Editor's Review
Google Family Link 📱 is a parental control app designed to help you keep your family safer online. Recognizing that every family has a unique relationship with technology, Family Link offers tools that provide the flexibility to choose the right balance and foster healthy digital habits. With Family Link, you can easily understand how your child spends time on their device, see their device location, manage privacy settings, and much more.🌐
Establish Digital Ground Rules
• Screen Time Limits: ⏰ Set downtime for your child’s device and time limits for apps to help them find a healthy balance.
• Age-Appropriate Content: 📚 Approve or block apps your child wants to download and choose the right YouTube experience, whether it’s a supervised experience on YouTube or YouTube Kids.
Manage and Secure Your Child’s Account
• Privacy Protection: 🛡️ Manage permissions to make meaningful choices about your child’s data, including websites, extensions, and apps.
• Account Security: 🔑 Access and manage your child's account settings, change or reset their password, edit personal information, or even delete their account if necessary.
Stay Connected On The Go
• Location Tracking: 📍 Locate your children on one map as long as they’re carrying their device.
• Notifications and Alerts: 🔔 Receive critical notifications, such as when your child arrives at or leaves a certain location. You can also ring devices and view the device’s remaining battery life.
Important Information
• Compatibility: Family Link’s tools vary depending on your child’s device. Check the list of compatible devices .
• Purchases and Updates: 🛍️ While Family Link helps manage purchases and downloads from Google Play, approval is not needed for app updates, previously approved apps, or apps shared in Family Library. Purchase approvals apply only when your child makes a purchase through Google Play’s billing system.
• App Review: 🧐 Regularly review your child’s installed apps and app permissions in Family Link and disable any apps you don’t want them to use. Note that some pre-installed apps may not be disabled.
• Location Accuracy: 🛰️ To see the location of your child’s device, the device must be powered on, recently active, and connected to the internet.
• Supervised Google Accounts: 👨👩👧👦 Family Link parental controls are available for supervised Google accounts, giving children access to Google products with parental supervision.
• Online Safety: ⚠️ 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 decisions about how their child spends time on their device and determine what path to online safety looks best for your family.
Features
Set screen time limits for apps
Approve or block apps your child wants
Manage permissions for websites and extensions
Manage child's account and data settings
Locate your children on one map
Get notifications when child leaves a location
Ring devices and view battery life
Set downtime for your child’s device
Pros
Establish healthy digital habits for your family
Manage and secure your child’s online account
Stay connected with your children on the go
Cons
Tools vary depending on your child’s device
Can not determine the content on the internet