How to set up an iPhone for a child

An iPhone you’ve stopped using makes a good first phone — as long as it’s set up for a child, not handed over as it was. The cleanest way is to start again: erase it and let Apple set it up as a child’s iPhone in your Family Sharing group. Limits are on from the first minute, and you manage everything from your own iPhone rather than by borrowing theirs.

Before you start

You’ll need:

• Your own iPhone, with you as the organiser of a Family Sharing group, or a parent or guardian in one.
• The old iPhone, charged, on Wi-Fi, and updated to the latest version of iOS it supports (Settings → General → Software Update). The child setup screens below need a recent iOS; on a much older iPhone the steps differ, and Apple’s guide has them.
• About half an hour. Most of it is the iPhone erasing and restarting.

If your own phone is an Android phone, you can’t manage the iPhone through Family Sharing. Set Screen Time up on the child’s iPhone itself instead, with a Screen Time passcode only you know.

Apple will ask you to create an Apple Account for your child as part of this. That account belongs to the phone and its parental controls — Shoal doesn’t use it. Shoal itself still needs no account, email address or phone number for your child.

1. Sign out and erase the old iPhone

Copy off any photos or files you want to keep. If it was your phone, sign out of your Apple Account first (Settings → your name → Sign Out). That also turns off Find My, so the phone isn’t locked to you after it’s erased.

Then go to Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings. The iPhone restarts to its “Hello” screen.

If it’ll be Wi-Fi only, take the SIM out now. A data-only SIM is the other option if they’ll use it out of the house.

2. Set it up for your child

The easiest route is Quick Start: hold your own iPhone next to the old one and follow the prompts to set it up for a child in your family. If you skip Quick Start, the iPhone asks for an age range — choose the child range.

Either way, you’ll create your child’s Apple Account (or choose it, if they already have one) and the iPhone joins your Family Sharing group. Apple turns on age-appropriate content limits for children by default, including web content limits and Communication Safety.

Apple’s wording for these screens changes between iOS versions. If what you see doesn’t match, Apple’s own guide (linked below) has the current steps.

3. Set the limits from your own iPhone

Once the child’s iPhone is in your Family Sharing group, you manage it from your phone. On your iPhone, go to Settings → Family and tap your child.

• Ask to Buy: turn it on, so any app your child wants — free or paid — needs your approval first.
• Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allowed Apps & Features: switch off Safari, and anything else they don’t need.
• Screen Time → Allowed Contacts: limit who they can contact to people in their contacts (before iOS 27, this was called Communication Limits). Their Apple Account comes with iMessage and FaceTime, which work over Wi-Fi even without a SIM. If you’d rather they had neither, switch FaceTime off in Allowed Apps & Features and turn iMessage off in Messages settings on their phone.
• Screen Time passcode: if you’re asked to set one, choose a code your child doesn’t know.

You don’t need Screen Time Schedules (called Downtime before iOS 27) for messaging: Shoal’s own active hours decide when chat is open, and they’re on by default for every new child.

4. Add Shoal

If you haven’t already, set Shoal up on your own phone first: create your family and add your child by name. How it works walks through that part.

Then, on your child’s iPhone:

1. Open the App Store and get Shoal. With Ask to Buy on, the request appears on your iPhone — approve it.
2. Open Shoal and sign in as yourself, not your child: enter your own email address, then type in the 6-digit code Shoal emails you. It arrives on your phone, so you don’t need email on theirs.
3. When Shoal asks what the device is for, choose Set this up as a family device and give it a name, like “Theo’s phone”.

Your child then taps their own name to start. They can message the family and friends you’ve approved, and nobody else.