Balanced Play › Setup guides
Setup guides
Every platform needs something switched on at its own end before anyone — us included — can limit it. Each guide covers that first, then the linking, then what to do when it goes sideways.
Pick the platform your child actually plays on. Most families link two or three; they pool into a single daily budget rather than stacking up separate limits.
Start here: every guide below picks up inside Balanced Play, so you’ll want an account with your child added first. Create one — it takes a minute.
What every one of these has in common
You link as the parent, never as the child. Every platform hands its controls to one adult account — the family organizer, the Family Manager, the Nintendo Account with the console registered to it. Signing in as the child gets through the login and then finds nothing to manage. (A couple of setup steps do need a moment on the child’s account — accepting a Steam family invite, for one. Each guide says so where it applies.)
On most platforms the child needs their own account. Limits attach to accounts on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation, so a child playing on a parent’s profile can’t be limited separately. The Switch is the exception — its limits attach to the console, registered to your Nintendo Account, so there’s no child account to create.
Linking twice is often right, and for Steam it’s required. The PC agent deliberately skips Steam-installed games so nothing is counted twice — which means a family who links only the PC gets their Steam play metered by nothing. If they play on Steam, link both.
A failed read is never a zero. If we can’t reach a platform, we hold the last known number rather than inventing one. A fabricated zero unlocks a child who has used their time; a fabricated high number locks one who hasn’t. You’ll see the gap on the dashboard instead.
Which ones can actually stop a game?
| Platform | Reads play time | Enforces a limit | Enforced by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch | Yes | Yes | The console — holds offline once the cap has landed. Per console, not per child |
| Steam | Yes | Yes | Steam, on the account — any PC or Deck |
| Xbox | Yes | Yes | Microsoft Family Safety, console only |
| PlayStation | Yes | Yes | PSN, when the console is online. 15-minute steps |
| Windows PC | Yes | Yes | Our agent — keeps working offline. Skips Steam titles |
| iPhone / iPad | No | No | Apple allows no third-party access at all |
Ready to link your first platform?
Most families are set up on two platforms in under half an hour.
Open Balanced Play