Nintendo Switch 'Parental Controls' App Returns After An Extended Outage

Had the mental image of Bowser chucking his comically tiny phone, out of anger because of the outage

The parental control app is great. When you have kids and struggle with screen time it's nice having something the gracefully manages playtime with warnings and time limits. I do wish it could be used to disable a few more settings like the news feed but it does a good job.

I have to use this, all because Nintendo couldn’t make a dedicated Activity Log app to track daily playtimes and progress… that the 3DS and Wii U had before it. You can’t make this up.

@90sRetroGaming Wii had it too. I also use this for myself - I am my own parent - because it's the only way to see playtime.

@90sRetroGaming Yo, I didn't know it did that! Does it show playtime from before installing the app or does it only start logging after you use it?

@philwhite

Why do you wish it would disable the news feed? And what other things would you personally have it disable? Just being curious.

@Tourtus

Good question, I'd like to know that too.
If it takes into account playtime from the whole life of the console I am definitely trying it.

Remember that parent controls are all about locking out your parents!

It was driving me crazy, I didn't know what happened but now we know.

Anyway, I do have playtime showing in this period, even though those days the app didn't even show the days themselves (stopped on 12th). So it's weird to read that we shouldn't have those days registered.

I have the “missing” data as well. Also, I’m 99% sure the app only tracks playtime after you have installed it. If you install today you won’t get past data.

@mlt My son is 7 and he does 7 year old things like create 30 users on his switch or watch previews of games that may not quite be for him age-wise. Just a little more fine tuning would be nice. I do like the app. I just want a few more options for when he is playing by himself.