Giving a Child an iPad for Christmas: Setup Before and After

Apple’s support page “Set up parental controls to manage your child’s iPhone or iPad” was republished on October 26, 2026, for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. Its list of things to check first includes setting up Family Sharing and upgrading to the new parental controls available in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.

Some of you are probably planning to give a child a new iPad for Christmas. Settings for lending your own iPad are in Lending Your iPad to Your Kids. This post picks up from there, and is about giving a new iPad that will belong to the child. I split it into what to do before you wrap it and what to do together after you hand it over. Menu names follow Apple’s pages, but they can differ a little by OS version and region, so please compare them with your own screen as you read.

To open the box, or not

The first question is usually whether to open the box and set the iPad up before you wrap it.

If you set it up first, it is ready to use on the day. But your child loses the fun of opening the box. If you wrap it unopened, you need time for setup on the day.

One approach is to finish everything that doesn’t need the iPad itself before you wrap it, and to set up the iPad together with your child after they open it. As I describe below, with a parent’s iPhone at hand the child’s iPad setup takes less time than you might expect. Doing the first setup together is also a chance to show your child that this iPad comes with limits the adults have set.

Before you wrap it

Update your own devices

According to Apple’s page “Use Quick Start to set up a child’s iPhone or iPad”, a parent in Family Sharing can use their own iPhone or iPad to set up the child’s new device. Both devices need iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 or later. If you want the new parental controls, update your own device to iOS 27 or iPadOS 27 as well.

If you don’t have a Family Sharing group yet, create one first. You can also create your child’s Apple Account on your iPhone before wrapping. How is in How to Create a Child Apple Account with Family Sharing. Have your child’s correct date of birth ready. The restrictions that are on from the start depend on age. You can also create the account partway through Quick Start.

Decide on two passcodes

The passcode your child uses to open the iPad and the passcode that protects Screen Time settings are different things. The first is a number your child can know. The second is for adults only. Apple advises choosing a Screen Time passcode your child can’t guess. How children come to learn passcodes, and how to prevent it, is in When Kids Get Around Screen Time.

Write down the sites and apps

Write down on paper the apps you will install first and the websites you want your child to use. If you start searching on the day, your child ends up waiting. I listed some candidate sites in Free, Safe Learning Websites for Kids.

Things to have ready

A case and a screen protector are worth considering for a device a child uses: a case that protects the corners when it is dropped, and a film that keeps the screen from scratches. Both come in sizes for each iPad model, so check the exact model you are giving before you choose. If your child will use apps where they write with a pen, think about a stylus too. How to choose one is in Choosing a Stylus for Children’s Tracing Practice on iPad.

One more thing: decide where it will charge. If you settle where the iPad sleeps at night from the start, the conversation about rules later on gets easier.

Agree on rules between the adults

Before you talk to your child about when and where the iPad is used, get the adults on the same page. If two parents say different things, the child picks whichever suits them.

When grandparents give the iPad

Sometimes the iPad is a gift from grandparents. In that case, talk with the parents first.

A child account can be created only by the Family Sharing organizer or by an adult who is a parent or guardian in the group. Setup and management happen inside the parents’ Family Sharing. An iPad signed in to the grandparent’s own Apple Account would carry the grandparent’s payment method and mail, and the parents couldn’t manage it from their own devices.

Things worth discussing:

Do the parents actually want the child to have an iPad now?
Who sets it up, and who manages it?
Which apps are fine to install?
Rules for when and where it is used.
When and how to give it. Will the parents receive it first and prepare it, or will everyone open it together on the day?

If the grandparents want to video call the grandchild, the parents decide who goes into the contacts on the child’s iPad. If that is part of the reason for the gift, it helps to say so from the start. How to think about the age to give a child a device is in What Age Should Kids Get an iPad?.

After you hand it over, together

Set it up with Quick Start

Apple’s Quick Start steps go roughly like this:

Turn on your child’s new iPad and follow the onscreen steps to choose a country or region and a language.
Bring your iPhone or iPad near your child’s iPad.
When “Set Up New iPad” appears on your device, tap Continue.
When an animation appears on your child’s iPad, hold your device over it so the animation is centered in the viewfinder.
Choose who will use this iPad and tap Continue. If your child isn’t in the group yet, choose Create New Child Account.
Follow the onscreen steps to finish.

The same page says that if your child is already in your Family Sharing group, the parental controls you have set for that child are applied to the new iPad automatically. When setup is done, update the child’s iPad to the latest iPadOS too.

Check the parental controls

Apple’s parental controls page says Ask to Buy and Ask to Browse are on by default for children under 13, and Limit Adult Websites is on by default for children under 18. To change settings, open Settings on your own device, tap Family, then tap your child’s name.

The items worth checking:

Ask to Buy. Under Apps & Websites, then Restrictions. When your child wants an app, a request for approval comes to you.
Website filtering. Under the same Restrictions, tap Filtering under Websites and choose Limit Adult Websites or Approved Websites Only.
Time Allowances and Screen Time Schedule. Set how much time your child can use the iPad each day, and at which times.
Communication Safety. It warns your child when they receive, or try to send, photos or videos that contain nudity, for example in Messages.
Content & Privacy Restrictions. Set age-appropriate limits for apps, movies and so on.

What each one means and how to decide are in How to Set Up Screen Time on an iPad for Your Child, and purchases are in How to Stop Kids Making In-App Purchases on an iPad, so here I only name them.

Apple’s page also says to add a parent to your child’s contacts so that approval requests can reach you. Put your name in the contacts on your child’s iPad.

Install the apps together

Install the apps you wrote down, from your child’s iPad. Because Ask to Buy is on, a request comes to you whenever your child tries to get an app, even a free one. If you sit side by side and show your child, once, how the request arrives and you approve it, that also shows that new apps are something you ask for.

Set up Kinder Browser

If your child will use the web, one option is to install Kinder Browser, the children’s browser I make, on their iPad. It opens only the sites a parent has added.

The first time it opens, it shows three pages: “How Kinder Browser keeps your child safe”, “Add a few sites to start” and “Hand the device to your child”. On the second page you can pick suggested sites to add. The sites you wrote down before wrapping can be added later with Add Bookmark in Parental Settings.

Please do this setup on your child’s iPad. The home page and bookmarks are saved to iCloud and sync between devices signed in to the same Apple Account. On your child’s iPad they are saved under your child’s account, so anything you set on your own iPad won’t carry over to theirs.

The parental passcode starts as “0000”. Turn on Use CustomPIN and change it to a number of your own. If you have set Screen Time to Approved Websites Only and a site you added in Kinder Browser won’t open, check that it is allowed in Screen Time as well.

Rules to agree with your child

Once setup is done, agree on a few short rules with your child. Every family decides its own, but these are some examples:

Where. At first, use it somewhere adults can see, such as the living room.
How long. How much a day, and until what time. Put the times you agree into Time Allowances and Screen Time Schedule as well.
Where it sleeps. Before bed, it goes back to the charging spot you chose.
New apps and sites. If you want one, ask instead of getting it yourself.
When something goes wrong. If something scary or confusing comes up, close it and tell an adult. Promise from the start that telling won’t get them in trouble.
Passcodes. The Screen Time passcode belongs to adults.

You can also write the rules on paper and read them together. And as your child grows, the rules change too. In the Kinder Browser developer interview, asked at what age a child should graduate from the browser, I said:

Around 13. Legally that’s about the age, too. I don’t think it is good to keep using this app forever.

One way to see limits is as scaffolding until a child can judge for themselves. In the same interview I said this about browsers:

A knife can be useful or dangerous depending on how it is used. But if it is designed carefully as something for children, a child can use it safely on their own.

The same idea can apply to an iPad. Preparing before you give it is the adults taking on that careful part first.

About Kinder Browser

Kinder Browser is a web browser for children on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Your child can open only the home page and bookmarked sites you have added. Links within those sites work, but links to other sites stop with “External links are disabled”. Adult and gambling sites are blocked by a built-in list. The settings sit behind a parental gate, and the app collects no data.

It is a one-time purchase, $9.99 in the US and ¥1,500 in Japan, with no in-app purchases, no subscription and no ads. The first setup is covered in Getting Started with Kinder Browser.