Android is the operating system created by Google and running on pretty much any non-Apple smartphone and tablet. Android has a market share of around 70% of mobile devices as of February 2022. Device brands include Google, Samsung, HTC, Huawei and many others. Chromebook laptops also run on Android and can be managed with Android parental controls. Any Android user must have a Gmail account to be able to use the Android device.
Google’s brand for parental control is Family Link.
The first thing to do is to make sure that your Google Family is properly set up as it will make the whole process much easier. It has also the advantages of sharing things like payment methods and cloud storage. Visit https://families.google.com/families to get started.
Once your family is properly set up, follow the process below to activate parental controls.
Note 1: the special case of YouTube access is explained here.
Note 2: in Australia, children from age 13 can remove Android supervision however parents will be notified.
The first part needs to be done on the child’s device
The second part needs to be done on the parent’s device. It can be an Apple device.
The special case of YouTube
Some parents will want to block entirely YouTube access. This must be done in THREE different places in Family Link:
- Block Youtube.com in the Blocked Sites section of Google Chrome
- Turn off “Allow app” for the YouTube app
- Turn off “Search” function of the Google app. This is because YouTube videos can still be watched WITHIN the Google app. The Google app cannot be deactivated but turning search off effectively renders it useless. It also means that internet searches can only be done on google.com in Chrome. A Chrome shortcut to google.com alleviates this problem.
