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

The update only allows to set time limits for each app in 5 min increments. It's annoying to have to tap 12 times for an hour. It should scroll hrs/min separately, like the down time settings. Also, when looking at daily activity, you used to be able to see both time spent and the limit set for each app. Now you can only see time spent and have to tap to see the limit set and tap again to change. More steps than it used to take. I'm not a fan of these changes. Dev response wrong, doesn't work.

I should have rated this app the 5 stars it deserved before the recent update. It was easy to manage and always did what it was supposed to. This new update made an easy process a lot more complicated. I always thought updated interfaces were meant to be more practical, easier to navigate, and more efficient. This new set up is the complete opposite. More steps to do the same things as before, harder to find controls..I much prefer the previous version.

How can you get it back to the way it was? I used to see all my daughter's devices on one screen. I could see all the use at a glance and easily add or reduce time. Now, it's multiple clicks for everything. This used to be a well thought out app, laid out in a useful way. it seems like it was designed by people who think about design language over usability.

What’s new

New simplified design and screen time tab.