Sky Broadband Shield Setup Guide
How to set up Sky Broadband Shield on your Sky broadband connection to filter harmful content for your family.
Overview
Sky Broadband Shield is a free content filtering service included with all Sky Broadband packages. It works at the network level, protecting every device in your home without the need to install any software. Shield can be configured through the my.sky.com portal and offers filtering levels suitable for a range of ages, from young children to teenagers.
Enabling Sky Broadband Shield
Visit my.sky.com and sign in with your Sky ID. Go to 'My Account' and select 'Broadband'. Scroll to 'Broadband Shield' and click 'Set up' or 'Change settings'. You will be prompted to choose a filtering level and set a PIN to prevent your children from changing the settings. Changes apply within a few minutes across all devices on your Sky broadband.
Sky Broadband Shield is enabled through my.sky.com — no router login or technical knowledge needed.
Understanding Filtering Levels
Shield offers three main filtering levels based on film certificate-style ratings. PG filters the most harmful content including pornography, self-harm, and hate speech — suitable for young children. 13 adds filtering of violent content and material glorifying dangerous behaviour — suitable for early teenagers. 18 blocks only illegal content — suitable where most users are adults but some basic filtering is still wanted. For families with children under 13, the PG setting is recommended.
Choose the PG level for children under 13 — it blocks pornography, self-harm content, and hate speech automatically.
Custom Site Blocking
Within Broadband Shield settings on my.sky.com, you can add specific websites to a blocked or allowed list. This lets you block sites your child has been accessing that are not covered by the preset level, or allow educational sites that have been incorrectly blocked. Changes take effect across the network without needing to touch individual devices.
Custom site blocking gives you precise control on top of the preset filtering level.
SafeSearch Enforcement and Sky Q Parental PIN
Sky Broadband Shield includes a SafeSearch enforcement option that locks Google, Bing, and YouTube SafeSearch on for all devices on the network. For television, Sky Q has a separate parental PIN system. Go to Settings > Setup > Parental Controls on your Sky Q box to set a PIN for adult channels and on-demand content. These are independent systems — enabling Shield does not automatically configure the Sky Q PIN.
Set up both Broadband Shield and the Sky Q parental PIN — they protect different parts of your household's content.
Managing Per-Device Controls
Shield applies to the whole network by default. If you need different rules for different devices — for example, stricter settings for a child's laptop versus your own phone — you can combine Shield with device-level parental controls. Your child's device can have Screen Time or Family Link configured, while Shield provides a backstop at the network level. Sky does not currently offer per-device filtering within Shield itself.
Combine Sky Broadband Shield with device-level controls to apply different rules to different family members.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Resources
Was this page helpful?
Last reviewed: 2026-04-08