Manage your child's Android 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.

Note: 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," 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.

By default, when your child tries to download an app or make a purchase from the Play Store, they'll need to get your permission. 

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 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.

Note: You can also manage this setting 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 Parents and your kid. 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. 

Note: You can also manage this setting 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. Below your child's device, switch the permission on or off.

Note: You can also manage this setting 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" 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.

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.

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

Note: 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.

Signing in with Google Accounts under 13 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 some activity control settings.

Note: Turning off these settings 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. Switch "Device information" and "Web & App Activity" off.