How to limit screen time on an Amazon Fire tablet

If your house is anything like mine, it’s always a struggle to get kids to turn off their screens and do something else. They can quickly become addicted to endlessly scrolling through social media feeds and watching videos without feeling like they’ve been staring at a screen for too long.

Of course, you could just tell them to turn it off, but in my experience that’s just about the least effective option. Instead, and to avoid arguments, a better option is to use the controls built into Amazon’s Fire tablets.

All Amazon Fire tablets include settings that let you control how much screen time your kids can have. This article explains how to use these, as well as alternative apps if Amazon’s parental controls aren’t doing what you want.

What parental controls are there on Amazon Fire tablets?

The controls let you set a general time limit, or limits for different types of activities, such as games and apps, reading, watching videos, and more. They also have a Bedtime function, which makes the tablet unusable between the bedtime hours you set.

You can even monitor what your child has been doing on their tablet via Amazon Parent Dashboard from your phone or a web browser, and adjust settings from there without having to have the tablet in front of you.

However, Amazon’s controls aren’t perfect. For example, you cannot block certain apps (without removing them completely) and you cannot set periods during the day when the tablet cannot be used. you can suspend access to a device from the Parent Dashboard on an ad hoc basis, which is the only solution.

The restrictions also won’t help if your child has access to other devices, as he or she will simply go to one of those devices when their Amazon Fire gets locked.

However, there are alternative ways to limit screen time. I recommend apps like Qustodio. This works across all your child’s devices and allows you to block apps in real time and limit how much time they can use specific apps.

Unlike Amazon’s controls, you can set multiple time periods per day when they can or can’t use their device, and for smartphones, you can track your child’s location – great for kids who get to and from school on their own.

But if you want to give Amazon’s parental controls a try, I’ll explain how to create a child account (profile) on a Fire tablet and then apply restrictions on when they can use their tablet, plus a time limit to stop them staring looking at the screen for too long every day.

It doesn’t matter if you have a Kids Edition Fire tablet or not: the settings are present on all Fire tablets.

How to create a child profile on a Fire tablet

Before you can limit screen time, there must be a profile for each child who will use the tablet.

If the tablet is brand new, follow the onscreen instructions to set it up and sign in with your Amazon account when prompted. You need this to download apps, even free ones.

As part of the installation, you will be asked to create a child profile.

Fill in their details: name and date of birth. You can also tap Change under their profile photo. They probably want to choose that part.

You will then be asked to set a screen lock, which is necessary to prevent your children from simply using your adult profile and having unrestricted access to everything.

You’ll probably see trial offers from various Amazon services and directions to download free apps and games, but after going through these you’ll see the home screen.

If you didn’t set a PIN or password during the initial setup of the tablet, go to Settings and tap Security & Privacy. Then tap the lock screen passcode to enable it and enter your chosen passcode.

To switch from your profile to your child’s, swipe down from the top of the screen, then swipe down a second time and tap the person icon, highlighted below.

A list of users will appear: just tap the child’s name to go to their profile:

Set time limits on an Amazon Fire tablet

The easiest way to set a screen time limit is to go to your child’s profile settings.

From an adult account (or the appropriate child account), swipe down twice from the top of the screen to reveal the full notification panel. Tap the gear icon in the bottom right corner to open Settings. (If you do this from a child account, you will need to enter the PIN for an adult account as the settings are not accessible to children.)

Tap Profiles & Family Library (this and the next step are skipped if you’re already signed in to a child profile).

Tap Set daily goals and time limits

You’ll see several options, including Bedtime, Goals, and Total Screen Time.

Bedtime

Set the Down Time to the time you want your child to go to rest in the evening. It’s a good idea to make this at least an hour before they go to sleep.

You can set different times for weekdays and weekends.

Screen time limits

There is a Total Screen Time bar, which shows the total time the child can use the tablet. When the tablet is used up, it will lock until the ‘Keep Out Until’ time the next morning.

If you want, you can set “educational goals” and block videos or games until the child has read for a certain amount of time first.

You may prefer to use the “Time by Activity Type” sliders instead, as they allow you to control how much time your child can use for different things, such as reading, looking at books, and accessing the Internet through the child-safe web browser from Amazon.

Again, there’s no way to set time limits for specific apps and games, so you can’t limit a particular app to, say, 30 minutes, but let others use it for longer.

TIP: If the tablet is shared by two or more children, you will need to sign in to each profile and set time and activity limits for each of them.

Set up parental controls on a Kindle Fire tablet

Parental controls are different from screen time limits. There is some crossover, such as limited times, but they have options to prevent purchases, block different types of content, and more.

To enable them, go to Settings (as explained above) and tap Parental Controls.

If you haven’t enabled them before, tap the toggle switch and you’ll be asked to choose a password, which must be at least four characters long.

When the password is set, parental controls will be enabled and you will see new options on the screen.

App pinning is new. This allows you to limit your child to using only one app. To use it, enable App Pinning and then launch the app you want to use.

Tap the square navigation button (shown at the bottom right of the image above – swipe up from the bottom if you can’t see the buttons), then tap the arrow pointing down on the app’s icon. Now tap Pin from the options that appear.

Below you will find options for blocking different types of content. Unfortunately, these are just broad categories, such as ‘Music’, ‘Books’ and ‘Photos’. Even apps and games are bundled into one category, so it’s all or nothing.

In Password Protection, you can choose to set a password for Wi-Fi, Location Services, and Video and Twitch Playback so that they can only be accessed or changed by entering the parental controls password.

Please note that Alexa is blocked by default when you enable parental controls.

It’s a good idea to make sure Password Protect Purchases is turned on, as this will prevent kids from installing apps or buying from stores you haven’t blocked.

If you have one of Amazon’s smart speakers, you might want to read our guide on how to use parental controls on the Amazon Echo. For recommendations for alternative ways to limit screen time, check out our best parental control software review.

For more kid-friendly devices, read our review of the best kids’ tablets.