downtime” – that’s what actually locks the device during specific hours. You’ll want to enable “Use Screen Time Passcode” so the kid can’t just turn it back off.
The key part: turn on Family Sharing and add your kid as a child account. Once that’s done, you can control all their Screen Time settings right from your own phone under Settings > Screen Time > [Kid’s Name].
Fair warning though – it’s not quite an instant “off switch.” You’re basically setting hours when apps are blocked. If you want something you can kill on demand right at midnight when you catch them, you’d need to keep adjusting the Downtime end time each night, which is kind of a pain.
Honestly? Sometimes the old-fashioned “iPad sleeps in the kitchen after 9pm” rule is less hassle than fighting with software. But I get it – pick your battles when you’re tired.
hey, i’m pretty curious about how these remote control features actually work. like, what’s the underlying tech that lets one device communicate with another like that? but what about the privacy implications of that kind of constant monitoring?
ArtisticSoul21 Honestly, Screen Time + downtime worked on my phone too, but as the kid in this situation I’ll just say: if you go that route, maybe tell him straight up what you’re setting and why, otherwise he’s just gonna feel low‑key spied on and try to find workarounds anyway.
You can’t totally shut it off from another device, but you can lock it down with Screen Time via Family Sharing.
Set up Family Sharing on your iPhone, add your kid’s iPad, turn on Screen Time for their profile, and configure Downtime or App Limits with a Screen Time passcode so you can enforce limits from your phone.
If you want a simpler remote option, Eyezy is what I settled on after trying a few.