How to set a time limit for one app on Windows
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Often the problem isn't the computer — it's one game or one app. You don't want to cut homework time, just that. Windows has no simple per-app timer in its settings, but there are two ways to get one.
What Windows offers
With Microsoft Family Safety you can limit apps and games for a child who signs in with a Microsoft account in your family group. Without those accounts there is no per-app limit in Windows itself. Parental control without a Microsoft account.
A rule for one app in child-time
child-time works with ordinary local Windows accounts. In the dashboard open Kids & limits → “⏸ App”, pick the program and choose one of three rules:
- Minutes a day — for example, 60 minutes of one game;
- Allowed hours only — for example, 6–8 pm, after homework;
- Paused — not available until you change the rule.
When the app is opened past its limit or outside its hours, child-time minimizes its window. Everything else on the computer keeps working, so schoolwork isn't affected.
Step by step
- Install child-time under your child's Windows account.
- Let your child open the app once — the list shows programs that have actually been used on that computer.
- On your phone, open Kids & limits → “⏸ App”, pick the app and set the rule.
- Tell your child what the rule is. They'll see it on their own screen too.
Things to know
- Games from a launcher. Put the rule on the game itself, not on Steam or the Epic launcher — each game runs as its own program. Steam games.
- Browsers. A browser counts as one app. You can limit Chrome or Edge as a whole, but not a single website inside it. What that means for YouTube.
- Several apps. Add a rule for each. For a whole group of games, a daily limit for the entire PC is usually simpler. How to set one.
- Extra time. An app rule holds best when your child can earn more: tasks for extra minutes.
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