Samsung and LG smart TVs: the built-in parental locks
Both brands ship with the lock PIN set to 0000. Change it before you set anything else, or every lock below is one web search away from undone.
Samsung (Tizen) and LG (webOS) TVs have their own parental locks, separate from any streaming stick or app profile. Samsung’s live under Settings › All Settings › General & Privacy › Parental Settings. LG’s live under Settings › All Settings › General › System › Safety on recent models. Both use a four-digit PIN whose factory value is 0000, so the first job on either brand is changing it.
Why a TV’s own locks matter
Most parental-control advice for the living room is about add-on boxes (Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google TV) and per-app profiles in Netflix or Disney+. A Samsung or LG smart TV runs its own app store, web browser and inputs whether or not a box is plugged in. A child who switches away from the locked-down box to the TV’s own apps, or to another HDMI input, has left every control you set on the box behind.
The TV-level locks close some of those gaps. They are blunt — lock an app, lock an input, lock a rating — and they do nothing inside an app. Treat them as the outer fence and keep the per-app profiles as the inner one.
Samsung smart TVs: set up the locks
Samsung’s menus vary by model year and region. The paths below are the ones Samsung publishes for recent models; older sets put the rating lock under Settings › Broadcasting › Program Rating Lock Settings and the PIN change under Settings › General › System Manager › Change PIN.
- Change the PIN first. Go to Settings › All Settings › General & Privacy › System Manager › Change PIN (on some models Change PIN sits directly under General & Privacy). Enter the current PIN, which is 0000 unless someone has changed it, then a new PIN twice.
- Open Settings › All Settings › General & Privacy › Parental Settings, select Program Rating Lock Settings and enter the new PIN. Turn the lock on and choose the TV and movie rating levels to block. Programs at that level and above then ask for the PIN.
- Still in Parental Settings, use App Lock Settings to lock individual apps: the web browser, YouTube, and any app with no kid profile. A locked app asks for the PIN each time it opens.
- If you watch broadcast TV through an antenna, turn on Apply Channel Lock in Parental Settings and pick the channels to lock.
- On 2022 and newer models with Samsung Gaming Hub, open Game Activity & Options at the bottom of the Gaming Hub page and set Game Rating Lock to an age range. Games above that ESRB rating are blocked. Xbox Game Pass on the TV uses your Xbox parental controls instead.
Samsung documents a remote-control button sequence that resets a forgotten PIN back to 0000, with no account or old PIN needed. Samsung publishes the sequence on its own support site, so a determined child can find it. Changing the PIN still stops casual guessing, but check now and then that your PIN still works. If it suddenly accepts 0000 again, someone has reset it.
LG smart TVs: set up the locks
LG calls its parental locks Safety. The route there depends on the webOS version. LG’s own safety guide lists these paths:
- webOS 6.0 and later (2021 models onward): Settings › All Settings › General › System › Safety
- webOS 5.0 (2020 models): Settings › All Settings › General › Safety
- webOS 4.5 (2019 models): Settings › All Settings › Safety
- Open Safety using the path for your webOS version and turn it on (the switch is labelled Enable the function on webOS 2023, On on earlier versions).
- Change the password straight away. The default is 0000. Select Reset Password, enter the current password, then choose a new one.
- Set TV Rating Lock to the rating level you want to block. The rating lock works only in digital TV mode and relies on the rating the broadcaster sends.
- Use Application Lock to lock apps, including the Web Browser app if you do not want open web access on the TV. An app that is already running is not locked immediately, so close it first.
- Use the external input lock to lock the HDMI inputs you do not want used without you, such as the one a games console is plugged into.
- For websites rather than the whole browser, open the Web Browser app, then the menu › Settings › Site Filtering. Approved Sites allows only the sites you register; Blocked Sites blocks the ones you list.
LG Family Settings: viewing hours and a volume cap
On webOS 2022 and 2023 models, Settings › All Settings › General › Family Settings adds controls the Safety menu does not have:
- Usage Limit Settings / Time Limit: set a start and end time, with Repeat to apply it daily. Outside those hours the TV asks for the lock password, and LG says it powers off if nobody enters it within two minutes.
- Volume Limit Mode: caps the maximum volume at 60.
- Screen Time Report: daily and weekly graphs of TV use.
The time limit uses the same password as the Safety locks, so a child who knows the Safety password can get past the time limit too.
What the TV locks do not do
- External inputs can get around the rating lock. Samsung says Program Rating Lock does not block content from external sources such as HDMI, USB, Blu-ray or DVD players. A console, stick or laptop plugged into HDMI gets around the TV’s rating lock unless that device has its own controls. On LG, lock the input itself; on Samsung, put controls on the plugged-in device.
- Rating locks only cover broadcast TV. They depend on the rating data a broadcaster sends. They do not filter what plays inside Netflix, YouTube or any other app. For that, set up profiles in each service: see Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and Max and YouTube.
- App Lock is all or nothing. A locked app is either locked or open. Once you enter the PIN to open it, nothing limits what plays inside it.
- A shared PIN is a known PIN. Entering the PIN in front of a child, or using a birthday, undoes the whole setup. Menus also vary by model and region; if a path here does not match your TV, the user manual for your model number is the reference.
Settings to use at each age
- Under 7: lock every app except the one or two with a kid profile, lock the browser, and on LG lock the HDMI inputs. Set the rating lock at the lowest levels.
- Ages 7–12: keep the browser and any app without a kid profile locked. Set the rating lock to the level you are comfortable with. Use LG’s viewing hours or Samsung’s Gaming Hub rating lock if those apply. Make sure each streaming app opens to a kid profile.
- Ages 13–17: TV-level locks matter less than the teen’s own accounts. Keep the PIN private so settings and purchases stay with you, and move the conversation to the per-service profiles and household rules.
For a filter that covers every device on the home network, including the TV’s browser, see router and network controls.
Common questions
What is the default parental PIN on a Samsung or LG TV?
0000 on both. Samsung notes that models sold in France and Italy use 1111. LG’s safety guide says the password is set to 0000 by default and recommends changing it. Change it before setting any other lock, because the default is easy to look up.
Where are the parental controls on a Samsung smart TV?
On recent models, Settings › All Settings › General & Privacy › Parental Settings, which holds Program Rating Lock, App Lock and Channel Lock. Change the PIN under General & Privacy › System Manager › Change PIN. Older models use Settings › Broadcasting › Program Rating Lock Settings. Gaming Hub on 2022 and newer models has its own Game Rating Lock.
Where are the parental controls on an LG smart TV?
LG calls them Safety. On webOS 6.0 and later (2021 models onward) go to Settings › All Settings › General › System › Safety and turn it on. On webOS 5.0 (2020) it is General › Safety. From there you can lock TV ratings, channels, apps and external inputs, and change the 0000 password with Reset Password.
Can my child get around the TV lock through HDMI?
Yes, unless you close that route. Samsung says Program Rating Lock does not block content from external sources such as HDMI or USB, so a console or stick plugged in needs its own controls. LG’s Safety menu can lock external inputs, so lock the ones you do not want used.
Can a child reset a Samsung TV PIN?
Samsung publishes a remote-control button sequence that resets a forgotten PIN to 0000, so a determined child can find it. Changing the PIN still stops casual guessing, but check occasionally that your PIN still works. If the TV accepts 0000 again, someone has reset it.
When parental controls change
Streaming profile and PIN controls move between app versions. Roughly monthly we send new guides, changes to controls like these, and scams worth knowing about.
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