Parental Controls on your WiFi: How to keep your kids safe online
A quick guide to Parental Controls in the EE app, which help you protect your kids by controlling what they can see and do online.
By Alex Fletcher
Last updated: March 2026
Reading time: 5 mins
Every parent worries about keeping their children safe online. Kids spend more time on devices than ever before, and it can be time consuming and complicated for parents making sure that they’re protected from inappropriate material.
Children often need devices for their homework, staying in contact with friends, or playing games, but it can be stressful making sure that they’re not accidentally finding inappropriate material.
That’s where EE’s Parental Controls come in. Parental Controls can be found within the WiFi Controls area of the EE app.
Download the app, personalise Parental Control settings for different devices in your home and them relax when your kids are using the home WiFi.
What are EE Parental Controls?
Parental Controls restrict what you can and can’t see when a device connects to your Smart Hub’s WiFi.
It means any devices inside your home, such as a laptop, phone or tablet, should only be able to view appropriate content.
Specific websites can be blocked, types of content that aren’t considered safe or age appropriate will also be blocked and you can group together devices so that it’s easy to pause the WiFi when it’s time for the kids to get on with their homework or go to bed.
Does Parental Control manage what your kids can see online
outside the home?
Parental Controls can only restrict devices connected to your home WiFi. Your child may still access content on their mobile data, hotspots or on other WiFi networks.
It’s important to look at device settings and the settings of any apps, if you want control of your child’s online activity outside the home.
What broadband plan do I need to get Parental Controls?
Parental Controls are included in all full fibre and part fibre broadband plans.
Learn more about what you can do with EE Broadband and WiFi Controls.
How to use Parental Controls
Parental Controls is an easy-to-use control centre, where you can manage your home network using different tools.
i. Filter online content
In Parental Controls you can choose an overall setting for your home network, light, moderate or strict.
Light restrictions will block content types such as:
Dating, drugs, obscene and tasteless, alcohol and tobacco, hate and pornography.
Moderate restrictions will block all the above, and:
Social networking, weapons and violence, nudity.
Strict restrictions will block all the above, and:
File sharing, games, media streaming, fashion and shopping, gambling.
You can also customise the types of websites you block, if you want to pick and choose.
If something doesn’t fit in those categories, you can also block individual websites.
i. Group devices
Devices can be grouped together, so that you can put all the kids’ phones, laptops and tablets in one group, meaning that they all get matching restrictions.
And then you can create alternate groups for your own devices or an older sibling, which may have different limits.
i. Pause the WiFi
When the devices are in groups, you can also schedule a WiFi freeze on the whole home or a group of devices and easily limit screentime.
This is useful if you want the kids to wind down before bed or have their devices off limits when it’s time for homework or friends coming over.
Where can I find EE Parental Controls?
Download the EE app, select ‘Manage’ in the bottom menu and then select ‘Broadband’.
Scroll down to ‘Parental Controls’ to select your restrictions, ‘Groups’ to create a group of devices used by your child or children or ‘Schedules’ if you want to pause or restrict WiFi at different times in the day.
Where can I find out more about online safety?
Internet Matters is a great resource for parents navigating their way through keeping their children safe online. No single tool can protect children from the various danger online – which means you need to check all device and app settings to make sure they are set to appropriate levels.
Internet Matters also advises all parents to regularly speak with their child about what they’re doing online. Talking to them about the games the playing and the types of content they’re watching. It will mean that they are more likely to speak with you if they encounter a problem online.
