How to Set Up Parental Controls on Android
Getting a first phone for your child usually comes with one practical question: how do you put reasonable limits in place without buying and learning a whole new app? Google already builds most of the answer into Android, through a free service called Family Link. The steps are just spread across a few different screens, which is where a walkthrough helps more than a subscription would.
This guide is part of our Parental Controls coverage, and it shows you how to set up parental controls on Android using Family Link, points out the settings worth changing first, and is honest about where its help stops and a parent’s judgment has to start.
Short Answer
For most families, Google Family Link is the right first step, and it’s free. You create or link your child’s Google Account, install the Family Link app on your own phone, and connect it to their Android device. From there you can approve apps, set daily screen-time limits and a downtime schedule, filter Google Play content by age, manage SafeSearch and YouTube, and see the device’s location. It won’t monitor everything a child does and it works a little differently depending on their age, but it covers more ground than many paid apps charge for.
What Google Family Link Actually Does
Family Link is Google’s free tool for supervising a child’s Android device and Google Account from your own phone. You, the parent, install the “Family Link for parents” app; your child’s device runs a linked, supervised version of their Google Account. Once connected, you can approve or block app downloads and purchases, set screen-time and downtime schedules, filter Google Play by maturity rating, manage SafeSearch and YouTube settings, find the device’s location, and lock the device remotely.
It’s worth thinking of these settings as scaffolding rather than surveillance. The goal is a phone that’s set up for your child’s age, with limits you’ve actually talked about together, not a hidden monitoring layer.
What You Need Before You Start
On your side: a Google Account, and you need to be 18 or older, or the relevant age in your country. You’ll install the Family Link app on an Android phone (6.0 or later), an iPhone or iPad (iOS 16 or later), or a Chromebook that supports Android apps, and the parent app itself works fine on iPhone, even though your child’s device can’t be one. You also need to live in the same country as your child.
On your child’s side: a Google Account, and an Android device (6.0 or later), a Chromebook (Chrome OS 71 or later), or a compatible Fitbit. Family Link doesn’t work with iPhones, iPads, or non-Chromebook computers on the child’s end, and it can’t manage a Google Workspace for Education account.
How to Set Up Parental Controls on Android, Step by Step
Step 1: Create or Link Your Child’s Google Account
If your child is under 13, or the applicable age where you live, open the Family Link app and create a new Google Account for them directly inside it; you’ll give parental consent using your own Google Account as part of the setup. If your child is 13 or older and already has their own Google Account, you instead send them a request to add supervision, which they need to accept. Either of you can remove that supervision later, you’ll be notified if your child does, and their supervised devices lock temporarily when it happens.
Step 2: Install Family Link on Both Devices
Download “Family Link for parents” on your own phone, and “Family Link for children & teens” on your child’s device if it isn’t brand new (a new device usually prompts for this during setup). Sign in with your own account on your phone and your child’s account on theirs.
Step 3: Connect the Two Devices
The Family Link app walks you through pairing, usually with a code shown on your child’s device that you enter on yours. Once they’re linked, your child’s device settings and Google Account become manageable from the Family Link app on your phone, or at familylink.google.com.
The Controls Worth Setting Up First
Family Link has a lot of settings. These are the ones that matter most for a first-time setup.
Screen Time and Downtime
Open Family Link, select your child, then go to Screen time to set a Daily limit, either the same every day or on its own weekly schedule. Under Schedules, Downtime restricts the device overnight and School time restricts it during class hours; both are available on Android 7 and up. Calls stay available during either one, and you can allow specific apps unlimited time if you want messaging or a clock app to keep working. You can also hand out one-off Bonus time without touching the regular schedule.
App Approvals and Google Play Content Restrictions
Under Controls, then Google Play, you can set a maturity-based content restriction so your child can only download or rent apps, games, movies, and books rated for their age, and require your approval for anything else. This only applies to purchases billed through Google Play itself, and it doesn’t stop restricted content from turning up in a search result or a direct link, so it’s a filter on the store, not a filter on the internet.
SafeSearch
Under Controls, then Google Search, SafeSearch stays on by default for a supervised account, and you can leave it on Filter or loosen it to Blur or Off as your child gets older. As the parent, you’re the only one who can change it while the account is supervised.
YouTube and YouTube Kids
For a child under 13, you can choose YouTube Kids or a supervised YouTube experience with one of three content levels, Explore, Explore more, or Most of YouTube, and you can pause their watch and search history from Family Link. Once your child turns 13, or the applicable age in your country, YouTube supervision moves out of Family Link entirely: it becomes an optional, separate arrangement in YouTube’s own Family Center that either of you can end, and Restricted Mode is the main filter left at that point.
Location and Locking the Device
Turning on Location under Family Link shows you where your child’s Android device is. Under Screen time, you can also Lock a device immediately or Unlock it, and a Parent Access Code works as a backup way to unlock it if your phone isn’t handy.
Chrome and Website Restrictions
If your child signs in to Chrome with their supervised account, Family Link lets you allow or block specific websites and control site permissions and extensions, on their Android device and anywhere else they use that Chrome sign-in.
iPhone Parents and Mixed-Device Households
You can run Family Link entirely from an iPhone, the parent app supports iOS 16 and later, and there’s also a web version at familylink.google.com. What Family Link can’t do is supervise a child’s iPhone or iPad; that side has to be an Android device, a Chromebook, or a compatible Fitbit. If your child uses an iPhone, Apple’s own Screen Time is the equivalent native tool, and a cross-platform paid app is the only way to manage both ecosystems from a single dashboard.
What Family Link Cannot Do
It’s worth being direct about the edges of this tool. Content restrictions limit what your child can download or buy on Google Play by rating; they don’t hide restricted content that shows up through search or a direct link. Purchase approvals only cover purchases billed through Google Play, not other stores, in-app web checkouts, or physical purchases. Family Link doesn’t read message content or see inside third-party apps and social media, so it isn’t a window into what your child is actually saying to people. And once a teen manages their own account, most of this supervision becomes optional on their end, not something you can force.
No parental-control tool, free or paid, can promise to keep a child safe or catch every workaround, particularly on a friend’s device or an app outside your family group. Family Link works best as one layer, alongside conversations about what your child sees and does online, good password habits for the whole family, and the broader steps that protect your household’s identity online, not as a replacement for any of them.
When Family Link Alone Is Enough
For most households with a child under 13 on an Android phone, Family Link on its own is a complete system: it covers app approval, content filtering, screen time, and location without costing anything, and it’s built into the accounts and devices your child already has.
When a Paid Parental-Control App Might Help
A paid service can be worth it if your family spans Android and iPhone and you want one dashboard for both, or if you want reporting and monitoring that goes beyond app and content limits. For a single-platform Android household, Family Link plus regular conversation covers most of what a paid app would otherwise charge for.
Bottom Line
Start with Family Link. It’s free, it’s already built for the accounts and devices your family is using, and it handles app approvals, screen time, content filtering, and location without a subscription. Consider a paid parental-control app only if your household mixes Android and iPhone and you want everything managed from one place, and either way, treat the settings as a starting point for a conversation with your child, not a substitute for one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to buy an app for parental controls on Android?
No. Google Family Link is free and covers app approvals, content restrictions, screen time, downtime scheduling, SafeSearch, YouTube settings, and location. A paid app is worth considering mainly for cross-platform households or deeper monitoring than Family Link offers.
Can my child turn off Family Link without me knowing?
Not quietly. A child under 13 can’t remove supervision themselves. Once they’re 13 or older, they can request to stop supervision, but you’re notified when it happens and their device locks temporarily. Changing settings without your involvement generally requires your account password or Parent Access Code.
Will parental controls keep my child completely safe online?
No tool can promise that, and Family Link is no exception. It’s a strong layer for limits, filtering, and approvals, and it works best paired with ongoing conversations about what your child is seeing and doing.
Does Google Family Link work on iPhone?
The parent app does. You can manage Family Link from an iPhone or iPad running iOS 16 or later. Your child’s device is the part that has to be Android, a Chromebook, or a compatible Fitbit; Family Link can’t supervise a child’s iPhone or iPad.
What happens to parental controls when my child gets older?
At 13, or the applicable age in your country, YouTube supervision moves into a separate, optional arrangement, and your child can request to manage their own Google Account, ending Family Link supervision with your notification. Google Play content restrictions and screen-time limits continue until supervision ends.
Can Family Link see what’s inside my child’s messages or apps?
No. Family Link manages account access, app permissions, content ratings, and time limits, it doesn’t show you the content of messages, chats, or what’s happening inside third-party apps.
Affiliate Disclosure
This guide is built around Google Family Link, which is free. If we ever mention a paid parental-control product, it may be one Nesswick earns a commission from if you subscribe through our link, at no extra cost to you. That possibility never changes what we recommend, and this guide stays useful even if you never click a link.
Sources and Methodology
This guide was prepared without hands-on testing by Nesswick. It draws on Google’s official Family Link, Google Account, Google Play, and YouTube documentation for every setup step and limitation described above, current as of August 2026. Menu names and exact steps can vary by Android version, device manufacturer, and country, so it’s worth checking the current screen against what’s described here if something looks different.
Sources Referenced
- Google For Families Help – Create a Google Account for your child
- Google For Families Help – Get started with Family Link
- Google For Families Help – Set a schedule on your child’s device
- Google Play Help – How to set up content restrictions on Google Play
- Google Play Help – Purchase approvals on Google Play
- Google For Families Help – Understand YouTube & YouTube Kids options for your child
- Google For Families Help – Manage Search on your child’s Google Account
- Google For Families Help – Chrome & your child’s Google Account