Handing a child their first phone is a strange moment. You want them to have it. You also want some sense of what happens on it. Google Family Link is the tool most parents reach for, and it’s genuinely useful.
It’s also widely misunderstood. Plenty of parents set it up expecting a surveillance system and discover it’s something rather different. Here’s how to actually set it up, what each control does, and, just as importantly, the things it flatly cannot do.
The quick answer: Family Link is Google’s free parental supervision system. You install it on your phone, create or link a Google account for your child, and then supervise that account from your device. It gives you app approval for Play Store downloads, daily screen time limits, per-app time limits, a bedtime schedule that locks the device, content filters for Search, Chrome and YouTube, and the device’s location on a map. It works best on Android and ChromeOS. What it does not do is show you your child’s messages, their photos, or what’s on their screen. It cannot filter content inside third-party apps, and once a child turns thirteen, or the equivalent age where you live, they can request to end supervision themselves. It’s a set of guardrails, not a monitoring tool.
Setting up Family Link, step by step
You need two things: the Family Link app on your own phone, and a Google account for your child. If your child is under the age limit in your country, you create their account through Family Link itself and it’s automatically supervised from day one. That’s the smoothest path.
- Install Family Link on your phone and sign in with your own Google account.
- Tap to add a family member, then choose to create an account for a child.
- Enter their name and date of birth. This matters. The age determines which controls Google makes available and what happens later.
- Set their username and password, and accept the parental consent step. Google may ask you to verify with a card payment of a nominal amount, which is a legal identity check rather than a charge.
- Pick up the child’s device. Sign in with the new account. Family Link supervision installs automatically during setup.
- Work through the initial choices: which apps are allowed, whether to filter Search, and whether to enable location.
If your child already has a Google account they created themselves, the process is different. You send a supervision invitation from your app, and they have to accept it on their device. They can see exactly what supervision means before agreeing. If they decline, there’s nothing Family Link can do about it. You’d need to have that conversation directly.
What you can actually control
App approvals and blocking
Every Play Store install request comes to your phone for approval. You get the app name, its age rating, and whether it contains ads or in-app purchases. You approve or decline. You can also block already-installed apps, which greys them out on the child’s device rather than deleting them. Their data stays intact if you unblock later.
You can set maturity limits per content type: apps and games, films, TV, and books each get their own rating ceiling based on your region’s rating system.
Screen time limits
Two layers here. A daily limit caps total device use, set individually per day of the week. When the limit runs out, the device locks and shows a message. And per-app limits, which cap individual apps: useful when the problem is one specific game rather than screen time overall.
You can grant bonus time from your phone when it’s warranted, without changing the underlying schedule.
Bedtime
A schedule that locks the device between set hours. Separate weekday and weekend times. This tends to be the single most valuable control for parents of teenagers.
Calls to emergency numbers always work when the device is locked. Google deliberately doesn’t let you block those.
Content filters
SafeSearch can be locked on for Google Search. Chrome can be restricted to block explicit sites, or locked down to an allowlist of sites you specify. YouTube gets its own age-appropriate settings, and for younger children you can steer them to YouTube Kids instead.
Location
The child’s device shows on a map, with the option of alerts when they arrive at or leave a saved place. Note the wording. It shows where the device is. A phone left in a school locker reports the locker.
What Family Link can’t do
This section matters more than the setup instructions, because unrealistic expectations are where parents get burned.
It cannot read messages. Not texts, not WhatsApp, not Instagram DMs, not Snapchat. There is no message-viewing feature and there never has been. If someone tells you Family Link shows you your child’s chats, they’re describing a different product.
It cannot show you their screen. No live view, no screenshots, no browsing history from apps other than Chrome.
It cannot filter what happens inside apps. You can block an app entirely or allow it entirely. Once it’s allowed, Family Link has no visibility into what’s shown within it. A social app you’ve approved can serve any content its own systems permit.
Web filtering only covers Chrome. If another browser is installed and allowed, it bypasses your Chrome restrictions completely. The fix is to block other browsers, which also means blocking the in-app browsers some apps include. It’s an imperfect defence.
Screen time counting isn’t perfect. Time spent in some system contexts, or on a second device, may not appear the way you expect. Many parents report totals that don’t match what they observed. Treat the numbers as directional rather than forensic.
iPhone support is thin. Family Link on an iPhone can supervise the Google account (Search, Chrome and YouTube settings) but Apple doesn’t allow a third party to control screen time, app installs, or device locking on iOS. For an iPhone, Apple’s own Screen Time is the tool that actually works.
Supervision ends at a certain age. When your child reaches the age of digital consent where you live, commonly thirteen, they gain the ability to request removal of supervision. You get notified, but you can’t simply refuse forever. Google’s design position is that supervision of a teenager is a conversation, not an enforcement mechanism.
A determined teenager can work around it. Factory resetting the device, using a different device, or signing into a second unsupervised account are all realistic routes around Family Link. It raises the effort required. It doesn’t make circumvention impossible.
Brand quirks that break Family Link
Family Link relies on running in the background and having device administrator rights. Some Android skins fight that.
Samsung: Generally reliable, but check that Family Link isn’t being put to sleep. Samsung’s battery settings include lists of sleeping and deep sleeping apps: make sure Family Link isn’t in either. Samsung also has its own Samsung Kids mode, which is separate and can be layered on for younger children.
Xiaomi (HyperOS): The most common source of complaints. Xiaomi’s memory management is aggressive and regularly kills background services. Go into the app’s battery settings, set it to no restrictions, and enable autostart. Without both, limits stop enforcing seemingly at random.
OnePlus and OPPO: Similar story. Lock Family Link in the recent apps view and disable battery optimisation for it.
Pixel: Fewest problems, as you’d expect, since it’s Google’s own hardware running stock Android.
If limits keep failing to apply, battery optimisation is almost always the reason. Our guide to hidden Android settings covers where these controls live on different skins.
Using it well, not just using it
The parents who get the most out of Family Link tend to do three things. They set it up with the child rather than secretly, so the rules are known rather than discovered. They start with looser limits and tighten if needed, rather than the reverse, which avoids the immediate battle. And they treat the app approval queue as a prompt for a conversation rather than a silent yes-or-no.
Family Link is at its best as a structure: bedtime enforcement, spending control, a sensible content floor. It’s at its worst when treated as a substitute for knowing what your child is doing online. It was never built to be that.
Frequently asked questions
Can my child see that Family Link is installed?
Yes, always. Google requires it. The supervised device shows the supervision status in settings, the child gets notifications about controls being changed, and there’s no hidden or stealth mode. Family Link is deliberately not covert monitoring software, and Google has consistently refused to make it one.
Why isn’t Family Link showing my child’s location?
Location only reports when the device is on, connected to the internet, and has location services enabled with Family Link permitted to use it in the background. Battery saver, a dead battery, or airplane mode all stop reporting. The app shows the last known position with a timestamp: check that timestamp before assuming the location is current.
Can I use Family Link to block specific websites?
In Chrome, yes. You can block individual sites, or switch to allowing only sites you’ve approved. But this applies to Chrome only. Any other browser on the device ignores those rules entirely, so the restriction is only as strong as your control over which browsers are installed.
What happens when my child turns 13?
They get the option to take control of their own account. Google notifies you when they do, and supervision features stop applying. You can’t override this permanently. The account legally becomes theirs at the age of digital consent in your country. Plan for that transition rather than being surprised by it.
Related: How to Set Up Parental Controls on an Android Phone (Complete Guide)
I am the chief editor of TheLeaker. I also maintain the backend stuff of the site. I’m a tech enthusiast and loves to do Python coding in my free time. I have worked at many giant publications like XDA Developers and NXTtech before starting TheLeaker.
You can get in touch with me at Garv[at]theleaker.com.