Child account for PS4 advice please

[SomeonesRealName]

I could really use some help I'm confused about how this all works. We bought DS a PS4 and set him off playing. But now he wants to chat with friends online and we realised he had been playing on the master account so told him he had to have his own child account so we could keep him safe online.

So I set up the child account and he wants to play Apex Legends - but it won't let him play it because of the parental controls. I've tried disabling the restrictions but it still wouldn't let him play. It's also blocking some stuff in minecraft which is frustrating and I think it will block him from using a VR headset too. So I'm not sure what to do now to achieve what we were aiming at - basically I don't want strangers online to be able to friend request him or anything like that.

Can anyone advise?

[SomeonesRealName]

I think I have understood this now, basically a child account is so prohibitive no one would want one, you can't play online till you're a certain age, you can't use a VR headset till you're a certain age. You can't change the DOB on the account to get round this and you can't even delete a child account. If you set up the account with a DOB that makes your child older than he or she really is, you'll get round the settings initially but if they don't continue to suit as your child gets older you'll be back to square one. If you set up an adult account for your child, you can't stop them changing their privacy settings so anyone can contact them online. Is this it in a nutshell?

[Pulppixies]

Yes. I set up DS with a child account but as he got older I had to set up a completely new one as it was far too restrictive and there’s no way of changing it

[Smolbeanlizzie]

You've got it spot in, just trust your child. If they have a child's account they obviously aren't a teen yet. You should trust them and simply monitor what they play, don't buy any games that are 18's etc etc.

[Northernsoullover]

I've got the account for my son.

[SomeonesRealName]

Thanks for the replies. It's very frustrating that PS have set it up this way, basically so they can wash their hands and say "well you should have had the child settings" when in reality they know they don't suit users at all. DS doesn't know the password to pay for stuff so that's something - and he only plays in the lounge where we can see and hear him.

[reefedsail]

We also went through this discovery process.

You just have to have it somewhere that you can hear what they are doing and very regularly check up on their account to check they are not friending anyone you don't know etc.

One thing I have done is link DS's GoHenry card to the PS4 account instead of mine. That way he cannot, under any degree of temptation, buy anything with my money. Learned this the hard way when he bought himself a skin on Fortnite without asking- and he is a really good boy.

[SomeonesRealName]

Oh that's a good idea!