How to setup parental controls on an Android phone with Google Family Link

This video will walk you through everything you need to consider when setting up android parental controls, including how to set up Google Family Link and other 3rd party monitoring software.

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Sarah Kimmel is a Microsoft Certified IT Manager, who is also a mom. She currently helps families understand and manage the technology in their homes through YouTube Videos, Instagram posts, podcasts, and her website Family Tech Zone. She can also be found as a family tech expert on various TV news shows and podcasts.

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[matthewpatterson]

As a father I want to say this is very helpful I'm about to give my seven-year-old my old cell phone so we can have contact since his mother's not allowing us to speak this helps me Safeguard him as much as I can this is been really helpful

[robinroork]

I am having such trouble trying to set up the location in family link because my son doesn't have a school account. What can I Do?!

[jessiekatona]

My daughter's phone is being very difficult. I had to remove her from our family group and then re-add her. Family link on my phone says that she is a supervised member but it won't let me see her location because it says "she isn't signed into a google account on any devices" but I'm staring at her phone and she clearly is. It tries to walk me through parental controls but every time I click "Let's Go" on her phone, it asks which account I want to supervise and the little buffering wheel just spins and spins FOREVER.

[JonTopping]

I've got it all set up and it seems to be working great, BUT I need to do something on their tablets, and it's not letting me because of the parental controls. There's no option to ask permission or anything. Is there a way to temporarily disable parental controls, then reenable it once I've installed the program I need?

[jasonwest]

it appears that google no longer has family link for kids. can you help me with this?

[AFC-nlpz]

Question/ FYI..Sorry for the long Comment - But advice or thoughts welcome....I also have worked in IT for over 20 yrs...But i am on the server side and more so the Auth & Security end of it, so i don't get to dabble much in the user-end gadgets and some admins might..going forward...I just setup 2 A42 5g's androids for my twins on my Galaxy s9...I found that Google seems to no longer have that Family Link companion for kids app. It seems to me that they have pulled back the need for a companion app because its not available anywhere in the play store..That said, i pushed forward with just installed the app on the parent/management phone and plugged in the GMail accounts and gave the proper authentications, and was able to setup the family group and manage those 2 phones just fine. ALTHOUGH i DID see an application icon called Parental controls that had a white background with a blue outline of a kit! When you click on it, it will launch the "parental controls screen" where the phone user can see App activity, Daily and Bedtime limits, signed in devices, location sharing, usage-screen of that phone under family link" with the notation at the bottom that Parent manager can see all this information on family link. BUT, whats "scary" is that in the upper right hand corner if you click on ellipsis there is an option to "STOP Supervision" When click on it takes you to a Remove account screen saying "Remove Account?" with a long explanation of what removing the account is going to do and to make sure to reset the phone when done 😲The screen sat there and spun saying parent is removing account!! It would NOT let me back out of the operation..so i quickly closed all apps, then went to device care - memory and closed all apps as fast as i could...checking phone and family app, i did NOT lose the account away - no more companion app - 1.) Have you found a reason WHY that Parental control app even on the phone? It can't be removed nor stopped from launching and allows a dangerous feature.. 2.) Family Link app seems to stall and spin on white screen and not open.. only works again after running device care on memory...so...If I uninstall it, have you noticed any issues with re-installs and re-configuring Family group if its already been done once before on the same phones? Please tell me i won;t have to hard rest anything...Thanks a bunch for reading and hope you answer.

[jasond]

I've got Boomerang and Google Family link setup on my children's Samsung phones. Issue I run into is kids using Emergency call feautre to contact friends on phone and calls don't drop after phone locks. Can that be locked down?

[analane]

We followed the instructions on how to setup parental controls on an android except that we weren't able to download Bark. It says that Bark is not in the google play store since google doesn't allow any apps that monitor children's text. Any recommendations please?

[daveclark]

What about all the Internet browsers?! That's where they can access the creepiest stuff. How do we block or limit that?

[AFC-nlpz]

Also...Have you ever reviewed or used "My Mobile Watchdog"? I'd like to see how that stacks up to the others you have used. I have been told, that like BARK it gives you ability to see all texts, web sites, app usage and you can control mobile data (turn on off, etc..), But i was told it does it all in real time..thanks again

[i-changeus]

Hi, Just found your channel as we are looking to set up an Android phone for our kids. Yes, you did offer Google solution, but I want to DE-google the phone. (or less google is better) Is there a way to lock Wifi in OFF position thru a non google product or being an administrator? Thanks.

[jazminvillalobos]

My son father block the location track how that could be possible?

[m.imraniqbaal]

How about a 6 year old toddler? would it work for him as well? I'm so worried about his screen time we're literally suffering.

[richierich.]

Hi, parental controls is missing from my child's S9plus, any help please, I cannot add her device to track however on both devices it shows I am the manager and child is supervised account.

[dovh]

Is there a way to disable incognito mode for free across all browsers? That's all I need. It seems like it should be a simple thing and built in to android or the browser. But I haven't found anything good for that.

[lindawitt]

Google needs to make this available to parents who are legal guardians of adult children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

[wrestlegamia.]

How do I use parental controls for myself

[PrivateRash]

couldn't you just setup their google account as under 12 and keep it that way? Why put in the age if it's over 13?

[ehabhakeem]

How can I protect huawei devices as they don't have Google services

[rosario]

What happen if the kid open another Google account?