Google Family Link is a parental controls app that helps you keep your family safer online. We know that every family’s relationship with technology is unique, so we designed tools like Family Link that give you the flexibility to choose the right balance for your family, and help them create healthy digital habits. Family Link’s easy to use tools allow you to understand 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 — Family Link lets you set downtime for your child’s device and time limits for apps, so you can help them find a healthy balance.
• Guide them to age-appropriate content — Approve or block apps your child wants to download. Family Link also allows you to choose the right YouTube experience for your child: a supervised experience on YouTube, or YouTube Kids.
Manage and secure your child’s account
• Protect their privacy — Permissions management in Family Link allow you to make meaningful choices about your child’s data. View and manage permissions for websites and extensions accessed through Chrome as well as apps downloaded on your child’s device.
• 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.
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.
Still not a fan of the new format. I tried it and still do not like the changes. Whoever choose this format was an idiot. It was easier to use before the change, especially for changing times, adding time, location services, so on. It still takes forever to make changes and do a device search. Also liked the old homescreen better with the pics of the kids to faster choose which account to adjust when needed. Now there are too many steps to use it and its hectic. It needs to be much easier.
Overall the application works fairly well and does what I need it to do. The new UI updates, while somewhat cumbersome, are usable and is not a major issue. The primary complaint I have about the application right now is that when using the notification option to alert me when my son arrives or departs from a specified, known location I often receive the alerts 30 minutes or more after the fact.
It was great until the most recent update!!! The most recent update completely changed and lost in the functionality. It’s now so so bad. Previously it was time centered. And it was very convenient and easy to control. Once the allocated screen time reached its limit all the devices would shut down. Now I have to manage every device separately and it’s very time consuming with three kids and eight devices. And the interface, although it looks funcier than before but it also very inconvenient.
The new update is awful. Not sure why they decided to change the layout and settings. It’s very tideous now and I had to reset all the settings! For all six kids! And they don’t stick. I’m constantly having to check and make sure that the settings didn’t magically turn off over night. Something so simple became a lengthy task… Daily. So glad something like this is available and it’s worked great for our family for years… Until this new update..
Undo the update!! You can clearly see ALL the negative feedback. The app is constantly crashing and draining our batteries. My phone just suggested that I put the app into deep sleep since it’s crashing so much. It was working perfectly until the new update. Now when I open it, it crashes and refuses to open so I have to close it and open it again for it to work. I can’t stand the new layout! It’s terrible and obnoxious!
We loved the app until the most recent update. It’s no longer as user friendly, the location doesn’t work anymore, ringing the devices rarely works now, settings don’t seem to stick and everything is impossibly hard to find now. I wish we could have the old version back, which we’ve had for years. I’m all for change if it’s good and makes for a better user experience but this is horrible.
The latest update is awful. It’s broken, won’t save the screen time limits and just has every day set to 9 hours. NINE HOURS!! Come on. This is crazy. I try to adjust it, and on the edit screen it shows 2 hours, which is what I set, but I click save and it goes back to 9 hours. Idk why they pushed this brown update. I wish I could roll back to how it was last week!
New review. The latest “update” has negatively affected the real-time map. It is less accurate. I’ve noticed it can change direction in the span of a few seconds, when I know my child is going in just one. It will also just stall at one position for upwards on ten minutes. This is our neighborhood with excellent cell and wi-fi coverage. Additionally, the new control format is not as easy to use as the former iteration. It stinks, actuslly. A previous 4 star rating has dropped to 2 as a result.
When it works, it works but unfortunately it rarely works when I need it to. The app has issues. I constantly have to “Try Again” to locate my child on the map. The app has location issues where it just won’t update. Additionally, I’ve noticed that if I don’t use the app for a period of time (a few days or a week) it Uninstalls on its own. I’ve had to reinstall it over a dozen times. Thankfully play sound to locate works even when the location map doesn’t.
Initially setting up the child account was easy. Made sure the device was up to date and signed into the account. The first time, the device was stuck on “Android is starting”. I gave it some time to see if it will load. It didn’t. I had to manually factory reset the device. I attempted it a second time. Same issue. The third time, I skipped signing in and it seemed as if it worked. It didn’t. As soon as I set up the child account in the browser options it crashed again. Theres a bug somewhere.
After reading the recent reviews I see I’m not the only one who has been having trouble with the app turning off the settings randomly. It was great before but now I have to constantly be checking to see if the phone is locked(which it never is)when it’s supposed to be. I use this app to help show my kids how to manage their time wisely and also if they get bad grades or not listen at home then phone is being locked. I can’t do that now since this doesn’t stay locked anymore it’s frustrating!
Used to be pretty much perfect before the latest update. Now it’s confusing and hard to manage screen time on the fly, and we are always on the fly. I should be able to pull up the app and make quick changes that will show me the new locking time while adding bonus time and be able to clearly understand the amount of time spent, etc. I think I’ll be trying other monitoring apps.
Absolute pain to use. When first installed, last year, it worked fine, no issues. Location tracked constantly without issues. But in the last few months, it has become increasingly unreliable, refusing to update child location unless he’d accessed the phone or opened google app. Most recently (date of review), I discovered the app had uninstalled itself completely and without warning. Now I’ve reinstalled, and hopefully with the family child/teen app (which also went missing), it will work.
It used to be functional and effective until the recent overhaul. Now the child’s location is extremely slow to update (sometimes it doesn’t work for hours), and notifications don’t seem to work (we need to be notified when our child makes a request to install an app!). UI is also not as intuitive as previously. Really disappointing.
This is a great app, but why the heck did they change the UI ? This used to be intuitive, clear and easy to use. For example, there would be a simple, two-tab window for bedtime hours and how many minutes are allowed each day. Now, it’s crazy messy, and hard to find screens. Dreadful usability….
I used to love this app. Since the update I had to uninstall and reinstall in an attempt to troubleshoot, hasn’t helped. Now in order to even use the app I have to go to my Store. The icon won’t display on my phone even though it has been reinstalled. Shotty GPS, notifications and overall glitches has made this once very user friendly app pretty disappointing. Hopefully the bugs can be worked out and improved upon, but for now I’m looking into alternatives.
The new updates are awful. The changes are not user-friendly. The appearance of the app is ugly. Adding bonus time doesn’t transfer to the kid’s phone. I have to unlock kids phone by logging into their phone. Setting limits and downtime are now on separate screens. I miss having the unlock/ lock on the home screen. I hate all the changes. The previous version was much better. I wish it had never changed.
Was just fine and actually pretty great until the recent UI update. Now it’s difficult to find settings. It’s like it was updated just for the sake of updating. It’s functionally worse in its arrangement and settings are not nearly as intuitive as they were. Randomly my app switched back to the older UIand was like that last night. This morning it’s back to the new UI. Gross. Put 1/2 as much effort into updating Google Voice, maybe?
Before the latest update I absolutely loved this app and recommended it to everyone. My child’s phone is used as a medical device so the option to ring their device has literally saved her dozens of times. I recommend it to all families with the same diagnosis. Since the update I HATE it!!!!! It is not user friendly. The ringing option which was our most valued function is hard to find and only works 1/3 of the time, the location now has a 10-15 minute lag. Please fix it!!!!!!!!!!
This update is completely awful! The location is totally off. Can’t figure out how to add bonus time. I had to totally remove one device because they were grouped together, and was making it even more confusing. There was nothing wrong with the previous version, I was super happy with it. Well I figured out the bonus time, but that’s ridiculous now too. You can see no one is happy with these updates.
The update is very disappointing. I’m frustrated with just trying to add my son’s phone to the account. I follow the steps in setting, then my email and password then verification that it’s me then he puts in his password. It keeps sending me back through the same steps over and over. It’s a repeated loop. When I first download years ago, it was simple to setup and the phones synchronized. Just because the updated are new doesn’t mean they are better.
Awful. Interface is anti-user-friendly, and procedures that could be simple require multiple trips between this and the play store. I need to delete a family group to join a new one, and get an error message that you can’t delete a group with a member under 13. The issue? There’s nobody under 13 in the group. Google has the correct birthdays in the account, but evidently doesn’t know how to calculate an age? And the Help feature in the app gets stuck on a loading screen 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
This app is very helpful! I do not like the recent update, because it’s not as user friendly, and the map is not as functional. I really like that I can choose a bedtime, but I do have a couple of suggestions. I’d love to have the option at bedtime to allow calls and texts, to certain people. It would also be great to have a school time option, where we can choose which apps to allow. My kids try to play games at school sometimes, but my oldest is driving, so he needs his phone.
Some of the functionality works, but not everything. I have set downtime schedules for my kids, but my 13 year old is able to override it and unlock his device. I’ve tried everything, unistalling, reinstalling, stopping supervision and reenrolling, but nothing seems to work. He is always able to unlock his device. We searched on Google how to bypass, it can be done in the device Accessibility settings by configuring Dexterity and Interaction, then Bypass Family Link. That defeats the purpose.
Please undo the last update and go back to the old format! The UI change looks nice but the app is not as organized as before. I didn’t get the chance to really explore all the changes in the app because another update came along and now I have not been able to use the app at all. I keep getting an error page that says “Something went wrong”. Fix this quickly!
Location show that the device is off line. When trying to track my child phone, which I use to make sure he is safely arriving to school, the app (even after refreshing multiple times) is showing hes still at home. The alert/alarm button never makes a sound on his phone. When location does finally decide to work, it’s never where the phone is specifically located. I’m considering getting another app. It used to work until December 2022. UGH!!
This app was awesome when I first downloaded….now, not so much. All the settings have changed, and I’m finding myself having to play around in the app to find what I’m looking for. The location feature also doesn’t work; if I can’t track my kids or easily monitor their activity, then what’s the point. The company clearly chose aesthetics over functionality.
It was good till the update.. now it’s too difficult to add bonus time. It’s hard to click on different kids. I don’t understand why it needed to change this much. It’s completely different and extremely difficult to use. I loved how simple the last version was. Easy to see each kid, easy to add time, adjust bedtimes or how long they can use the tablet. This is crazy. I hate it now.
Since the update the app is not responsive. I attempt to add bonus time and nothing happens. There are times when my child is not feeling well and I try to unlock the tablet in the middle of the night and can’t unlock it through the app. Don’t understand why you would reinvent something that worked perfectly before. Please bring back the old version or fix this one ASAP. Thank you.
The new update is horrible. I was always a huge supporter for this app and would tell other parents to use, as I’ve been using it for years. Not anymore. Now the update always locks up, non stop refreshing and never finds the kids location on the map anymore without 5 mins of “searching”. The old app was simple to click on and lock or unlock. The new version is not user friendly anymore.
This is the best app for monitoring android devices I have come across. It has most of the functionality you would want (more on that later) and it is FREE. No membership or subscription required. Now, the app needs to allow certain apps like alarms (android clock) to be enabled ALL THE TIME. As it is, my kids’ alarms don’t go off to get them up because they aren’t being allowed screen-time yet. Certain apps need to be able to be placed outside of the regular app/screen-time restrictions.
Edit*** I discovered that if you click on your child’s device in the app, it does pop up to lock or add bonus time. Not intuitive to me prior to discovery. Where did my lock phone button go? The thing I liked most and appears to be missing from the update is the one button to suspend privileged access to non always on selected apps. It is a major motivation tool that allowed me to easily toggle the amount of phone time on a case by case situation. Bring it back!
This app is GARBAGE now. Constantly resetting time limits I have set for certain apps, ones where purchases are made in app…I’m sure THAT’S by design. Go back to the old version. The only thing good about the new app is that I can know what time my child leaves and arrives at certain places. Outside of that, a really good thing has been severely downgraded and it’s much less user-friendly. If ain’t broke, why fix it? 🤔🤷🏾
The app was great until the fall 2022 update. Now it’s borderline unusable. 4x as many clicks and screens to find the same information, buried. Also, if a kid loses their phone (Google phone on Google Fi service), the app is useless, as it doesn’t show location history. And Find my Phone doesn’t work onnkod accounts. And Google customer service is nothing but script readers who can’t help. Not a fan of iphones, but they are much more capable of finding lost phones.
I agree that there are more clicks than before, but the added functionality is worth it for me. A couple of things I do miss, however, is the home screen with all kids listed to easily click (rather than the drop down menu) and the menu option to approve purchases. For some people who are indicating they can’t find things – most things seem to be there, just in a different place. I think once people get used to it they may not be as frustrated.
I love the app! The location is alil off and would be nice if it was adjustable. For example, I have the location set for my child’s high school. However, the high school is so big that when he is towards the limits of the high school it says he’s left the high school. So either the ability to draw in the proximity or expand the proximity or shrink approximity would be useful. Also the default pictures for the kids are from their phone. It would be better if I could set the picture for my side.
Whyyyyyyy did you change everything. The update is so hard to use! I cannot control my kids devices anymore! Please go back to the old way! A lot of the settings no longer work. It won’t even let me turn on the schedule. It doesn’t even have the option to always allow certain apps anymore! Goggle please do setting different. Most people hate the update doesn’t that matter to you?!
New does not mean improved. As I try to check on downloaded app, location, time of use, etc I get a pop-up telling me if I continue the beta version of the program will wipe the phone putting it back to factory settings. Old UI worked well update, in a word, sucks. Bri g old UI back until this one works. Add to the list, 12 year old loaded tictoc without asking, my oversight, when found I blocked, checking 2 days later I found it reactivated. This is a 4x issue.
Ever since this new update it doesn’t track my daughters location. I have it set to let me known when she leaves and arrives places. It doesn’t tell me until hours after she has left. Which does no good at all. Loved it before the update. I was able to just hit the lock phone and it would do it not it doesn’t lock out until she hits the power button. Not happy with it at all.
Latest update is worse than previous. Way more clicks/navigation to do the same things. Used to just have to scroll up & down to find what I needed. Plus “Always allow” no longer seems to work at all without turning off bedtime completely. I just want an option to “always allow” certain apps (music & reading & white noise & school related apps mostly) after bedtime without daily parental intervention. Also, sometimes apps stop at time limit, and other times they will keep working.
It was much better before… This is not intuitive at all. Also, when you make any changes it seems to always unlock the devices. Such as…. I gave always on access to one educational app and it unlocked the device. And it’s near impossible to then correct it. This is by far one of the worst “upgrades” an AP has made.
old interface was much easier to navigate. controls intuitive. why fix things that were not broken..just for the sake of changing it. location is not at all reliable in this version and does not update as it should. the previous version location was always correct.
The location tracker rarely works. Really disappointing and frustrating! It has a 1 in 10 chance of locating my sons phone while I am right next to it, while it is on Wi-Fi. God awful. And i do not feel I need to give you more explication than that….. fix your product, you know what’s not working! I have read the other complaints and stayed mine pretty clearly.
This app sucks. Trying to setup an account on older phone for my daughter. Literally keeps going in circles asking for the email address, password. I went through the process 10 times, every time I get to the end where it says set up parental controls, it starts me back at the beginning of the process. Frustrated doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel.
Horrible since late 2022 update. Time limits and downtime doesn’t stay at the settings. I have to check it multiple times per day and it still flips to canceled and no limit for no reason. I’ve done an update since then with no changes. It is also a lot harder to find information. All in all the update took it from 5 stars to no stars. Don’t waste your time downloading this one. A shame really because this used to be the best option.
Well… At first it was great! But now my kid’s phone keeps changing the time zone, two hours ahead. I’ve fixed it multiple times only for it to happen AGAIN. Now every time I try to go into that setting in the app it freezes up so I can’t do anything. Been like that for days. Messes with all of his stuff, alarms going off throughout the night. Very disappointing.
This app used to be AMAZING. After the last “update” it’s no longer intuitive. It locks randomly. Sometimes it will say unlocked but will remain locked on the kids’ phones. Bonus time doesn’t work properly. Also, I often turn off the schedule and it still locks it like the schedule is on. And I have to turn off the schedule again. What the heck? Seriously gone downhill. I used to talk this app up fairly often. I’ve quick recommending it. Looking for an alternative.
This app has definitely improved since we started using it! It used to be almost useless, I’d try to lock the phone from the app or change the timing and nothing would happen. that’s working now! I also like being able to block certain apps! the only thing is the location tracker, it’s so unreliable. sometimes it updates sometimes it doesn’t. I wish I could see his messages too..
I really like and have used this app daily for years. There are three significant shortcomings that I have identified. 1. With multiple children in the family group, there needs to be what I would call a “Global” button along side the Save button to apply a change to all kids. 2. Include chronological data with total app usage. Parents need to know at times the timeline of usage. 3. The app does not accurately track usage at times. It seems to be random and unpredictable. That is annoying.
Some of our favorite features are setting the device times as well as the ability to lock the kids’ phones, tablets, and computers. They still have the ability to call us if their phones are locked, but all other features are “non-functional,” so no texting, games, or videos at the dinner table or at school.
Love this app, but it’s missing one important feature. I love being able to provide my autistic child a safe phone option, especially on the bus. This app provides that. However, I do wish it had the ability to block all incoming calls except those in his contact list, as he frequently gets scam calls despite having a scam call blocker on his phone. Would love this feature to be added for parental piece of mind. Some apps have this feature, but they limit the allowed numbers too much.
This new update is TERRIBLE. None of the schedules save. Every single day I have to go and shut off the schedule and then turn it back on in order for downtime to work or daily limits. The set up is terrible. Super hard to find anything. I’m not sure why the change was made. But I’m now currently looking for a new app to have parental controls for my children’s phones.
This was working very well. Now not so much. It dose not find location on real time. Yesterday the app notified me that my child left school. I called the school she was in school. The games need to be sensor. There are inappropriate ads that a child should not be seeing. I’m sure that’s not the apps falt but if they can look into it. I do like the controls I have on what my child is doing and playing. Some more functions is needed.
The new update, at the end of 2022, was a horrible transition. It’s more difficult to find some things and while many added features seem nice, they don’t function properly. Downtime doesn’t always unlock on or even near the right time. Option for “always on apps” are not always available upon downtime starting, if ever. All devices exceed minimum requirements and are fully up to date. The new update has so many bugs that are still not worked out. It’s extremely frustrating.
First off I want to say parental controls work good, although sneaky kids can find ways around them. The ring device feature is hit or miss. Works for the most part on my boys’ phones but is extremely delayed on my daughter’s tablet and doesn’t work at all on the phone she uses. Location is glitchy. Sometimes gives correct location other times is completely off. Use to work great but after it updated there has been a lot of bugs.
With three kids, I use this app multiple times a day. I like it and it has improved greatly over time. It would be nice to have the ability to set multiple “downtime” schedules, and be able to see live if the phone is being used, and what app is being used. Note: When the kids’ phone is locked, they still have access to the Google discover app; could you please make a setting to prevent access to this when the phone is locked?? Otherwise, rock on Google!