How to Configure Parental Controls in iTunes

Parents concerned over the content in a child's iTunes can configure parental controls. These parental controls can ban items with explicit content from the iTunes store. In addition, parents can disable certain options such as podcasts, shared music, the iTunes store and radio content. Disabling these options prevent their icons from appearing in the Source pane.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer

1. Go to the iTunes section and open iTunes Preferences on your computer.

2. Click on the Parental tab.
   

3. Click the boxes you would like to restrict. You will see a list of items with check boxes that can be disabled.
   

4. Select the lock icon in order to prevent iTune users from making changes.

5. Enter the administrator password and select OK.
   

Tips & Warnings

• Each user account is different, so parental controls have to be set for each individual user.
• Regarding Step 1, Mac users will select Preferences from the iTunes menu while Windows users will go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.
• If you have an iTunes 7 or later, you can change a TV or Movie Rating with a pop-up menu in Step 3.
• You can also change the parental controls by opening iTunes Preferences, selecting the Parental tab, clicking on the lock icon, and typing the administrator password. Entering the password unlocks the parental controls and changes can be made.
• Parental controls are options on the iTunes 5, 6, and 7.
• If you disable the iTunes store, you will also disable the MiniStore.