Google Family Link

Google LLC

About this app

Google Family Link is a parental controls app that helps you keep your family safer online. Every family’s relationship with technology is unique, so we built tools for you to choose the right balance for your family, and help them create healthy digital habits. You can use the app to see how your child is spending time on their device, see their device location, manage privacy settings, and more.

With Family Link, you can:

Establish digital ground rules
• Set screen time limits — Find the screen time that works best for your child. Family Link lets you set daily time limits, with school time and downtime schedules for their devices, so you can help your child find a healthy balance.
• Manage your child’s apps — Give your child the flexibility they need when it comes to app usage. Set individual app time limits, and unlimited time for educational or regularly used apps. You can block apps, too.

Manage content filters and security & privacy
• Manage what they see online — Set up parental controls on Google services like Chrome, Play, YouTube, and Search. Family Link allows you to block inappropriate sites, require approval for new apps, manage permissions for apps and websites, and more.
• Secure their account — Family Link gives you access to manage your child’s account and data settings. As a parent, you can help change or reset your child’s password if they forget it, edit their personal information or even delete their account if you feel necessary.*

*Children over the applicable age can manage their own account.

Stay connected on the go
• See where they are — It’s helpful to be able to find your family when they’re on the go. With Family Link, you can locate your children on one map, as long as they’re carrying their device.
• Get notifications and alerts — Family Link delivers critical notifications including when your child arrives or leaves a certain location. You can also ring devices and view the device’s remaining battery life.


Important Information

• Family Link’s tools vary depending on your child’s device. See a list of compatible devices at https://families.google/familylink/device-compatibility/
• While Family Link helps you manage your child’s purchases and downloads from Google Play, they will not need approval to install app updates (including updates that expand permissions), apps you have previously approved, or apps that have been shared in Family Library. In addition, purchase approvals will apply only when your child makes a purchase through Google Play’s billing system and will not apply to purchases made through alternate billing systems. Parents should regularly review their child’s installed apps and app permissions in Family Link.
• You should carefully review the apps on your child’s supervised device and disable those you don’t want them to use. Note that you may not be able to disable some pre-installed apps such as Play, Google, etc.
• To see the location of your child or teen’s device, the device must be powered on, recently active, and connected to the internet through data or wifi.
• Family Link parental controls are only available for supervised Google accounts. With supervised Google Accounts, children get access to Google products like Search, Chrome, and Gmail, and parents can set up basic digital ground rules to supervise them.
• While Family Link provides tools to manage your child’s online experience and keep them safer online, it does not make the internet safe. Family Link can not determine the content on the internet, but it can give parents the opportunity to make decisions about how their child spends time on their device, and determine what path to online safety looks best for your family.

Ratings and reviews

Still great for monitoring screen time, app usage, etc., but for location not so much. Recently, it has been alerting me that my kids are leaving & then arriving home when they are in the room next to me (& I know 100% they haven't left). I also get significantly delayed notifications when they do actually leave the house & when they arrive at designated family places - like over an hour delay. In this day & age, this is unacceptable - please fix ASAP!

I have used this app for years, and I always liked it until the last few months. Previously I would get a push notification when my kids request to download an app. Now I get no notice at all, they have to tell me they requested something and I have to go into my Google play account and find it under manage family. that's a hassle. it is handy for setting limits, managing content, finding lost phones, and keeping tabs on kids locations.

Normally this app is great but for 2 days now I've been getting an error when looking at my kids' locations. "Something went wrong. Something unexpected happened. Try again. Parent Access Code" Hitting try again does nothing. The access code just allows me to enter on child's phone to change settings. On one profile also get the error under Screen Time and Controls too. So one kid has the error for everything and the other is error for location even though I get the notifications.

What’s new

New simplified design and screen time tab.