Internet and App Time Limits

Circle Time Limits caps the amount of time your kids can spend on screens and on individual sites or platforms, like TikTok or Fortnite. You can also set Internet time limits for categories—like games, social media, or news. Kids get notified (or they can always check) when time is running low.

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Why Internet and Screen Time Limits Matter

Research shows that too much screen time is bad for your kids’ development and digital wellbeing, but limiting Internet access isn't always easy. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared that kids as young as eight years old average time on screens is six hours, and it only goes up from there. Ages 11-14 average nine hours per day; ages 15-18 average 7.5 hours per day, and 18+ are on screens for a whopping 11 hours a day most days of the week. That's almost every hour of daylight.

Graph of screen time by age

Wouldn’t it be helpful if the Internet came with its own timer to help prevent your kids from overdoing it online? Now it does, with Circle Time Limits.

Circle Parental Controls is an iOS and Android app that limits the time spent on apps and blocks inappropriate content. Circle Time Limits gives parents the freedom to stop worrying about how much time their kids are spending on apps or websites that aren’t positively engaging their minds. Plus, it’s easy to check how your kids are spending most of their screen time in order to figure out where app limits need to be set in the future.

Time Limits give parents the freedom to stop worrying about how much time their kids are spending on apps or websites that aren’t positively engaging their minds. Plus, it’s easy to check how your kids are spending most of their screen time in order to figure out where limits need to be set in the future.

In just a few taps, you can rest assured that your kids aren’t bingeing Youtube videos instead of studying. All you have to do is set up your family’s Time Limits.

Graph of screen time by age
Teen playing video games while on a time limit

Benefits of Circle Time Limits for Internet and Screen Time

With Circle Time Limits, you get to set each family member’s profile, and walk away knowing your kids are safe from too much of a good thing—the Internet.

Rather than constantly peering over your kids’ shoulders to check if they’re still on a social networking site, with Time Limits, you can simply add limits that make apps no longer available after 30 minutes.

  • Customize Time Limits for each of your family member’s profiles.

  • Set up different Time Limits for apps, categories of sites, and a Daily Time Limit.

  • Track your kids’ Internet and app usage.

  • Change Time Limits from anywhere, anytime.

Pre-setting Time Limits on weekdays and weekends to fit your family’s needs and enforce downtime takes one more thing off your mental to-do list. During the week, when your kids should be focused on their schoolwork, you can pre-set their allotted time limit for TikTok or Snapchat. When Fri-yay rolls around, the daily time limit for Snapchat is already pre-set to automatically allow for a few extra minutes.

Screen time limits for a teen’s profile on the Circle app

How Circle’s Internet and Screen Time Limits Work

How Circle’s Internet and Screen Time Limits Work

Screen time app limits work by giving each family member’s profile its own dedicated Time Limits for apps, categories of sites, and a daily time limit. Once a time limit is reached on an app, site category, or all sites (depending on the type of time limit), access will be unavailable. It’s important to note that sites set to Unmanaged are always allowed and will still be accessible even if a time limit is reached.

To set Time Limits for apps, just select a profile and open that family member's settings in the Circle App. For instance, to set up a daily time limit, open a profile, choose Time Limits, and then tap the selector beneath the profile picture to choose the total amount of time for the day. Don’t forget to save!

The Circle Parental Controls App works on Apple iPhones and iPads and Android phones and tablets. And with the Circle device, you can set app timers and block apps on everything using your Wi-Fi network—including Mac and Microsoft laptops, game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation, Chromebooks, Kindles, and much more.

You can easily go back and change a Time Limits setting for any of your family profiles at any time. And your kids can always check their Time Limits on their dashboard.

What Circle Time Limits Can Do for You

Setting a daily time limit on the Circle app
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Setting a daily time limit on the Circle app
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What Circle Time Limits Can Do for You

Within the Time Limits feature, you can be broad or as specific as you want to with the amount of time allowed online. Set a daily time limit for the total time a family member can spend online, and set limits by category of apps, types of content, and individual apps or websites.

How Family Internet Time Limits Help

Each Circle family member profile can have three different types of Time Limits:

  • Total daily time limit

  • App/website time limit (Netflix)

  • Category time limit (“Videos”)

Total daily time limit overrides any other time limit set up for categories, apps, or websites.

Daily Time Limits

By setting a daily time limit, you can be sure your kids aren’t going over the screen time that’s safe for their age on any given day. As they are approaching their allotted time, they’ll get a notification. And when the limit is hit, they will no longer be able to access the Internet for the rest of the day.

So, let’s say you want to set up your teenage daughter’s daily Time Limits within her profile. You’ll notice the same platforms and categories that are available for her Filter, but here you can set Time Limits. Tap on her profile, then tap on Time Limits. Start by toggling to enable. Then, select the total amount of time for the day and save.

Time Limits on Apps and Websites

If your daughter has a habit of Snapchatting her day away, you can set up a specific app time limit for Snapchat. Any Time Limits for the app will also apply to the connected website. Scroll to choose which daily time limit seems best for that app. Thirty minutes? From there, you can continue to scroll down and set as many Time Limits for platforms and categories as you want.

Internet Category Time Limits

This feature is a huge time saver for parents because you know your kids. Too much Roblox? Set a time limit for Online Games. Kid scrolling Instagram for hours? Set a time limit for Social Media. Circle has web categories for everything from Arts & Entertainment to Videos.

You can learn more about how to completely customize each of your family members’ profile Time Limits, including how to set or change a time limit for an app, website, or category, and how to add weekend Time Limits here.

Time Limits Gives Parents Peace of Mind

The Time Limits feature is a favorite for monitoring Internet access. You can adjust by age and across apps. A must-have for every home to protect their children.
Phil, Circle dad
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