All about Kids profiles

There are two types of profiles: Adult and Kids. Your account can have up to 5 profiles. You can create a Kids profile that limits what content ratings your child can watch.

Note You may be prompted to add a birthdate to your Kids profile.

Why create a Kids profile?

Parental controls. You can choose what content ratings your child can watch.
Kids Home screen. There are different Home screen experiences for Kids profiles. Your child can also have their own My List and Continue Watching list.
To keep your child from leaving their profile, turn on Kid-Proof Exit (or add a Profile PIN to your Adult profiles).
Kids profiles can't access account management features, like your password and subscription information.

Choose a topic:

Here's how to add a Kids profile:

In HBO Max, choose your profile and then + New Profile (you may need to scroll if you have more than 3 profiles).
Select an avatar or choose Skip.
Enter your child's name (between 1 and 14 characters).
Turn on Kids Mode.
Choose a Ratings group. By default, Ratings are set to Pre-teens. For more info, go to Content ratings.
Kid-Proof Exit (optional): Turn on this option to help keep your child from leaving their profile. Find out more at Kid-Proof Exit and Parent Code.
Add your child's birthdate and choose Save.

Once saved, you can edit the profile to make changes.

Add a Profile PIN

You can also add a Profile PIN to any Adult profile so that your children can't watch HBO Max using that Adult profile.

Choose the device you're using:

Turning off Kids Mode

You can't turn off Kids Mode if the profile's birthdate is under 18.

Kid-Proof Exit: Turn on Kid-Proof Exit to keep your child from leaving their Kids profile. Find out more at Kid-Proof Exit and Parent Code.

Here's how to switch to another profile:

In HBO Max, choose your profile.
Choose a different profile.
If prompted, choose Exit Kids Profile and enter your 4-digit Parent Code to exit the Kids profile.

If you switch to an Adult profile with a Profile PIN, you'll need to enter the 4-digit PIN.

'Who's Watching' screen

Here's what happens when you open HBO Max:

TV device: If the last profile used was a Kids profile, HBO Max will open with this profile. If the last profile used was an Adult profile, you'll see the 'Who's Watching' screen.
Computer, phone, or tablet: HBO Max always opens with the last profile used (you won't see the 'Who's Watching' screen).

You can add a Profile PIN to any Adult profile so that your children can't watch HBO Max using that Adult profile.

When you edit a Kids profile, you can choose one of the following rating groups to limit what your child can watch and find with search:

Little Kids (TV-Y): Content is designed for the youngest viewers.
Big Kids (TV-Y7, TV-G, G): Content may include mild fantasy or comedic violence. Contains little or no strong language or sexual content.
Pre-teens (TV-PG and PG): Content may contain mild language, suggestive dialogue, sexual situations, and/or moderate violence.
Teens (TV-14 and PG-13): Content may contain coarse language, suggestive dialogue, sexual situations, and/or intense violence.

For info about TV and movie ratings, go to Content ratings on HBO Max.

Content ratings not working?

If the ratings you set for a Kids profile aren't working as expected, check the following:

Check to see if restrictions are set on your device (e.g., on iOS check for Parental controls). If the device your child is using has parental controls that are more restrictive than the Ratings you set in HBO Max, HBO Max will follow the parental controls set on the device.
HBO Max doesn't follow parental controls that you may have set with your TV provider.

When a Kids profile is selected, the Home screen and search results only include shows and movies with ratings that the Kids profile is allowed to watch. The default ratings for a new Kids profile are TV-PG and PG. To change ratings for a Kids profile, edit the Kids profile.

There are different Home screen experiences for Kids profiles based on the content ratings. On the Kids Home screen, Little Kids through Pre-teens can discover titles by selecting their favorite character's picture (e.g., Elmo or Scooby Doo).

The Kids Home screen also includes Continue Watching and My List.

Default Kids profile

New HBO Max accounts have a default Kids profile that can watch TV-PG and PG titles. You can edit or delete this profile.