You can use Parental Controls to adjust your child’s play time schedule and set play time limits for Blizzard games. You can also use Parental Controls to enable or disable in-game purchases in Blizzard games.

To set up parental controls, log in to Account Settings with the child's account and select Parental Controls, then select Update. To modify the Parental Controls on your child's account, visit the Parental Portal. To remove the Parental Controls, contact Customer Support.

Play Time Limits

You can set time limits for how long your child can play on a daily basis, weekly basis, or both. You can also set custom schedules. When the preset time limit is reached, access to the game will be revoked.

To set up play time limits visit the Parental Portal and click Update on the Gameplay Settings section.

Time limits apply to all characters on the account. Play time on any character counts against daily and weekly limits.

  • Daily time limits start at 5:00:00 AM and end at 4:59:59 AM in your selected time zone.
  • Weekly limits start at 5:00:00 AM on Sunday and end at 4:59:59 AM on the following Sunday.
  • A time limit will begin 30 seconds after the player logs in to the realm list or character selection screen.

Play Time Reports

You will receive a play time report email with information on the amount of time your child has played in World of Warcraft over the previous week. You don't have to set up a schedule or time limit to receive a play time report.

To receive play time report toggle the Receive weekly Email Report option in the Parental Portal.

You will receive a confirmation email at your Parental Controls email address. Reports will begin the following week.

Schedules

Custom schedules allow you to manage what days and times of day your child is able to play. Time limits will work together with these schedules.

To set up a schedule visit the Parental Portal and click Update on the Gameplay Settings section.

Schedules take effect within 30 minutes after saving. If your child is playing when you save your changes, they must log out before changes will take effect.

Play schedules apply to all characters on a World of Warcraft account. If you set up a schedule, no character can be logged in during blocked periods.

Controlling In-Game Purchases

You can block in-game purchases and purchases from the Battle.net Shop. To set up Parental Controls, log in to Account Settings with the child's account and select Parental Controls. If Parental Controls are already active on your child's account, you can visit the Parental Portal to change the Purchase Settings.

Purchase Settings you select in the Parental Portal do not apply to purchases made in Hearthstone on mobile devices. In-game purchases on mobile devices are handled through the Apple Appstore account, Google Play account, or Amazon Appstore account registered on your device. If you want parental controls to prevent in-app purchases, you need to set them up on your device.

Social & Profile settings

In the Social Settings section of the parental controls options, you can regulate the types of communication that your child can have with other members of the Battle.net community. Depending on your choices, your child's communication can be muted completely so that they cannot see other player's text chat or hear their voice chat, or they can be modified so that they can only communicate directly with other users who are on your child's Battle.net friends list.

You can determine whether your child's account statistics data (such as game level and activity) can be viewed by other members of the community or whether they can participate in the forums by modifying options in the Profile Settings.

U.K. AGE APPROPRIATE DESIGN CODE (AADC)

To make the internet safer for children, the United Kingdom launched the Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC), establishing design guidelines for digital services that may be used by children. The Code regulates any website, app, or digital service operator with U.K. users under the age of 18, and is an extension of the U.K Data Protection Act. The purpose of the Code is to maintain high privacy by default and to place the best interest of the child when designing games and services.

As a result of the AADC, if you are under the age of 18, certain in game settings may be disabled for you by default based on your country/region being U.K.  You can adjust these features by going to the settings within the game (e.g. Regional Settings); going to the Privacy tab located in your Account Settings on Battle.net; or if Parental Controls are enabled on your account, through the Parental Controls Portal.