Google has often supported parental controls, and safe browsing initiatives both on the phone and the web and today they’ve introduced a new feature called Family Link, to help parents control their childrens Android devices.
The app is starting out as an early access trial that is available only to people in the US. Using Family Link once they’ve been accepted into the trial parents will be able to control a wide variety of their childs mobile phone usage including the ability to:
- Manage the apps your kid can use – Approve or block the apps your kid wants to download from the Google Play store.
- Keep an eye on screen time – See how much time your kid spends on their favorite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports, and set daily screen time limits.
- Set device bedtime – Remotely lock your kid’s device when it’s time for bed, or time to take a break.
A new Android phone is required for your child to run Family Link with a minimum of Android 7.0 required, though there is a list of Marshmallow devices including the LG X Power, Samsung Galaxy Tab A Sony Xperia X, that can be used as well. Parents can run the control from a device running Kit Kat or above.
To use Family Link you’ll obviously need to be in the US, but if you’re interested you can head over to the invite request page and elect to be notified when Family Link rolls out to more regions.
It’s about time. Google is playing catch up to Apple here, where iOS has had something similar for a long time.
We’ve been using ScreenTime to do this function atm, but it’s USD$5/mth (or USD$40/yr).
Whilst I love the functionality, it’s very slow and clunky.
This could be a killer for them!