Manage your child's Google Play apps

The app will be blocked or unblocked in about 5 minutes, or once the device is connected to the Internet. If your child is using the app at the time you block it, they'll get a 1 minute warning to finish up before the app is blocked. The app should be blocked on all of your child's Android devices or Chromebooks.

Important: Some apps can't be blocked because they're required for parent supervision settings to work, or for your child's device to work.

Family Link app

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. On the "Apps installed," card tap More.
4. Tap the name of the app you want to allow or block.
5. Turn "Allow app" on or off.

Family Link on the web

1. Go to Family Link on the web.
2. Select your child.
3. Click Android apps.
4. Turn the app on or off.

Learn how to manage your child's purchase approvals on Google Play.

You can set up parental controls to restrict the content your child can download or purchase from Google Play.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. On the "Settings" card, tap Manage settings Controls on Google Play.
4. Under "Content restrictions," choose your filters:
   • Apps, Games, Movies, and TV: Choose the highest maturity level of content you want to allow for download or purchase.
   • Music and Books: Choose whether you want to restrict downloads or purchases of explicit content.

Tip: You can also manage your child's account by clicking on your child's name at families.google.com.

If your child uses multiple devices, repeat these steps to choose their permissions for each device.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. On the "Apps installed" card, tap More.
4. On the "Allowed" list, tap the app you want to change your child's permissions for.
5. Tap App permissions.
6. Switch the permission on or off.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. On the "Device" card, tap Settings  App permissions.
4. Tap a permission.
5. Below your child's device, switch the permission on or off.

Tip: You can also manage your child's account by clicking on your child's name at families.google.com.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. On the "Device" card, tap View settings  App permissions.
4. Tap a permission.
5. Select Only parents or Your child and parents. If you select "Only parents," your child won't be able to give that permission for any new or existing app. However, it doesn't change permissions that have already been granted. 

Tip: You can also manage your child's account by clicking on your child's name at families.google.com.

If your child has access to an app you don't want them using, follow the instructions above to block the app.

If you want to approve each app your child downloads or purchases, change your child's purchase approval settings.

Important: Apps that you previously installed or approved, or those available through your Play Family Library will not require additional approval to download.

You can set up Google Play Family Library to share eligible paid apps with your family.

Important: If you set up parental controls for your child, they won't see any apps that exceed the parental control settings you chose.

Your child will see this error if they try to download a Google app that isn't available for children under 13 (or the applicable age in your country).

Signing in with Google Accounts for children under 13 (or the applicable age in your country) isn't currently supported for non-Google apps.

If you don't want to see how much time your child spends on Android apps, you can turn off the additional Web & App Activity setting.

Important: Turning off this setting might make other Google services less reliable.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. On the "Settings" card, tap Manage settings  More  Manage Google Activity Go to activity controls.
4. Under "Web & App Activity", uncheck the box next to "Include Chrome browsing history and activity from websites and apps that use Google services."