Parental controls at home: protect lists and the browser with a PIN

4 min read

If children also use the phone, tablet or TV at home, it’s a good idea to stop them from opening just anything. Whatplay has simple, PIN-based parental controls that protect the lists and channels you choose, as well as the browser. In this guide you’ll see how to turn them on, what they protect and what they don’t, and a few tips to make them work day to day.

Turning them on

Go to Settings › Parental controls › “Turn on parental controls”.
Choose a PIN of 4 to 8 digits.
Type it again to confirm it.

From then on, Whatplay asks for the PIN to open anything marked as restricted and, if you choose, the browser. Once you type it, restricted content stays unlocked for that session; “Lock now” locks it again straight away. To remove everything, tap “Turn off parental controls”, which also asks for the PIN. The help sums it up in How do I turn on parental controls?

What you can restrict

A whole list: in Lists, open the list’s menu and check “Restricted content”. You’ll see a padlock and the “Restricted” label. To remove the restriction, you’ll be asked for the PIN.
Folders or individual videos in your own lists: if you write your list in W3U format, add "parental": true to the group or item you want to protect. Whatplay shows it with a padlock and asks for the PIN when it’s opened.
The browser: in Settings › Parental controls, turn on “Require PIN for the browser”. This matters, because without a PIN the browser can open any website. More in Can I protect the browser with a PIN?

In the Android TV app, the option to restrict is in each list’s menu: press and hold OK on it. And when you control the TV from your phone with WebCast or TV Link, restricted content asks for the PIN on the TV too, whichever way you get to it, even when changing channels.

Good to know

The PIN isn’t synced and isn’t included in backups. Set it on each device: the phone, the tablet and the TV.
It protects what you mark, not everything. Anything that isn’t restricted opens without a PIN. Review your lists every time you add a new one.
Whatplay doesn’t rate content by age. It doesn’t know what’s in each video: you decide what gets restricted.
A list from someone else may already come with its own restrictions, but check it anyway.
Home shows what was watched most recently, in “Continue watching” and in “Recents”. If you don’t want it on view, in Settings › Lists you can turn off “Save recents” or tap “Clear recents”.

The browser, the most sensitive part

A list only contains what’s in it; a browser opens the entire internet. If children use the device, turn on the browser PIN even if you don’t restrict anything else. And if you ever use it on a borrowed device, Settings › Browser has “Clear browsing data”, which wipes cookies, cache, site data and history. We explain how the browser works inside in the Whatplay browser.

Tips for families

A PIN that’s hard to guess: avoid 1234, 0000, birth years or the same code that unlocks the phone. A 6-digit PIN is much harder to guess than a 4-digit one.
Don’t let them see you type it. Kids pick up the movements in no time.
“Lock now” before lending your phone. If you’ve just opened something restricted, it stays unlocked until you lock it.
Keep their stuff separate from yours. In Favorites you can create a list with only what they’re allowed to watch, and restrict your other lists in Lists.
Combine it with the system’s tools. Android lets you pin an app to the screen so it can’t be left without unlocking the phone, and Google offers Family Link to manage a child’s phone. On some tablets you can create a separate user for children, with their own apps.
Check from time to time. Lists that update themselves can change content over time.
Talk to them. No filter replaces explaining why some things aren’t right for their age and what to do if they see something that makes them uncomfortable.

Summary

Turn on parental controls and choose a PIN that can’t be guessed.
Mark the lists that aren’t for children as “Restricted content”.
Turn on “Require PIN for the browser”.
Set the PIN on every device in the house.
Use “Lock now” every time you lend your phone.