Google Family Link: set up your child's Android phone, step by step

If your child has an Android phone, Google's free Family Link app is the built-in way to set limits on it. From your own phone you can decide how long they get, which apps they can open, what they can download, and where the phone is. This is the plain, step-by-step version, with the menu names as Google uses them today. For the bigger picture (iPhone, computers, and what actually works with children), start with our parents' guide to locking down a child's phone.

Before you start

Your phone: the Family Link app runs on your Android phone or iPhone. You need your own Google account, and you must be 18 or over.
Their phone: any reasonably recent Android phone (Android 6.0 or newer). You both need to be in the same country.
Their Google account: in the UK, you have to be 13 to run your own Google account. For under-13s you create the account and supervise it. For 13 to 17-year-olds you can add supervision to the account they already have.
Ten quiet minutes with both phones in front of you.

Step 1: set up the account and link the phone

Brand-new phone, child under 13

Switch the phone on and follow the setup screens.
When it asks you to sign in with a Google account, tap Create account and enter your child's name, birthday and a password.
When prompted, sign in with your Google account and give parental consent. The phone then walks you through the first settings.
Install Family Link on your own phone and sign in. Your child appears at the top left.

Phone already in use, or a teenager

Install Family Link on your phone and open it.
Tap your profile at the top left, choose Add child and follow the on-screen steps. You'll need to sign in on your child's phone too.

One reassuring change: Google now says children need a parent's approval to stop supervision until they turn 18. Turning 13 doesn't switch it off.

Step 2: screen time, bedtime and school time

Everything below starts the same way: open Family Link, pick your child at the top left, then tap Screen time at the bottom.

A daily limit

Go to Time limits and turn on Daily limit.
Tap Weekly schedule, pick a day and set the hours. Weekends can be different from school days.

The limit applies to each device separately. Two hours on the phone and two hours on a Chromebook means four hours in total.

Downtime (bedtime) and School time

Tap Schedules, then turn on Downtime or School time.
Under Weekly schedule, pick the days and set a start and end time. For School time you can add a Break, such as lunch.
Use Allowed apps to choose anything that should still work, such as a calculator for homework.

Calls always work, in both Downtime and School time, so they can always ring you. During School time they can call and text but notifications are silenced. During Downtime, texting only works if you mark the messages app as unlimited (see below).

Lock the phone now, or give extra time

On the Screen time page, under your child's phone, tap Lock to lock it straight away (tea's ready), or Bonus time to give a bit longer tonight without changing the rules.

Step 3: choose which apps they can use

Go to Screen time → Time limits → App limits. You'll see every app on their phone. Tap one to:

Block it: switch it from Allowed to Blocked. Your child can't open it until you allow it again.
Limit it: tap Set limit and choose hours and minutes, for example 30 minutes of a game a day.
Always allow it: tap Unlimited time. It won't count towards the daily limit and still works after the limit is reached. Good for Phone, Messages and Maps.

A few apps can't be blocked because Family Link needs them to work. That's normal.

Step 4: approve downloads and purchases

Go to Controls → Google Play.
Under Purchases & download approvals, tap Require approval for and choose All content.
On the same page, set the content ratings for Apps & games, films and TV, and turn on the restriction for explicit books.

With All content on, every new app, even a free one, sends a request to your phone first. The other options are Paid content only, In-app purchases only and Never.

Step 5: filter the web and YouTube

Chrome

Go to Controls → Google Chrome and Web and pick one of three options:

Allow all sites, except any you block.
Try to block explicit sites. Google's own words are “no filter is perfect”, and they're right.
Only allow approved sites: the tightest option, and the best one for younger children.

YouTube

Under Controls → YouTube you can choose between YouTube Kids for younger children and a supervised version of the main YouTube app for older ones, with content levels for older kids, teens and older teens. You can also turn off search and autoplay.

Step 6: permissions and location

Who decides what apps can access

Go to Controls → Signed-in devices, pick their phone, then App permissions.
Choose a permission, such as location, camera, microphone or contacts, and set it to Only parents.

From then on, apps have to come to you for that access. Note that choosing Only parents doesn't take back permissions already granted, so check each app's permissions too (App limits → the app → App details → Permissions).

Where is the phone?

Tap Location in Family Link and choose your child. Location sharing has to be switched on, and the phone has to be on, online and recently used. It works best with mobile data. You can also set location alerts for when they arrive at or leave places like school.

The “basic apps only” recipe

Many parents want a first phone that works like a phone and not much else. Here's the whole setup in one list:

App limits: block everything except Phone, Messages, Contacts, Camera, Maps and Clock. Anything else, such as a school app or a calculator, gets added one at a time.
Unlimited time on Phone, Messages and Maps, so they work after the daily limit.
Google Play: require approval for All content, so nothing new arrives without you knowing.
Chrome: Only allow approved sites, or block Chrome entirely in App limits.
Permissions: location, microphone and camera set to Only parents.
Downtime overnight and School time in the day.

Loosen it bit by bit as they get older and show they can handle it. It's much easier than clawing freedoms back.

The honest bits

It's Google's tool. Family Link runs on Google accounts and Google services, so using it ties your child into Google from day one. That's a trade-off for convenience, and it's your call. We'd just rather you made it knowingly.
No filter is perfect. Determined teenagers find workarounds, and a friend's phone gets round all of it. The controls buy time and set habits; the conversation does the rest.
The law is changing. The under-16 social media ban due in spring 2027 will change what platforms allow. See our Online Safety Act explainer.

What about a de-Googled phone?

We sell Pixels running GrapheneOS, so it's only fair to say this plainly: Family Link doesn't work on a child's GrapheneOS phone. Parents report the parent app itself runs on GrapheneOS, but the child's side needs deep, privileged control of the phone that GrapheneOS deliberately doesn't give Google's software. Parents on the GrapheneOS forum report setup stalling at the “Activate Family Link parental controls” step, most recently in June 2026.

GrapheneOS has its own, more hands-on approach. You keep the main profile to yourself and give your child a separate user profile that can't install apps. It works, but it isn't Family Link. If you want the full set of remote controls above, a standard Android phone is the simpler choice. We're working on a kids' phone that gets this right. Keep an eye on Takeback Family.

Menu names checked against Google's Family Link help pages in September 2026, including screen time, schedules, purchase approvals, Chrome, permissions, location and what changes at 13. GrapheneOS: its usage guide on what sandboxed Google Play can't do, and user reports on its forum. Google changes these menus from time to time; if something's moved, tell us at hello@thetakeback.co.uk.