Google Family Link

Editor's Review

Google Family Link 📱 is your go-to parental control app, designed to help you keep your family safer online. Understanding that every family has a unique relationship with technology 💻, Family Link provides flexible tools to help you find the right balance and create healthy digital habits. This app offers easy-to-use features that allow you to monitor your child's device usage ⏱️, track their location 📍, manage privacy settings 🔒, and much more!

Establish Digital Ground Rules

•Set Screen Time Limits:Family Link allows you to set downtime and app time limits, helping your child find a healthy balance in their digital life. ⏰

•Guide Them to Age-Appropriate Content: Approve or block apps your child wants to download. You can also choose the right YouTube experience, whether it’s a supervised experience on YouTube or YouTube Kids. 👍

Manage and Secure Your Child’s Account

•Protect Their Privacy: Manage permissions for websites, extensions, and apps to make meaningful choices about your child’s data. 🛡️

•Secure Their Account: Access and manage your child's account settings. You can change or reset their password, edit personal information, or even delete their account if necessary. 🔑

Stay Connected on the Go

•See Where They Are: Locate your children on one map as long as they have their device with them. 🗺️

•Get Notifications and Alerts: Receive critical notifications, such as when your child arrives at or leaves a certain location. You can also ring their device and view the remaining battery life. 🔔

Important Information

• Family Link's tools vary depending on your child’s device. Check the list of compatible devices to ensure the best experience. ℹ️

• While Family Link helps manage purchases and downloads from Google Play, it does not require approval for app updates, previously approved apps, or apps shared in Family Library. Purchase approvals apply only to purchases made through Google Play’s billing system. Regularly review your child’s installed apps and permissions. ⚠️

• Carefully review the apps on your child’s supervised device and disable any you don’t want them to use. Some pre-installed apps may not be disabled. 🚫

• To see the location of your child’s device, it must be powered on, recently active, and connected to the internet. 📶

• Family Link parental controls are available only for supervised Google accounts, giving children access to Google products with basic digital ground rules set by parents. ✅

• Family Link provides tools to manage your child’s online experience but does not make the internet safe. It gives parents the opportunity to make informed decisions about their child’s device usage and online safety. 🌐

Features

• Set screen time limits

• Approve or block apps

• Manage privacy settings

• Secure child's account

• See device location

• Get notifications and alerts

• Manage app permissions

• Guide to age-appropriate content

Pros

• Establish healthy digital habits

• Guide to age-appropriate content

• Manage and secure child’s account

• Stay connected on the go

Cons

• Tools vary depending on child’s device

• Can't determine the content on the internet