Does Disney Plus Offer Sufficient Parental Controls?

The Internet consists of billions of bytes of information on almost every subject, so its understandable why most parents are comfortable with their children having a smartphone at a young age. However, our children are more vulnerable than ever, due to the internet. 

Toddlers have tablets in their hands and teens communicate through text messages. Being a parent, you are can never be sure what type of content they are watching. Increased risk of exposure to untrusted content is definitely every parent’s concern, even if its for platforms like Disney+.

Luckily for most parents, Disney Plus does not offer M-rated or R-rated content. M-rated content has violence, blood, sexual or intense language while R-rated content contains adult themes/activity, hard language, intense violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse, etc.)

The US-based streaming service Disney Plus offers family-friendly Disney movies /TV shows, Pixar Movies, Star Wars, Disney Channel Originals, and National Geographic. And all of its content is not inclined towards adult content than its competitors Netflix or Hulu.

How to Activate Disney Plus Parental Control Option

 Disney Plus offers basic parental control with an easy setup option (but it isn’t as robust as offered by other streaming services) which can be activated by following the steps listed below;

1. 1. Log in to your Disney Plus account
   2. Tap on the current profile name
   3. Select edit profiles
   4. Choose add profile
   5. Choose an image for a new profile and name it
   6. Toggle kids profile to “On” 

• (This enables access to content that is rated G, TV-Y, TV-Y7/Y7-FV, or TV-G.)
• Click the Save icon

Limitations of Disney Plus Parental Control Feature

Some parental concerns are quite difficult to figure out while using Disney. This is mainly because, it does not have M/R rated content, but it does have PG & PG 13 content. Kids profile has only “ON” or “OFF” option, and parents cannot change, or define what is appropriate for their child. 

Suppose your children are a little aware of using a Disney Plus account. In that case, they can easily bypass parental controls by switching to a different profile. They can enable or disable PG and PG13 content as a whole. And, you can’t enable PG content, while disabling PG13 content. 

Disney Plus doesn’t restrict “Outdated Cultural Depictions”, only warns about it when those shows are selected, representing older offensive content. Disney Plus lacks setup to lockout a kids’ access to a parent’s profile with a PIN number or password.

In the Kids Profile, you also have no options to block access to specific Disney+ TV shows and movies, neither any feature to set up a time restriction. If your kids have access to a VPN, they can also easily unblock Disney Plus and its entire content library. 

What Else Disney Plus Plan Includes?

Disney Plus can be subscribed at a nominal price of $6.99. With a single account, seven user-profiles can be made and you can stream titles on four devices. Disney Plus offers a bundle package that includes ESPN Plus and Hulu for $12.99 per month with a saving of $5 per month. 

Disney Plus is compatible with large number of devices like Smart TV’s, Roku, PlayStation 4, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android devices, Web browsers etc.

There is English, Dutch, French Spanish content available on Disney Plus. It streams in resolutions of 4K Ultra HD in Dolby Vision/HDR 10 with Dolby Atmos sound.

Conclusion 

With all its shortcomings, Disney Plus and its parental control feature is workable for toddlers, but you have to opt for some other applications or filters discussed above for the younger ones. 

As a parent, it is your responsibility to keep yourself aware and updated of technology-related threats and possible solutions to overcome them.