An update to Nintendo’s Parental Control mobile app added more options for parents this week, letting them limit the amount of time their child plays the console and the types of games they play, Nintendo announced.
With the app, parents can now choose how much a child can play the Switch based on days of the week. So, for example, a kid may be permitted to play only two hours total on school nights and considerably longer on weekends. The app also tells parents if the Switch is being played outside of allotted times and allows games to be interrupted. These features can be changed or turned off using a PIN code set up in the app.
Additionally, parents can decide what games their children can play on the Switch, using pre-set age categories or age-dependent custom options. This, too, can be overridden using the parents’ in-app PIN number.
“You may also choose to ‘whitelist’ specific games, excluding them from the Parental Controls Restricted Software setting,” Nintendo added about the feature. To whitelist a game, the Switch needs to be updated to version 5.0.0 or later and the app to 1.5.0 or later.
Parents can also see what games their family plays the most with the app, as well as signing up for push-notifications when new software is downloaded.
Lastly, with the app, parents can choose how their kids use the Switch’s internet features, making modifications such as:
- Limit sharing of in-game text or images per game
- Restrict the ability to post screenshots to social media
The Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app is available now on the iOS and Google Play stores. The Nintendo Switch, released March 3, 2017, is Nintendo’s latest console. The console-handheld hybrid’s been a smash success for the 129-year-old game-maker, selling more than 14 million units and even becoming the fastest-selling console in U.S. history.
