Are you worried that your child is spending too much time on their smartphone or accessing inappropriate content? The Google Family Link app can help you regulate your child’s cell phone use together.
With Google Family Link parents can set up a restricted Google account for children under the age of 16 and regulate their child’s smartphone use. The app must be installed on your child’s smartphone and your own device.
Functions of the app:
The app’s features can be helpful in regulating your child’s smartphone use and making online experiences safer. However, the app should be used for protection and not for monitoring the child. It is therefore essential that you discuss the use of the app and its features with your child beforehand – and set it up together.
Restrictions:
Since it is a Google app, it can be used primarily for Google services and Android devices. Other apps cannot be controlled via this. In addition, Google Family Link itself does not block any inappropriate or harmful content, but allows or releases entire offers – depending on the settings you have made as a parent. For example, despite the app, your child may receive YouTube videos that contain violence. To restrict content on YouTube, you need to make filter settings in the YouTube app itself. Also, advertising within Google apps cannot be turned off with the Google Family Link.
Google sees Family Link as supporting youth protection and media education in the family. The app is designed to make it possible to jointly agree on usage rules, make and control security settings. Parents are made aware of filtering options for certain services, such as SafeSearch in Googlesearch, the parental control filter in the Google Chrome browser Google or YouTube‘s restricted mode. You can find more information on this in Google‘s help section.
Think carefully about whether using such an app is right for your family. For younger children, safety settings help to ensure age-appropriate use. A certain amount of control can also be useful. Take the opportunity to discuss smartphone usage rules together.
The use of Google Family Link always requires that your child’s smartphone has Internet access. This may not be a given or your child may not be expected to be online all the time.
If you decide to use it, you should install and set up the app together with your child. Talk about what features make sense to comply with usage rules. Which settings are not necessary because your child is already mature enough to take care of them himself? Discuss at regular intervals whether the app and its settings are still useful or can be deactivated. If you want to use the app for several smartphones, you can set up different sub-accounts depending on the age of the child.
As far as data usage by Google is concerned, you should check the settings carefully. When saving data, certain functions are automatically activated, which you can switch off. Read more about installing and setting up the app at mobilsicher.de.
Is your child already a teenager? Not all control functions need to be active for young people under the age of 16. You can find out more in our article Google Family Link – controlling a teenager’s cell phone use?
