Windows 10: Xbox Family Settings app now generally available on Android and iOS

Brink · Sep 24, 2020

At Xbox, we believe that gaming is a source of joy, inspiration, and social connection with friends and family â and this is true now more than ever before. With COVID-19 continuing to have impact our daily lives, gaming has helped people stay connected while social distancing. Gaming is a great way to unify and bring people together, but we also believe that gaming should be part of a balanced life as well as safe and welcoming for all, and we know this is especially important to families.

Today, just in time for the new school year, we are launching the Xbox Family Settings app, which is available for free to download for iOS and Android. The app is an important next step in our journey to provide families with the tools they need to help create the right balance of gaming in their lives. Right from their phone, parents and caregivers can easily create child accounts, update screen time limits, respond to notifications, and much more. Itâs an easy and simple way to set guardrails on childrenâs gaming on Xbox One and, come November 10, on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S!

The app has been in preview for the last few months, which has provided valuable customer feedback to help us to refine the experience that is available today. We are also thrilled to unveil three new app features that parents and caregivers can manage right from their fingertips:

Accept or decline friends your child wants to add

View and manage your childâs friends list

Proactively grant your child more screen time â this was a common suggestion from our users during preview. Thank you for the feedback!

How to Use the Xbox Family Settings app

An important first step to using the app is to ensure that each child has their own child or teen account. And setting up a child account is quick and easy through the app and on average, takes just minutes.

Once a child account has been set up, parents and caregivers can customize access to gaming for each child:

Screen time limits â set limits for each day of the week; for example, you can allow for more game time on the weekends or reduce it during the school week. And a new feature available today allows parents to proactive grant additional screen time â a great option if they did well on a test or completed their homework!

Content filters â set filters based on the age of each child; for example, an 8-year-old can only access games that are rated E and will be blocked from accessing titles that are intended for more mature players

Play and communication settings â choose the option to block all access to play and communication with other players, limit access to âfriends onlyâ or grant permission for older children to play and chat with âeveryoneâ

Friends list â new with the app is the ability to approve or decline friend requests your child has made to add friends; parents can also view their friends list

Activity reports â view daily and weekly activity reports for each child to understand how they are spending their time on Xbox

The app also includes a feature to easily enable access and multiplayer capability for Minecraft, which is rated E10+. Sometimes parents of younger children want to provide access to Minecraft and possibly enable online play with their friends, and a convenient toggle in the app unlocks those specific capabilities quickly. We received positive feedback on this feature from users and we may include similar functionality for other games in the future.

We know that one-size does not fit all and itâs so important that as parents, you have the flexibility to decide and customize what the right access to gaming looks like for your child. With the app, you can also respond to notifications in real time, such as requests from your child to extend the console screen time limit for the day.

Looking Towards the Future

Parents and caregivers know best what content is right for their child. By bringing key family settings features right to your phone, we hope that families feel empowered to have important conversations about how to balance gaming with other responsibilities like school and time with friends. We will also release additional new features in the future for the Xbox Family Settings app to provide families with the tools and support they need for safer and fun for everyone.

Download the Xbox Family Settings app today for free for iOS and Android to jump in and easily manage gaming for your family!

For more information about the Xbox Family Settings app, visit Xbox.com/family-app.

Microsoft is committed to empowering families to set boundaries and encourage responsible technology use by offering choices on the tools that are right for each familyâs unique needs â learn more here.
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Source: Xbox Family Settings App Available Now on iOS and Android to Help Manage Childrenâs Gaming - Xbox Wire

See also: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/apps/family-settings-app

Download for Android: Xbox Family Settings - Apps on Google Play

Download for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xbox-f...s/id1507406707

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Brink · Sep 24, 2020

New Microsoft Family Safety Preview app for Android and iOS

Hi Office Insiders, I am Aimee Sudeck, Product Marketing Manager for Microsoft 365. We’re excited to invite you to join a preview for Microsoft Family Safety, a new app designed to help protect your family with digital and physical safety.

This new app empowers families to start conversations and promote healthier habits. It brings together cross-platform digital safety, such as screen time and content filters, with location sharing to help keep loved ones safe.

Microsoft Family Safety key features

Content filters: Create a safe space for your kids to explore online. Set healthy boundaries with web and search filters to block mature content and set browsing to kid-friendly websites on Microsoft Edge.

App and game filters

Web and search filters

Content filter requests

Screen time limits: Set screen time limits that work across devices. If you know your kids will be on devices longer for online learning, you can set limits on specific apps or games instead.

App and game limits (Xbox, Windows, Android)

Device limits (Xbox and Windows)

Screen time requests

Activity reporting: Get insights on your family’s digital activity and have a conversation about what it means. Parents and kids can both view kids’ activity reports of screen time, top websites visited, and terms kids are searching for online.

Activity summaries

Weekly email reports

Location awareness: Stay connected even when you’re apart. See loved ones on a map with location sharing and save places they visit most to know where family members are at a glance.

Location sharing

Saved places

How to sign up for the limited preview

We’re starting with a limited preview of the app on iOS and Android to gather feedback before launching later this year. We’re looking for families with children of all ages to join the preview. Follow the steps below to get an invitation:

1. Set up a family group here.

Select Create a family group.

Follow the prompts to add family members and invite them to join the group.

2. Fill out the preview submission form (only one form required per family).

Acknowledge that you have created a family group.

Provide family and device information to be uploaded to preview.

Prerequisite

Please make sure to provide the email addresses of each of your family members and use the same email you used to set up their accounts. This allows us to reserve spots for you and all members of your family. You won’t be able to add or update email addresses in the form later.

Preview restrictions

Limited preview; available to 10,000 users on iOS and 10,000 users on Android.

Available globally except for China, Japan, countries and regions with right to left written languages, and U.S. embargoed countries and territories.

When selected, we’ll send each member of your family an email invite with instructions to download the preview in the coming weeks. Invitations will be sent on a rolling basis, so keep an eye on your inbox.

Feedback

We ask that users participating in the preview actively provide feedback to help us learn from your experience. Send feedback in the app by shaking your device or tapping on Menu > Help & Feedback.
Posted in Android, Feature Deep Dives, iOS
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Source: Microsoft Family Safety: Protect Your Family - Office Insider Blog

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Brink · Sep 24, 2020

Xbox Party Chat beta now available in Xbox beta app for Android & iOS

Xbox party chat beta is now available in the Xbox beta app for Android (available in app store) and iOS (sign up for the iOS beta here Fill | Sign up for the Xbox App Beta for iOS
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Brink · Sep 24, 2020

Xbox Announces Xbox Family Settings App to help manage children gaming

Safety is a huge priority at Xbox, and we’ve worked for years to offer families tools to find the right balance of gaming in their lives and to fit their unique needs. Family settings on Xbox include more than 20 customizable features to help parents set screen time limits, set content filters and manage who their children can play and communicate with. This provides parents with the choice and flexibility to decide what settings are right for their children. Today, I’m excited to announce an update in our safety offerings: the Xbox Family Settings app, available now in preview on Android and iOS, which makes it easy to manage family settings from anywhere. See here for more details.

The Xbox Family Settings app (Preview) empowers parents and caregivers to manage their children’s gaming on Xbox consoles through their mobile device. It provides a simple and convenient way to create child accounts and customize family settings on the Xbox console to ensure your kids have access to gaming that you feel is appropriate. The Xbox Family Settings app (Preview) includes helpful features such as:

Screen time limits – set limits for each day of the week, for example, you have the ability to allow for more time on the weekends or reduce time during the school week

Content filters – set filters based on the age of each child; an 8-year old can only access games rated E, and will be blocked from accessing titles that are too mature

Play and communication settings – block all access to play and communication with other players, limit access to “friends only” or grant permission for older children to play and chat with “everyone”

Activity reports – view daily and weekly activity reports for each child to understand how they are spending their time on Xbox

With the app, parents and caregivers can respond to notifications in real time, such as requests from their child to extend the console screen time limit for the day. We have also built in a new feature within the app to easily enable access and multiplayer capability for Minecraft, which is rated E10+. Sometimes parents of younger children want to provide access to Minecraft and possibly enable online play with their friends, and a convenient toggle in the app unlocks those specific capabilities quickly. Based on customer feedback on this feature, we may include similar functionality for other games in the future.

Additionally, once the app is available to broad consumers later this year, parents will be able to view and manage their child’s friends list and approve or decline requests to add new friends via notifications sent to the app.

We know that especially right now, families are facing new challenges in the wake of school closures, working from home and social distancing due to COVID-19. In my own family, we’ve had to navigate this “new normal,” and how our existing rules for screen time might need to be adjusted to better reflect our reality. With the Xbox Family Settings app (Preview), parents can easily relax screen time on Xbox so kids have more time to play, or create a new schedule to help balance time for remote learning. We believe that especially now, gaming plays an important role to help connect friends and family and have fun while staying home. The app makes it easy to find the right balance of gaming time that feels right for your family.

The Xbox Family Settings app (Preview) is available now for all Android users and the first 10,000 people on iOS to test in preview. To download the Preview, go to: Xbox Family Settings (Preview) - Apps on Google Play and Join the Xbox Family Settings beta - TestFlight - Apple and then follow the steps to setup on your mobile device.

We encourage you to come along on the journey and share your feedback so we can further improve and refine the experience for all users. We’re always listening to customer feedback, and more features will come to the app over time. We hope you’ll join us!

Stay safe and healthy, everyone.
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Source: Xbox Announces the Xbox Family Settings App (Preview) to Help Manage Children’s Gaming - Xbox Wire

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Windows 10: Xbox Family Settings app now generally available on Android and iOS

Xbox Family Settings app now generally available on Android and iOS

Xbox Family Settings app now generally available on Android and iOS

Xbox Family Settings app now generally available on Android and iOS

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