Google Family Link is Google's own parental controls app, and it does three things well: it sets screen time limits, it makes you approve any new app before your child can install it, and it shows you where their phone is. If your child has an Android phone or a Chromebook, it is the right starting point and you should turn it on.
The part most guides skip is where it stops. Google's own FAQ says plainly that Family Link "does not block inappropriate content" by itself, and that a child using an iPhone, a web browser or another unsupervised device "can only be partially supervised". Both of those matter enormously in a real house, so this guide covers the gaps as honestly as the features.
What does Google Family Link actually control?
On an Android phone or a Chromebook, once your child's account is supervised, you can:
- Set a daily screen time limit, with separate Downtime and School Time schedules so the phone winds down at bedtime and stays quiet in lessons.
- Set limits on individual apps, and grant unlimited time to the ones you are happy with, such as a reading or homework app.
- Approve or block every app download and in-app purchase. Nothing new lands on the phone without your say-so.
- Filter what Google Play will offer by age rating, and manage the SafeSearch and YouTube settings tied to their account.
- See the phone on a map, with alerts when your child arrives at or leaves a place.
- Reset their password if they lock themselves out, and change their account details.
Changes you make usually reach your child's devices within a few minutes, which is handy when you want to hand back some bonus time without unpicking the whole schedule. Our Android setup guide walks through the screens step by step if you are starting from scratch.
What Family Link cannot do
This is the bit worth reading twice, because a control you think is on when it is not is worse than no control at all.
- It is not a content filter on its own. Google says so directly. Family Link manages Google's own services and app installs, but it does not sit between your child and the whole internet.
- It barely works on an iPhone. If your child's device is an iPad or iPhone, app management, Chrome filtering and screen time limits do not apply. Only the YouTube and Google Search settings carry across. On Apple devices you want Screen Time instead, which we cover in our iPhone and iPad guide.
- It does not cover other devices on your Wi-Fi. The games console, the smart TV and a friend's tablet are all untouched by it. That job belongs to your broadband provider's controls, and our home network guide has the steps for BT, Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk.
- It does not read messages. Family Link will not show you what your child sends in WhatsApp, Snapchat or a game's chat. No mainstream parental control tool on Android does that, whatever the marketing suggests.
- Filters are imperfect everywhere. Google admits explicit content sometimes gets through. Treat every filter as a speed bump, not a wall.
Can my child turn Family Link off when they turn 13?
This used to be the answer that caught parents out. For years, a supervised child could remove their own supervision the moment they hit 13, and the first many parents knew about it was an email from Google.
That has changed. Google's own help pages now state that "children under 18 need parent approval to stop supervision", and that a child over 13 "needs parent permission to stop supervision until they turn 18". So your teenager can ask to run their own account, and you get a request you can decline.
Two honest caveats. Your child will still be told the option exists, so it is far better to have the conversation before Google raises it. And supervision on an account is not the same as control of a device: a determined teenager can still sign into a second account or use someone else's phone. The controls buy you time and visibility, not certainty.
Setting it up without a row
The technical part takes about fifteen minutes. The family part is what makes it stick.
- Do it together, on the sofa, not secretly overnight. A child who finds limits they did not know about will spend their energy on getting around them.
- Say what each setting is for. "The phone goes quiet at nine so you actually sleep" lands better than "because I said so".
- Agree in advance how they earn more. A bonus time button you never press is just a source of arguments.
- Write down what you have agreed. Our free family agreement builder does this in a few minutes and gives you something to print and stick on the fridge.
- Diarise a review. What suits a nine year old will annoy a thirteen year old, and the settings should move with them.
The short version
Turn Family Link on if your child is on Android or a Chromebook. It is Google's own tool, it is built into the account rather than sold as an add-on, and app approvals alone are worth the setup time. Then be clear eyed about the three gaps it leaves: content filtering, Apple devices, and everything else on your Wi-Fi. Fill those with the device's own controls and your broadband provider's, and you have covered far more ground than any single app can.