Google Family Link
A barebones but entirely free parental control app for Android and iOS.
Google Family Link is a free Android and iOS parental control app which covers the childprotecting basics, but not much else.
It provides easy access to content filtering settings in Google apps like Search, Chrome and YouTube (via its Restricted Mode), for instance, but Family Link doesn’t otherwise try to block unsuitable web content.
You don’t have to figure out whether to install the parent’s or the child’s app first, for instance, then get into a lengthy configuration process on one, before moving on to the other. With Family Link’s initial setup, you install the parent’s app on your device, the child’s app on theirs, and a wizard walks you through the configuration process.
This impressed us immediately by detecting two accounts on our Android device, and demanding we remove one. Most parental control apps don’t do that, leaving an opportunity for your child to sign into the other account and bypass your restrictions entirely.
Family Link’s Parent’s app provides various ways to monitor and manage your child’s activities.
Screen time options enable setting a fixed limit for each day of the week, and you can define a bedtime (9pm to 7am for our test nine-year-old) when internet access and app use is blocked. This isn’t nearly as flexible as ESET Parental Control, where you can allow or block access to individual 30-minute blocks of time, for example to prevent app use at lunchtime. But it covers the basics, and is easy to use.
App management tools include the ability to limit specific apps for a period of time (‘you can only use Facebook for 30 minutes a day’), or block them entirely. Set apps as ‘Always Allowed’ and they won’t count towards your child’s usage time, handy for educational apps or anything else you’d like your child to use more often.
Google Play rules restrict the content your kids can browse, and you can set up the system to require your approval before your child installs new apps or makes in-app purchases.
Family Link can display the current location of a device, for instance, but that’s where it stops. Competitors like Kidslox can show you a location history, and almost everyone else supports geofencing, the ability to define key areas (home, school, more) and receive alerts when your child arrives and leaves.
Family Link doesn’t allow you to block websites by category in the same way as the best of the competition. Bark allows you to, for instance, block all streaming sites with a tap, and then you can fine-tune that, maybe only allowing access to Disney+.
Family Link is great with Google’s own products – blocking in-app purchases in the Play Store, for instance – but it doesn’t do much else. Worth a look as it’s free, though, and it could be handy if run alongside another parental control app.
Mike Williams