How to set screen time limits on Windows 11

Screen time limits on Windows 11 come from Microsoft Family Safety, not from the Settings app. You set them as the organiser of a family group, and they apply to your child's Microsoft account on the Windows PCs and Xbox consoles connected to that group. Here is the whole setup.

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   Step 1: Create your family group

   Go to account.microsoft.com/family (family.microsoft.com leads there too) and sign in with your own Microsoft account. Setting up the group there makes you its organiser, the role that manages members' settings.

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   Step 2: Add your child as a Member

   Select Add a family member, choose Member and enter your child's email address or phone number. Your child needs a Microsoft account of their own; if they don't have one, create one for them first.

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   Step 3: Accept the invitation

   Your child gets an email and accepts by signing in to their Microsoft account. A child under the age of consent where you live is also asked to request an adult's consent, which a parent or guardian gives from the link in the email request.

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   Step 4: Sign them in on their PC

   Have your child sign in to Windows with that Microsoft account. If it isn't on the PC yet, add it from Settings > Accounts > Family and allow it to sign in. Once they sign in, the PC appears among their connected devices in Family Safety.

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   Step 5: Make their account a Standard user

   Microsoft warns that family features may not work properly if a child's account is an administrator, since an administrator can change or break the settings. In Settings > Accounts > Family (or Other users, wherever their account is listed), select their account, choose Change account type and pick Standard User.

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   Step 6: Set the daily schedule

   In the Family Safety app, tap your child's tile and choose Windows. On the web, select their tile and the Windows tab, then Turn limits on if none show. Pick a day, set the hours the PC can be used and the total time allowed, and copy it to other days or Every day.

Microsoft's article on setting screen time limits across devices covers each platform. To lift the limits later, open the More options menu (the three dots) on the same page and select Turn limits off. The Family Safety app is a free download from the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and 11 and from the App Store for iPhone, and it is on Google Play for Android too.

A device schedule caps the PC as a whole. To limit app usage on Windows instead, such as an hour of one game on school days, add app and game limits. They apply across the Windows PCs, Xbox consoles and Android phones connected through Family Safety.

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   Step 1: Open their app limits

   In the Family Safety app, tap your child's name, choose the platform, then Set time limits and Apps, features, and games. On the web, select your child, the platform, then the Apps, features, and games tab.

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   Step 2: Turn on app and game limits

   Switch on App and game limits, then select the app or game you want to limit.

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   Step 3: Set the allowance

   Choose how long it may be used each day and the hours it is available, the same every day or different for each day of the week.

If an app is listed twice, it is usually installed on more than one device. Microsoft says the extra listing is temporary while its data catches up, and you can set a limit on each one meanwhile. Its app and game limits article has the rest.

Limits work better with a way to ask. Your child can request more device time through Family Safety, and as the organiser you decide whether to give it. You can also change a limit as the day goes, giving more time or calling time sooner.

With activity reporting on, Family Safety also shows how long your child spent on each device and in each app, so you can set limits from real numbers instead of guesses. Turn it on separately for each platform: Windows, Xbox, web and mobile. Web and search activity is reported only from a supported browser, which is currently Microsoft Edge. Our guide to checking screen time on Windows covers the reports in more detail.

• The report and the limit can disagree. Limits count signed-in time, idle minutes included, while the usage report leaves idle time out. An allowance can be used up on a day the report shows very little.
• Check the time zone in your Microsoft account profile if usage lands on the wrong day.
• Teenagers can opt out of reports. From 13 in the US (the age differs by country), a child can stop sharing activity data, and you need their consent to turn it back on.

Microsoft's Family Safety troubleshooting page covers these and other cases. For limits that seem stuck, it suggests removing them and adding them back.

Family Safety is built on Microsoft accounts, and most surprises come from an account it can't see or a place it doesn't reach.

• Local accounts. A family group is made of Microsoft accounts, so a child who signs in to the PC with a local account isn't part of it and has no limits. Add them with a Microsoft account and have them sign in with that instead.
• Administrator accounts. Microsoft notes that a child with an administrator account can change or break the settings. Keep theirs a Standard user, and keep your own password to yourself.
• Spare accounts. Limits follow the child's account, not the PC. Any other account they can sign in to on the same PC is outside the rules.
• Websites. Time limits don't cover websites at all, and web filtering and website reports currently need Microsoft Edge.
• Phones. On phones, Family Safety's limits reach Android only; iPhones aren't covered.

If your child's PC still runs Windows 10, the same steps and limits apply once it is connected to your family group.

Windows 11 has no setting that limits your own apps or your own daily time. Family Safety's limits are for members managed by an organiser, usually a parent, and a focus session quietens notifications without stopping you opening anything. So for your own account, choose from four kinds of help, from gentle to firm.

A daily goal you watch

For many adults, a number in view does more than a wall. Measure a normal week, set a goal a little under it, and look at it when you take a break. Our guide to reducing screen time on your PC has habits that make the number move.

Focus sessions and Do Not Disturb

In Settings > System > Focus, set the session length, make sure Turn on do not disturb, Hide badges on taskbar apps and Hide flashing on taskbar apps are ticked, then select Start focus session. It is a good fence around work time, but it only removes the prompts. Our guide to focus mode on Windows 11 goes further.

A limit someone else holds

If you want a limit you can't simply switch off, an adult can join a family group as a Member and let someone they trust be the organiser. Microsoft says only the organiser can change a member's safety settings, so the limits hold, though it also says it is working on letting adult members opt out of this. Bear in mind that Family Safety is built with children in mind, and the organiser can see your activity if reporting is on.

When you want a hard stop on your own account, a blocker is the honest tool. Three that are current on Windows:

Cold Turkey's allowances are the nearest thing on Windows to a phone's app limits: a set amount of time in an app or site, then a block. LeechBlock NG does the same inside the browser. Start with the one or two things that beat you, not everything; a blocker that gets in the way of real work is soon switched off.

We make TimeWell, so weigh our view accordingly. TimeWell is a screen time app for Windows that shows where your time goes. It doesn't block apps or websites or enforce limits, so it pairs with Family Safety or a blocker rather than replacing them.

It counts every app and website while it is in front of you with the screen on and unlocked, so reading and watching count, and draws your day hour by hour. The Overview puts today against your average with a daily goal ring: a gentle target, not a limit. Its focus timer runs Pomodoro sessions, with the time left in a small pill in the corner of your screen.

Your activity stays in a small database on your PC and is never uploaded. TimeWell runs on Windows 10 and 11 and is free to download; Pro is a one-time payment, with no subscription.

For a wider look, free tools included, see our comparison of the best screen time apps for Windows.