Manage your child’s device and feature usage and restrict content access through Parental controls & Digital wellbeing in the Google Home app.
Important: For Parental controls & Digital wellbeing to work correctly, your devices and apps must be up to date and each child must be a member of the home.
Note: For Gemini for Home voice assistant users, this feature is only available in the countries where it is launched.
With Parental controls & Digital wellbeing, you can:
- Set up media filters for music, video, or news & podcasts.
- Filter Gemini for Home voice assistant responses
- Schedule downtime.
To set up Parental controls & Digital wellbeing, you need to:
- Create a Family Group and add a supervised Google Account for each child to the Family Group.
- Invite each child to the home in the Google Home app.
Set up the desired controls and settings
If you have switched to Gemini for Home voice assistant, you can follow the steps for the Google Home app. If you are using Google Assistant, you can follow the steps for either the Google Home app or the Family Link app.
In the Google Home app
- Open the Google Home app
.
- At the top, tap Add
Home member.
- If you have already created an account, tap your child's name. Otherwise, Create an account for your child first.
- Follow the on-screen instructions. Then tap Next.
- For child accounts, they can only be a Member by default.
- Customize your child’s access by turning Activity and/or Settings access on or off.
- Review what your child can access. Tap Add.
- Choose music and video filters, set up other features, and schedule when your child should take a break from voice assistant-enabled devices. Edit desired settings, then tap Set up.
Home member.
.Create content filters and Downtime schedule
- Open the Google Home app
- At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
- Tap Home settings
- If you’ve previously set up Filters, under “Downtime,” the New schedule. Follow the in-app steps to schedule Downtime.
Change Downtime schedule
- Open the Google Home app
- At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
- Tap Home settings
- Turn off your schedule or make changes.
- Tap Save.
Turn on Restricted mode for Youtube Music and Youtube video search
- Open the Google Home app
- Tap Home
, then touch and hold your device's tile.
- Tap Settings
- Under “Use Restricted mode,” turn on Restrict for me or Restrict when someone isn’t recognized.
Learn more about YouTube Restricted mode.
Turn on content filters for Youtube TV
You can allow only programs that are rated YT-Y, YT-G, G and PG.
Important: YouTube TV is available throughout the United States.
- Open the Google Home app
- Tap Home
- Tap Settings
- Under “Auto-play next video,” tap Turn off for me or Turn off when someone isn’t recognized.
Edit, disable or remove settings
In the Google Home app
- Open the Google Home app
- At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
- Tap Home settings
- For Google Assistant: Tap Home settings
- For Google Assistant: Tap Home settings
- Tap Add device filter if you want to filter media or other features for everyone or supervised accounts and guests. You can also decide which devices these filters apply to.
- Follow the on-screen instructions. Tap Done.
In the Family Link app for Google Assistant
- Open the Family Link app
.
- Select your child.
- Tap Controls
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
- Open the Google Home app
- At the top right, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
- Tap Home settings
- For Google Assistant: Tap Home settings
- For Google Assistant: Tap Home settings
- Filters: Tap the device name to modify filters. Tap the toggle to temporarily turn off the filter on the device.
- To delete the filter permanently, tap More
Downtime: Tap the schedule to modify. Tap the toggle to temporarily turn off Downtime.
- To delete the schedule permanently, tap More
- To delete the filter permanently, tap More
How Parental controls & Digital wellbeing work
Important: Gemini for Home voice assistant uses filters to limit inappropriate content, but they aren’t perfect and mistakes can happen. Supervise your child and double-check Gemini’s responses. Remind them that Gemini is an AI, not a person, and should not be treated as a friend or given personal information.
You can choose whether filters affect everyone using your device, or just guests and children with a Family Link account. You can apply filters to a specific device or to all supported devices.
Your child might be able to play videos and other content you’ve restricted through:
- News.
- Podcasts.
- A phone or tablet cast to a voice assistant-enabled device.
If your child’s Google Account was created without a Gmail address and password on a new Pixel Tablet, you can’t set up Parental controls for:
- Music filters
- Video filters
- Calling
You can filter content or features with Parental controls. You can also schedule Downtime to limit screen time, pause devices, or schedule quiet periods directly from the Google Home app.
You can set filters and schedule downtime for these services:
- Music filters
- Video filters
- News
- Podcasts
- Calling
For some music, video, and podcast services, you can filter explicit content reported by a third-party. These filters can help you manage your child’s access to mature content, but may not filter content that you consider inappropriate.
How Downtime works
With Downtime, you can set a schedule to limit when your Google smart speaker or display can be used. Downtime is part of the Google Home app’s Digital Wellbeing tools. It can help you manage the use of your family’s speakers and displays.
Important: Only home admins can create and manage Downtime schedules. Learn how to share a home and devices in the Google Home app.
Learn what happens when Downtime is on
- Your devices don't respond to most commands or questions. Commands to stop or cancel activities still work.
- You don't receive notifications on your device.
- Automations don’t work unless you started one before you turned on Downtime.
- Activities that started before Downtime begins will continue. For example, you can play music before Downtime starts, and it'll continue to play until you stop it.
- You can set an alarm or timer, or ask for the time.
- You can use commands to control your smart devices, like when you ask your voice assistant to turn the lights on or off.
Available filter settings
- Allow any music: Play any available music on your device for your child, without filters.
- Only allow non-explicit music: Play non-explicit music for your child, from the services you choose. The listed services in this option can provide content filtering.
- You can tap Content settings next to “YouTube“ to choose which YouTube experience you want for your child.
- Filters are applied based on the Voice Match profile of the person speaking.
- Block all music: Devices don’t play any music.
Important: If you block videos for your child but allow music from YouTube Music, music videos might still play on devices and TVs.
- Allow any videos: Play any available videos on your device, without filters.
- Only allow filtered videos: Play videos on your device from the services you choose and based on the filters you set for those services.
- You can tap Content settings next to “YouTube“ to choose which YouTube experience you want on your device.
- Block all videos: Devices don’t play any videos.
Important: Your child might still be able to play news in other media services you allow. Some news might have mature content. You can manage your child’s news sources in their voice assistant settings.
- Allow news: Play news on your device.
- Block news: Devices won’t play news.
Important: Your child might still be able to play podcasts in other media services you allow. Some podcasts might have mature content. You can manage your child’s podcast services in their voice assistant settings.
- Allow any podcasts: Play any available podcasts on your device, without filters.
- Only allow non-explicit podcasts: Play non-explicit podcasts on your device.
- Block all podcasts: Your device won’t play any podcasts.