The parental controls on the Apple TV aren’t nearly as flexible or complete as they should be. In order to get functionality similar to what we have on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computer we need to put the Apple TV into supervised mode. This can be accomplished with a Apple computer on the same network and the Apple software Apple Configurator.

Unfortunately, you do have to have the Apple computer and from my tests, you have to have a wired network connection.

Steps to get the Apple TV prepared⌗

  1. Update the operating system on both the Apple TV and your Mac to the current latest version
  2. Reset your Apple TV completely. This is accomplished through the Settings App > System > Reset.
  3. Once the TV has rebooted, don’t touch the Apple TV or remote.
  4. Open the Apple Configurator software on you computer
    Apple Configurator starting point
  5. Navigate to the Paired Devices menu
    Paired Devices menu
  6. Find your Apple TV on the list
  7. Click Pair
  8. Type in the displayed code
    Enter code
    • At this point you will probably get an error message displayed
      • If it is 40 something, it means the pairing didn’t work, I haven’t figured out a way around this.
      • If it is some much longer code (-402653161), in my experience it actually worked.
        Error code, but it worked
  9. Once you have the device paired, select it in the Apple Configurator window and click the Prepare button
    Start preparing the device
    • You might need to reboot your computer and unplug and replug your Apple TV several times. This has helped in some instances.
  10. Select Manual Configuration and Supervise devices, click Next
    Prepare device
  11. Skip the MDM enrollment screen
    Skip MDM enrollment
  12. Skip Apple Business Manager screen
    Skip Apple Business Manager screen
  13. Create New Organization
    Create new organization
  14. Enter name of organization
    Skip Apple Business Manager screen
    • This can be basically anything, but it will be displayed in a few places on the supervised device.
  15. Select Generate a new supervision profile
    Generate new supervision profile
  16. Enter password into prompt
    Enter password into prompt
  17. Leave the default Show all steps option
    Pick show all steps
    • If you know that you want to disable certain steps of the setup process, you can disable them here, but personally I’d just leave it.
  18. Click New Profile menu option
    Pick New Profile menu item
  19. Name the profile and change security setting to Never
    Pick New Profile menu item
    • This prevents anyone from removing the profile without using the Apple Configurator software from the computer that you are using.
  20. Pick Restrictions menu option in the sidebar and click through the confirmation
    Select the Restrictions menu option
  21. Pick App tab and select the setting you want for the Restrict App Usage option
    Pick app tab and change restriction type
    • Do not allow some apps will allow you to block specific apps
    • Only allow some apps will let you specifically pick the apps that you want to use, this will be more involved and complex than blacklisting specific apps.
  22. Click on the + to add apps to the list (I’m assuming using the blacklist setting here), and pick the apps that you want to block by searching
    Select the Restrictions menu option
    • You can hold down ⌘ to select multiple apps
  23. Click Choose to add the apps to the list
  24. Save the profile (You can either type ⌘S or pick the save menu item)
    Save profile
  25. Double click Apple TV in the Apple Configurator screen
    Double click device
  26. Click the Add option and select Profiles
    Select add profile
  27. Select the profile you saved back in step 23
    Select saved profile

And you are done! At least as soon as it is done processing. If you need to make changes to the block/allow list on the Apple TV in the future, you will need this same computer or at least one that you’ve transfered supervision identities to (which I don’t know how to do at this point).

If you need to update the configuration later, you can use Apple Configurator to open the saved profile, make changes, and re-add it to the Apple TV. It will ask if you want to update the profile, answer “yes” and it will update the profile.

As you have seen while clicking through these screens, there is a lot you can do with configuration profiles. These will work on iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and Macs. Unsure how needed they are with the Screen Time and Apple’s other controls, but might be worth looking into.