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The first time you open Little Desk, choose a parent PIN of 4 to 8 digits, add your child’s name, and add up to three websites (each becomes a big tile; the drawing pad is always there). Then click your child on the start screen, choose how long, and click Start.

Click Grown-ups on the start screen (or the lock on the desk) and enter your PIN, then open Websites and click Add Website. Type the site’s address, give the tile a name, a picture and a color, and choose which kids see it.

Many kids’ sites play their videos and games from another site. Edit the tile in Websites and add that site under Also allow, and check that Allow videos and games embedded from other sites is on in PIN and Safety.

Yes. For the strongest setup, give your child their own Mac account with Screen Time on (System Settings › Screen Time), add Little Desk to Always Allowed, and add it to that account’s Login Items (System Settings › General › Login Items).

Click the lock in the top-right corner of the desk and enter your PIN. The timer pauses while you’re in the Grown-ups panel, where you can add time, end the session (which unlocks the Mac and shows the start screen) or quit Little Desk.

No app from the App Store can block the power button: holding it turns the Mac off, and a short press may put it to sleep. A hot corner or a keyboard shortcut you’ve set up for another app may still work, so try yours once with Little Desk running. Little Desk keeps your child inside its own window; it doesn’t open or watch other apps. Pairing it with Screen Time on your child’s own Mac account gives the strongest setup.

On your child’s own Mac account, macOS would ask for your child’s password instead of yours, so there Little Desk always uses your PIN. Turn Touch ID on in PIN and Safety only on your own account.

On the start screen, click Grown-ups, then Forgot your PIN? to erase Little Desk’s settings and set it up again. During a session, only the PIN (or Touch ID on your own account) leaves Little Desk. If you’re stuck, hold the power button to turn the Mac off; Little Desk always opens at the start screen, unlocked.

Up to six kids, each with their own desk, timer and cookies, as many websites as you like, schedules for the days and times each kid may use Little Desk, and daily limits across every session. Free has one kid and three websites, plus the drawing pad, the timer and the PIN lock. It’s a one-time purchase that works with Family Sharing, with no subscription.

Apple handles App Store refunds. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

No. Sign in to the App Store with the same Apple Account on your other Mac and download it from your purchases.