Access Requests: Letting Kids Ask Before You Decide
Blocking is only half the system — the other half is a fast, fair way for kids to ask for exceptions. Here's how the request flow works end to end.
The idea
Hard blocks fail families in a familiar way: the rule is right, but this one site, right now, is legitimately needed — a school portal, a game server, a research source. Access requests turn that from a household argument into a two-tap decision.
How a request happens
- Your child hits a blocked page and taps Request access, optionally adding a note.
- The request appears in your Access Requests page (with an alert) naming the site, the child, and the device.
- You choose a decision — see our article on decisions for the full list of options — and the gateway enforces it within about a minute.
Why the time limits matter
The short-duration options (15 minutes, 1 hour) are the quiet heroes: they cover homework sessions and matches without permanently opening a category, so you can say yes without eroding the rule. "Always allow" is there for the school portals and other sites you expect to approve forever.
Reviewing the queue
Requests expire if left unattended, so the queue never becomes a chore — check it like email, and use the history to spot categories where the defaults may be too strict for your family.