Parental controls
With parental controls you lock categories and individual channels behind a PIN. Anything locked only starts after the PIN has been entered. The settings are under Settings → Parental controls; this page is about everyday use.
Switching on and PIN
Settings → Parental controls → switch Parental controls on → Set PIN …. The PIN needs at least 4 characters; you enter it twice.
What the app says about the PIN: “The PIN is only stored as a checksum in the keychain.” That means: Neverlag does not store the PIN itself, but a check value. This lets the app verify an entry, but nobody can read the PIN out of the device. The keychain is your device’s protected storage, where passwords are kept too.
Forgot PIN? The button in the PIN dialogue resets parental controls: “The PIN is deleted and all locked categories and channels are released. After that you can set a new PIN.” There is no other way, because the app does not know the PIN.
The PIN applies per device. It is not synced via iCloud; you set it up separately on each device.
Locking categories
Lock categories shows all categories of your catalogue with a switch. “A locked category requires the PIN for every channel in it.”
This is the quickest way: if your provider keeps adult channels in a category of their own, you lock it with a single switch. Movie and series categories can be locked the same way.
In demo mode, only locking categories is possible.
Locking individual channels
Two ways:
- Search and lock channel in the settings: search field, tap the result, “Open” becomes “Locked”.
- Directly in the channel list: the channel’s context menu (Mac: right-click; iPhone/iPad: long press; Apple TV: press and hold the select button) → Lock channel.
A channel lock applies to the channel, not to its category. Locks take effect once a PIN is set; without a PIN the app shows “Locks take effect once a PIN is set.”
What happens when a locked channel starts
A dialogue: “‘Sportwelt’ is locked by parental controls. Enter the PIN to unlock until the next app start.” After the correct PIN the channel plays; after a wrong one: “Wrong PIN — please try again.”
Locked channels remain visible in the list; they are not hidden. Programme data in the TV Guide can still be read.
Unlocking and locking again
An unlock applies until the next app start – not just for one channel, but for the whole session. After that, everything is locked again.
If you want to lock earlier, for example before passing the device on: Settings → Parental controls → Lock again now. The button is only visible while something is unlocked.
Overview and tidying up
At the bottom of the section you see what is locked: locked categories, locked channels. Channels that are no longer there after a catalogue refresh are counted by the app as “… not in the current catalog”; the lock stays saved in case the channel comes back.
Remove all channel locks deletes all channel locks at once; category locks remain.
What parental controls are not
- They are not an age check for content. Neverlag does not know the content; it only locks what you lock.
- They do not protect the settings themselves: anyone who knows the PIN can change them or switch parental controls off.
- You lock whole app areas (Movies, Series) or the app as a whole via your device’s Screen Time, not via Neverlag.