Accounts & devices

Safeguards you set up together, not surveillance you impose

One honest note first: neither Apple nor Google offers "supervision" of another adult's account — their parental controls (Google Family Link, Apple Screen Time for children) apply to minors only. What both platforms do offer adults is consensual sharing: family groups, shared visibility, and recovery contacts. Set these up sitting side by side, with the parent's agreement. It works better, and it preserves dignity.

Apple households (iPhone, iPad, Mac)

Family Sharing

One adult creates a family group of up to six people. Members can share subscriptions and purchases, optionally share locations in Find My, and help locate one another's lost devices — each person keeps their own account and password. Set up: Settings → [name] → Family. Official guides: Family Sharing overview and Apple's setup instructions.

Recovery Contact

If a parent is ever locked out of their Apple Account — a common aftermath when scammers change passwords — a designated Recovery Contact can generate a code that restores access. The contact never gains access to the account itself. Set up: Settings → [name] → Sign-In & Security → Recovery Contacts. Apple: set up a recovery contact.

Legacy Contact

Separately, a Legacy Contact can access photos, notes, and files after the account holder's death (with a death certificate and access key). Worth doing during the same sitting. Apple: add a Legacy Contact.

Quiet the scam calls on iPhone

• Silence Unknown Callers: Settings → Apps → Phone → Silence Unknown Callers. Numbers not in Contacts go straight to voicemail; real callers leave messages, robocallers rarely do. Keep the family's numbers saved so they always ring through.
• Live Voicemail (iOS 17 and later) shows a real-time transcript while a caller leaves a message, so a suspicious call can be judged without answering.

Google and Android households

Google family group

Up to six adults and children share subscriptions (Google One, YouTube Premium), a family calendar, and — usefully here — passwords: Google Password Manager lets family-group members share specific saved logins with each other, a clean way to give a trusted adult child access to a utility or streaming login without sticky notes. Create the group at families.google.com; general help at Google Families support.

Call screening and spam protection

The Google Phone app includes caller ID and spam protection, and on Pixel phones, Call Screen answers unknown callers and transcribes their answers before the phone ever rings in earnest. Settings live in Phone app → ⋮ → Settings → Caller ID & spam / Call Screen. Google Phone app help.

Inactive Account Manager

Google's equivalent of a legacy plan: it notifies chosen people and can share selected data if the account goes unused for a set period. Set up at myaccount.google.com/inactive.

Family Link — children only

For grandchildren's devices, Google Family Link provides full parental controls. It cannot be applied to an adult's account, which is by design.

Both platforms: three quick phone habits

• Carrier scam blocking: the major U.S. carriers each offer a free scam-blocking service and app — ask the carrier or search "[carrier name] scam blocking." Turn it on for the parent's line.
• Contacts and favorites: save every family member with a photo, and add them to Favorites so their calls always ring through any silencing rules.
• The Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov) stops legitimate telemarketers. Criminals ignore it — which means, usefully, that once registered, most remaining sales calls are by definition suspect.

Money: the safeguards that matter most

Transaction alerts

Every major bank and card issuer can text or email the account holder (and, on many accounts, a second person) for withdrawals, transfers, or charges over a chosen amount. Ten minutes in the bank's app; the single highest-value monitoring step on this page.

A trusted contact on file

Banks and brokerages let customers designate a trusted contact person — someone the institution may call if it suspects fraud or exploitation. The contact gets no access to funds and no authority over the account; they are simply the person the bank is allowed to alert. Ask for the form at the branch or in the app's profile settings.

Structure the accounts

• An everyday account with a modest balance for daily spending, with savings kept in a separate account that has no debit card and requires extra steps to move — an instant, painless loss-limiter.
• View-only visibility: some banks support read-only logins for a family member; several reputable third-party monitoring services offer the same across institutions. A parent choosing to share visibility is very different from sharing control.
• Joint accounts vs. power of attorney: adding an adult child as a joint owner creates real risks (the child's creditors, tax and inheritance complications). A financial power of attorney drafted by an elder-law attorney usually accomplishes the goal more safely. This is the one item on this page worth professional advice.

Freeze the credit — free, at all three bureaus

A security freeze blocks new credit lines from being opened in the parent's name, which shuts down a whole category of identity-theft damage. Freezing (and temporary unfreezing when needed) is free by law at each bureau: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Payment apps

If a parent uses Cash App, Zelle, or Venmo, set the privacy controls to contacts-only where offered, and establish the household rule: these apps are for family and friends only, never for strangers, refunds, or "verification." Payments through them are generally as final as handing over cash.