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Can't use new Parental Controls if you own *any* devices that can't be upgraded to version 27, including a Series 8 Watch.

Does anyone find it acceptable that you cannot use the new Parental Controls in iOS 27 / iPadOS 27 if you have *any* devices that aren't capable of upgrading to version 27?


My wife has an Apple Watch Series 8, which is not that old. But because that device is part of our "Family", we cannot use features like the new "Pause" option on any of our kids' iPads.


I understand that sometimes new features require new hardware, or that Apple artificially limits new features to new hardware. But how is it acceptable that we can't use the new Parental Controls from *any* of our devices because we still have an Apple Watch Series 8 in our family? This seems like an unacceptable way to force us to replace not-so-old devices.


Can you even manage Parental Controls from an Apple Watch? I don't see any logical reason that the mere presence of a Series 8 Watch should prevent us from using Parental Controls from our other devices to control our other devices.


3 replies

Voice your feedback to Apple here, and under Comments include the information about using the new Parental Controls across devices that do not support them:

Feedback - Watch - Apple

Feedback - iPhone - Apple


Yes I agree this is very frustrating for me as well! Everything you described. Can’t update our Apple Watch Series 7 which like you said can’t even manage parental controls on but now can’t access the new features we’ve waited years for

This is beyond infuriating. I have been waiting for the ability to pause for years and to find out it won't work because my family has a couple watches that can't get version 27. Ugh!