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Custom skins: a guide for parents

What a custom skin is, whether making one from photos is safe, how consent and privacy work in Scan2Skin 3D, and the account settings for children.

Updated October 23, 2026

A skin is the picture that dresses a player's character: a small PNG file of 64 by 64 pixels. Children love wearing one that looks like them, a sibling or a parent. This page explains what that involves, so you can decide how your family uses it.

What a custom skin is, and is not

• It is a picture, not a program: a skin file cannot run anything on a device.
• Other players see it in multiplayer games, as they would see clothes.
• A skin made from photos is a pixel-art likeness, not a photo: the face is 8 by 8 pixels.

Photos, privacy and consent in Scan2Skin 3D

• The photos are analyzed on the device (the phone, or the browser on the website) and deleted when the capture ends. Nothing is uploaded, and we run no server for the app.
• Face and body measurements are used only to draw the skin, and are never saved.
• Before the first scan, the app asks you to confirm that the person agrees, and for a child that a parent or guardian does.
• There are no accounts, no chat and no social features. Ads in the free version are child-directed and non-personalized.
• Finished skins stay on the device until you delete them.

The details are in our privacy policy.

Doing the scan together

We suggest a parent does the scan with the child. It takes a few minutes, and someone needs to hold the camera anyway. Choose a plain background, and only scan people who agree to it.

Account settings for children

Both editions need a Microsoft account. Minecraft counts accounts for players under 16 in the US and the EU (19 in South Korea) as child accounts, and only a parent account can change their settings:

1. Sign in at account.xbox.com/settings with the parent account and select the child's account.
2. Under Online Safety, choose whether the child can join multiplayer games, create and join clubs (needed for Realms), and add friends.
3. Under Privacy, choose who can communicate with the child: everyone, friends, or nobody.

The Xbox Family Settings app has a Manage Minecraft page with the multiplayer and clubs choices, and the consoles have controls of their own. The official pages are linked below.

Skins and other players

In multiplayer, other players see your child's skin and your child sees theirs. If someone uses an offensive skin, Minecraft's Report a Concern form covers player skins as well as chat. In Bedrock Edition, the setting Only Allow Trusted Skins (Settings, General) limits which custom skins the game shows; see Only Allow Trusted Skins.

Where custom skins work

Custom skins can be imported on phones, tablets and Windows PCs, and in Java Edition, but not on consoles: see skins on consoles.

Sources

• Parental Controls in Minecraft, minecraft.net. Read October 23, 2026; published 2023-09-22: child accounts are under 16 in the US and EU (19 in South Korea); settings at account.xbox.com/settings, Online Safety and Privacy; the Report a Concern form covers player skins.
• Manage a member's safety settings to access Minecraft features, Xbox Support. Read October 23, 2026; no date shown: the Xbox Family Settings app's Manage Minecraft (multiplayer, clubs for Realms) and the console's family settings; it names Bedrock Edition on PC "Minecraft for Windows".
• Change Your Look: An Introduction To Skin Packs, Microsoft Learn. Read October 4, 2026; last updated 2025-07-31: opening a .mcpack imports it; Only Allow Trusted Skins in Settings, General.

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