How To Use Google Family Link To Block An App?

Amidst evolving technology and changing trends, it is quite hard to keep up. With kids in the house, parents need to be extra careful. Technology is progressing continuously and our lifestyle is changing along with it. With the prevalence of smartphones and abundance of apps, it is getting impossible to keep track of kid’s activities. Parents often try to monitor every move of their kid. However, with both parents working, they can’t stay and monitor their kids 24*7. That’s when you need an app or a service to help them do that. Well, Google has a solution for that.

With Google Family Link, you can restrict your kid’s smartphone usage, block apps and view all activities performed on their device.  In this post, we will discuss what is Google Family Link & how to setup & use Google Family Link to block an app on Kid’s device. 

What Is Google Family Link?

Google Family Link is a service introduced in March 2017. It is a Parental Control feature that helps you monitor your kid’s smartphone usage by blocking or removing apps, setting daily screen time. It shows you the time spent on favorite apps with weekly or monthly reports. With a unique feature to set bedtime of the device, you can ensure that your kid gets a proper night’s sleep, instead of straining his/her eyes by staring at the screen. There are a lot more features of Google Family Link. If you want to know about them, you can read here

Let’s move on to the next section to know how to block an app using Google Family Link.

How To Block An App On Your Kid’s Device?

You need to have two devices, your phone, and your kid’s phone. 

On the Parent Device: 

• Open App Store /Google Play Store on your iOS /Android device.
• Type Google Family Link for Parents to get the app.
• Download and install the app.
• Launch the app and click Get Started.
  

Note: If your Parent device is Android: Since both Google Family Link For Parents and Google Family Link For Children are available on Google Play Store, it will ask you  Choose Who will be using this phone. Choose Parent.

• Click Next.
• Choose your account that you want to use to monitor your kid. Tap I am Ready.
• Click Continue.

Now your app will ask if your child has a Google account.

• Click Yes.
  
  
• On the following screen, click Next.

You will get a family link access code on your device. You need to enter this code on your Kid’s device.

On Kid’s Device: 

• Open Google Play Store on Kid’s Android.
• Type Google Family Link For Children to locate the app.
• Download and install the app.
• Launch the app and Tap on This Device.
  
• Choose the account with which you have logged on.

Note: If you have multiple Gmail accounts logged in, then it will prompt you to remove them.

• Click Next.
• Choose your device to be monitored.

Note: If you are using this Gmail account on any other device, it will remove it from that device.

• Click Next.
• Type in the code that appeared on the parent’s device.

Parent’s Device

Once you have entered the code on kid’s device, Click Yes on this device to confirm the account that you want to supervise.

Kid’s Device

• Enter your selected Gmail password to proceed.
  
  
• Tap Join to become a part of the parent’s family group.
  
  
• Now, Tap Allow on the device, click Activate to enable Family Link Manager.
  
•  Tap Next.
  
  
• Now name the device.
  

•  Click More to get all the apps installed on his/her device.
• Now find and click the slider button beside the app that you want to block it.
  
  

 You can choose other apps too Tap Next when done.

Parent’s Device
Once you have selected apps that you want to remove from your Kid’s device

• You will get next screen on this device, you need to Choose Filters & Control. 
• Choose between Customize Parental Control or Use Default Parental.
  
• Click Next.
  
  

• Click Continue.

Now the setup is complete. You will be taken to a page wherein you can make changes in Screen Time, Location, and other settings for more detailed monitoring. 

After these steps, you will get a notification on the kid’s device that your devices are connected. Tap Next and Done to finish the process.

This will be the screen of Google Family Link For Children once setup.

Completely Block An App

This will only remove the app from the kid’s smartphone, to entirely block the app, Open Parent device, click Hamburger icon-> Choose Kid’s device.

Click Manage Settings-> Controls On Google Play.

Under Content Restrictions-> Click Apps & Games-> Select Rated 7+

Note: We are blocking YouTube in this scenario. We selected rated 7+ as YouTube is Rated as 12+  to ensure the app can’t be downloaded.

So, now you can use Google Family Link to block the apps on your kid’s device. Such as relief, isn’t it?  Well, this is it! In this way, you can use Google Family Link to add a kid under your supervision to monitor his activities. Will you use the app to track your kid? Liked the article? Please share your views in the comments section below.