Netflix App Review

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What is Netflix?

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The father of all streaming services. They put Blockbuster out of business and ushered an era of subscription based payments for shows and movies. With plenty of Netflix exclusives like Stranger Things, Squid Game, and many others.

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It's extremely popular, and has extreme risks.

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What Do Parents Need to Know About Netflix?

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Just like all streaming services, Netflix has mature content. Including nudity, sex, drugs, gore, horror, and more. With so many shows and movies, there are plenty of risks.

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Netflix now has a Video Game Streaming to their services. Users can play any of the listed games and play them for free by connecting their Netflix Account and using the remote or a phone as a controller.

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Netflix is charging an additional $8/month for users that share their account with those outside of your household.

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Netflix has a version with ads, Netflix Basic, which costs only $6.99/month.

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For years, Netflix parental controls have been horrible. What’s more, the app stores only recently aligned their ratings for Netflix to be 12+ (Apple) and Teen (Google Play), instead of 4+ (which made zero sense). It took a global pandemic to force Netflix to create parental controls that work, which we explain below.

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How to Make Netflix Safer:

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Regardless of the app, three actions mitigate the risks we’ve shared. We teach these actions in our parent presentations:

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1. Require approval for all app downloads.
2. Follow the 7-Day Rule
3. Enable in-app controls and settings

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We explain each of them briefly below. If you’ve already set up approvals for downloads and have used the app, please skip to the In-App Controls & Settings.

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Require Approval for App Downloads

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You can control app stores by requiring permission for apps to be downloaded. This is ensures your child doesn’t have access to an app without your knowledge. Here are the steps (for Apple and Android users):

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For Apple Devices:

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To require permission to download an app, you’ll need to set up Screen Time and Family Sharing (Apple’s Parental Controls). We explain this process step-by-step in our Complete iOS Guide (click here).  

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Once Screen Time and Family Sharing are established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Apple device:

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Select your Family.
3. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
4. Scroll down to “Ask to Buy” and enable.

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For Android Devices:

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You’ll have to use Family Link (Android’s parental controls) to ensure you retain control over what apps are downloaded. We explain this process step-by-step in our Android Guide (click here).

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Once Family Link is established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Android device:

1. Go to the Family Link App
2. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
3. Select “Google Play Store”
4. Select “Purchases & download approval” and set it to “All Content.”

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Follow the 7-Day Rule

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This is our tried-and-true method of determining whether a specific app is safe for your specific child.

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Before you let your child use it, download the app and use it for 7 days.

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Create an account with your child’s age and gender and use it for 7 days. Play through a few levels, review the ads, see if anyone can chat with you, and poke around like a curious child.

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After a week, ask yourself, “Do I want my child to experience what I did?”  Even if you decide to allow them to download the app, now you have a basis for curious conversations about the app when you check in.

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Enable In-App Controls & Settings

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3 Layers of Netflix Parental Controls

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Netflix is finally catching up to what parents want with their parental controls. We LOATHE some of their decisions – how they marketed the movie Cuties, as an example – but the parental controls are decent.

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There are 3 primary layers of controls that parents will want to know about:

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1. Setting a pin at the individual profile level.
2. Setting a ratings level for a profile.
3. Blocking individual titles within a profile.

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All, some, or none of these parental controls might be necessary for your family – you can decide after reading more below.

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Parental Control Layer #1 – Set a Pin at the Individual Netflix Profile Level.

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During the beginning stages of the 2020 pandemic, Netflix added the ability to set a 4-digit lock on individual accounts, as shown on the screen shots below. Only the Netflix Account Administrator (the person paying for the account) can make this change.

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Reason that this might be necessary: if the parent profile has a different allowed rating level for shows, you might not want children browsing the parent profile.

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Netflix Parental Controls Hack Solved!

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It’s a little known fact that the first profile on the account is considered the “master” profile. On this profile, you can check a box that requires a passcode when adding MORE profiles. Remember, up to 5 profiles can be added to an account. This means that if you’re only using 3 profiles, a sneaky kid could add a profile, watch whatever he/she wants, delete the profile, and you would be none the wiser. BUT if you check this “Require PIN to add new profiles” box on the master profile, you can beat this kid hack!

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If you have an Instagram account, we posted about this hack and it was really popular.

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Layer #2 – Set a Ratings Level for a Profile.

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Do you want your children viewing PG only? PG-13? Is it a kid account where you only want kid movies? See the image below for where you can make this decision.

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Layer #3 – Block Individual Titles Within a Profile.

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Even if a ratings pin is set, the thumbnail and description can still be seen and read, which means you might want to block specific titles. You might also disagree with whatever rating the MPAA has set for a movie. For example, you might not believe that a certain PG-13 movie is appropriate for a 14-year-old, so you might want to block it. See the image below for where you can make this decision.

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Are you curious about parental controls for other streaming services? We’ve written about many of them!

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Check out these streaming services reviews:

• Roku
• Apple TV
• Chromecast
• Amazon Fire HD

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Bottom Line: Is Netflix Safe for Kids?

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If you follow the steps above, set a pin, and are present whenever your child is watching Netflix, than it can be okay. Treat Netflix like it's always one click away from showing your kid something they aren't ready to see. Kids shouldn't use Netflix alone, even with approved movies and shows.

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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