Google Family Link UK Parents' Guide 2026: Android and Chromebook Setup

Why Google Family Link matters in 2026

Google Family Link is the free parental control system that comes with every modern Android phone, every Android tablet and every Chromebook. If your child uses any of those devices, Family Link is the foundational layer of digital safety in your house, and it costs nothing. In 2026, with the redesigned app, the rollout of School Time to phones, the new Approved Contacts system, and Google Wallet for kids, Family Link has become substantially more useful than the version most UK parents remember from a couple of years ago.

I have spent the last decade rotating Android, iOS, Chromebook and Windows kit through a household of four children, and I will tell you this: for the average UK family with one or more Android-using children, Family Link does about 80% of what you actually need a parental control system to do. The remaining 20% is conversations, in-app safety settings, and home network filtering. Set those layers up properly and you have done as well as anyone reasonably can.

The reason it matters more in 2026 than it did even twelve months ago comes down to four big shifts:

• School Time on Android phones. In early 2025 Google rolled this feature from smartwatches to Android 14+ phones and tablets. When School Time is active, your child's phone shows a stripped-back home screen with only the apps you approve. Notifications are silenced. Emergency calls still work. This is genuinely transformative for the school-day battle.
• Approved Contacts. Family Link now lets parents add and manage the list of phone numbers that can call or text the child via the Google Phone and Google Messages apps. Unknown numbers can be blocked entirely. Combined with sensitive content warnings in Messages (now opt-out for under-18s with parental supervision), this closes one of the biggest grooming-prevention gaps on Android.
• Google Wallet for kids. In 2026, parents can add a payment card to a supervised child's phone for in-store NFC tap-to-pay, with full visibility of every transaction. This replaces the school dinner money envelope and gives you a clean audit trail.
• The Family Link redesign. The app has been substantially reworked with a dedicated Screen time tab, a streamlined Controls tab, and Material You styling. The web version at familylink.google.com now mirrors the mobile app, so you can manage everything from a desktop.

This guide covers all of those features, plus the older fundamentals (Daily Limits, App Limits, Chrome filtering, Google Search SafeSearch, YouTube Supervised Experience, Google Play purchase approval, location sharing, and account management), and walks you through, step by step, exactly how to set up Family Link properly for a UK child in 2026.

This is the third deep-dive in the BroadbandSwitch.uk online safety series. If you have not already, start with the main parents' hub for the layered safety framework I recommend. If your child uses an iPhone or iPad as well, see the Apple Screen Time complete guide. If you want to lock down your home Wi-Fi at the network layer first, see the complete UK ISP parental controls guide.

Which scenario applies to your family

Before you start, work out which of these four scenarios you are in. The setup process is different for each.

Most UK families fall into Scenario A or B. Scenario C is increasingly common because state schools have rolled out Chromebooks for many year groups; this guide explains the school-vs-personal account split in detail later.

Installing Family Link on your phone

The Family Link app is the parent's control panel. You will use it dozens of times a week once you are set up: approving app installs, granting fifteen extra minutes for homework, checking who has been using TikTok at lunchtime. Install it on whichever device you actually keep next to you all day.

Compatibility (May 2026)

Family Link does NOT supervise:

• iPhone or iPad belonging to the child (use Apple Screen Time instead)
• Windows PC belonging to the child (use Microsoft Family Safety)
• Mac belonging to the child (use Apple Screen Time)
• Any Google Workspace for Education account (managed by the school)

Creating a supervised Google Account for your child (under 13)

If your child is under 13 and does not yet have a Google Account, this is the route to take. It is genuinely simple in 2026 and the entire process happens on your own phone; you do not need the child's device for this part.

UK age rules for Google Accounts

• Under 13: A parent must create the account through Family Link. Google will not let an under-13 sign up directly. The account stays supervised until you remove it or until your child turns 13 and chooses to update.
• 13 and over: A child can create their own Google Account. Parents can still add Family Link supervision, but only with the child's agreement. Children under 18 need parental approval to remove supervision.
• 18 and over: Standard adult Google Account. Family Link supervision can no longer be applied.

Steps to create a supervised Google Account

1. Open the Family Link app on your phone (or visit familylink.google.com).
2. Tap the plus icon in the top-right corner.
3. Tap Add child.
4. If you have not yet set up a family group, Family Link will walk you through that first. Pick "Set up a family group" and confirm you are 18 or over.
5. Tap Create an account for a child.
6. Enter your child's first name, surname, date of birth and gender. Be accurate with the date of birth; this drives age-appropriate defaults.
7. Choose a Google Account email for the child (it ends in @gmail.com). Pick something sensible, neutral and not embarrassing. Write it down.
8. Choose a strong password. The NCSC's "three random words" approach is solid; see NCSC Cyber Aware.
9. Verify your adult status. Google requires either a small temporary card authorisation (typically a few pence) or a government ID upload. This is to comply with UK and EU child safeguarding regulations.
10. Review the parental consent form and tap Agree.
11. The account is now created and supervised. You will see your child listed in your Family Link app.

Take a moment to write down the new email address and password somewhere safe (a password manager is ideal). You will need them when you sign the child in on their device.

Adding supervision to an existing account (over-13s)

This is the common scenario for UK 13-to-17-year-olds who set up their own Google Account, perhaps for school, gaming, or just curiosity, before parents got around to thinking about supervision. The good news is that supervision can be added to an existing account at any time. The catch is that, legally, a Google Account belongs to the user once they turn 13 in the UK, so your child has to agree.

Steps to add supervision to an existing teen account

1. In the Family Link app, tap the plus icon, then Add child.
2. When asked "Does your child have a Google Account?", tap Yes.
3. Enter your child's email address.
4. Family Link sends a supervision invitation to that address.
5. On the child's device, they open the email titled "Ready to be supervised?", review the supervision settings, and tap Agree.
6. The teen account is now supervised. Your Family Link app will show them in your family group.

Sit down with your child for this conversation. It will go better than you expect if you frame it as "I want to help with the bits of online life that get hard, not police you", and worse if you frame it as "I am turning on supervision because I do not trust you". This is one of the moments where the conversation layer in the main hub matters more than the technical settings.

Signing the child in on their device

Once the supervised account exists, you need to actually get it onto the child's phone, tablet or Chromebook. The process is slightly different on each.

On a brand new Android phone or tablet

1. Power on the device and follow the on-screen setup.
2. When asked to sign in to a Google Account, sign in with the child's new @gmail.com address and password.
3. Android detects that this is a supervised account and walks you through the supervision activation. You will need to enter your Google Account password as the parent.
4. The device finishes setup with Family Link controls active. Default Daily Limits and content filters are applied automatically based on the child's age.

On an Android phone or tablet that is already set up

1. If the device is currently signed in to another Google Account (yours, perhaps), remove that account first or factory reset the device. A clean start is much easier.
2. Open Settings > Passwords & accounts > Add account > Google.
3. Sign in with the child's account.
4. Set the child's account as the device owner if prompted.
5. Restart the device. Supervision is now active.

On a brand new Chromebook (ChromeOS M128 or later)

1. Power on the Chromebook and follow on-screen setup.
2. When prompted to choose your Chromebook's setup, select For a child.
3. Choose Child's Google Account.
4. Sign in with the child's @gmail.com address and password.
5. Provide parental consent by signing in with your own Google Account when prompted.
6. Configure the child's settings. Disable guest mode and turn off "let other people sign in" so siblings do not sign in their own accounts.

On an existing Chromebook

1. From the Chromebook sign-in screen, tap Add Person.
2. Sign in with the child's account.
3. Provide parental consent when prompted.
4. If this is a personal Chromebook (not school-issued), I would recommend setting the child's account as the owner (or factory resetting and starting fresh) so guest mode is properly disabled.

The Parent Access Code: your master key

This is the equivalent of Apple's Screen Time passcode, but works differently. Rather than a single static four-digit number, the Parent Access Code rotates: every time you tap "Get Parent Access Code" in your Family Link app, you get a fresh code that is valid for a few minutes. This prevents your child memorising the code and reusing it later.

You will need the Parent Access Code to:

• Grant extra screen time on your child's actual device when you are not running it remotely
• Override certain blocks in the moment
• Approve a permission request locally rather than via the app notification

To generate one: open the Family Link app, tap your profile icon (top-right), tap Parent Access Code. The code displays for a couple of minutes. Type it on the child's device when prompted.

For everything else, you do not need the code. Most settings are managed remotely from your own device through the app.

Daily Limits and Bedtime

Daily Limits are the foundational screen time control in Family Link. When the limit is reached, the child's device locks: no apps work, only emergency calls. Bedtime is essentially the same thing but on a fixed daily schedule.

How to set Daily Limits

1. Open the Family Link app.
2. At the top left, select your child's profile.
3. Tap Screen time.
4. Tap Time limits.
5. Toggle Daily limit on.
6. Tap Weekly schedule to see the day-by-day grid.
7. Tap each day in turn and set the daily allowance (in 5-minute increments or freeform).
8. If you want the same limit every day, tap Apply to all days of the week, then Done.

Important: Daily Limits apply to each device individually. If you set 2 hours daily and your child has both an Android phone and a Chromebook signed in to the same supervised account, they get 2 hours on each device, not 2 hours combined. This is unintuitive and worth knowing.

How to set Bedtime

1. In the same Time limits screen, scroll to Bedtime.
2. Tap to set Bedtime hours per day (or apply the same to all days).
3. The device locks automatically at the start time and unlocks at the end time. During Bedtime, only emergency calls and any apps you have specifically allowed are usable.

Sensible starting limits by UK school age

Adjust based on what the actual data shows. Family Link's Screen Time tab gives you a daily activity report including which apps are used most. Reset based on real numbers, not guesses.

App Limits and per-app blocking

App Limits let you cap how much time per day your child spends on a specific app, regardless of their overall daily limit. This is the right place to put a 30-minute cap on TikTok or to fully block Snapchat for an under-13.

How to set an App Limit

1. Open Family Link.
2. Select your child's profile.
3. Tap Controls → App limits.
4. You will see a list of installed apps with their daily usage.
5. Tap the timer icon next to the app you want to limit.
6. Set the daily allowance (e.g. 30 minutes for TikTok), or tap Block to fully block it.

When the App Limit is reached, the app icon greys out and tapping it shows a "Time's up" message. Your child can request more time, which sends a notification to your Family Link app for approval.

Block or unblock specific apps

Family Link's Controls → Apps installed screen lets you see every app on your child's device and toggle each one on or off. Toggling off blocks the app from running. Toggling on restores access. Changes propagate within about five minutes when the device is online.

Some apps cannot be blocked because they are required for the device or for parental supervision to work (Phone, Settings, Family Link, certain Google services). This is by design.

School Time: the new schedule for school hours

This is one of the best features added to Family Link in recent years. School Time used to be a Fitbit Ace LTE feature only. In early 2025 it rolled out to Android phones and tablets and in 2026 it is widely available on Android 14+ devices. When School Time is active, your child's phone shows a special home screen with a small grid of apps you have approved, all other apps are hidden, notifications are silenced (except from approved contacts), and emergency calls remain available.

How to set up School Time

1. In Family Link, select your child's profile.
2. Tap Screen time.
3. Tap the Schedules card.
4. Tap School time.
5. Set the days and times (typically Mon-Fri, 8:30am to 3:30pm in the UK).
6. Choose the apps that remain available during school hours. Common picks: Phone (for calls home), Maps (for getting home), the school's own app (Class Charts, Satchel One, etc.), camera (for taking photos of the board), notes apps.
7. Save.

School Time can also be activated outside school hours when you want a focus mode for homework, exams, or family meals. Just go to the same screen and tap "Turn on now".

Key thing to know: School Time is only available on Android 14 and later. If your child's phone is on an older Android, this feature simply does not appear and you will need to use Bedtime or App Limits as a substitute.

Approved Contacts: who can call and text your child

Added to Family Link in March 2025 and now widely available on Android, Approved Contacts is a brilliant feature for younger children with their first phone. You decide which phone numbers can reach the child via SMS or voice call. Parents. Grandparents. Two close friends. School. That is enough. Everything else gets blocked.

How to set up Approved Contacts

1. In Family Link, select your child's profile.
2. Tap Controls > Manage contacts.
3. Add each contact: name and phone number. These sync to your child's device.
4. Toggle on the option to limit calls and texts to approved contacts.
5. Save.

Once active, anyone outside the approved list calling or texting will be silently blocked or sent to voicemail (you can choose). The child sees no missed call notification from a non-approved number.

Content filters: Chrome, Search, YouTube and Google Play

Family Link has separate content filters for each major Google service. Set each one explicitly; do not assume a default works the way you want.

Google Chrome

Find this under Controls > Google Chrome and Web. You have three options:

• Allow all sites: no filtering. Not recommended for under-16s.
• Try to block explicit sites: Chrome attempts to filter sexually explicit content and known malware. Imperfect but solid as a baseline for over-10s.
• Only allow approved sites: whitelist mode. Chrome only loads sites you have explicitly added. Suitable for under-10s using Chrome for a small set of educational tools.

Inside the same screen you can manage Approved sites (always allowed regardless of category) and Blocked sites (never allowed). Tip from one parent to another: incognito mode is automatically disabled on supervised accounts, which closes the most obvious bypass.

Google Search

Family Link locks SafeSearch on for under-13s. For 13+ supervised accounts, you can choose whether SafeSearch is locked on or whether your child can change it. In Controls > Search, set this to your preference. For most teens, I lock it on.

Google Play (apps and content)

Under Controls > Google Play, you set age restrictions for what apps, games, films, TV programmes, books and music your child can access on Google Play:

For purchase approval (genuinely the most useful thing), see the dedicated section below.

YouTube

YouTube has its own deeper section because it is the biggest single concern for most UK parents and the most powerful single setting in Family Link. Read the YouTube section below.

Google Play purchase approval

This is the setting that prevents your child accidentally spending £79.99 on virtual currency in a free game. When it is on:

1. Your child taps Install or Buy in Google Play.
2. Their device shows "Ask in person" (with parent password) or "Ask in a message" (notification to parent's Family Link app).
3. You receive the request, review the app and price, and approve or deny.
4. If approved, the install or purchase completes.

How to set purchase approval

1. In Family Link, select your child's profile.
2. Tap Controls > Purchase & download approvals.
3. For maximum safety, set to All content. This requires approval for free apps, paid apps and in-app purchases.
4. If you want a slightly looser setup for an older teen, set to Only paid content and in-app purchases.

YouTube Supervised Experience: Explore vs Explore More vs Most of YouTube

YouTube is the single biggest concern most UK parents have with Android. The YouTube Supervised Experience is Google's answer for kids who have outgrown YouTube Kids (the dedicated children's app) but are not ready for the full YouTube firehose.

The three Supervised Experience tiers

Google itself notes that none of these filters is perfect; inappropriate content can occasionally slip through. Layer YouTube Supervised Experience with your home Wi-Fi DNS filter (see free DNS filtering) and with conversations about what to do when something nasty appears.

Other useful YouTube settings via Family Link

• Disable autoplay: prevents YouTube from automatically queueing the next video. This single setting reduces watch time more than any time limit ever will.
• Block channel recommendations based on history: tames the recommendation algorithm.
• Pause search and watch history: YouTube stops personalising based on past viewing. Useful if your child has fallen down a recommendation rabbit hole and you want to reset.
• Remove access to YouTube Kids: if your child has outgrown it.
• Remove access to YouTube entirely: if you want them off the platform completely on this device.

YouTube Kids vs YouTube Supervised Experience: which to use

For under-9s, use YouTube Kids (the dedicated children's app) and lock down its settings. YouTube Kids is a more curated experience with content reviewed for age suitability.

From 9 to about 13, the Explore Supervised Experience tier is usually the right step up.

From 13 to 16, Explore More.

From 16 onwards, you are mostly into "Most of YouTube" or off the supervision train entirely, and into the conversation layer.

Location sharing and Find your child

Family Link's location feature shows you the current location of your supervised child's device on a map, plus the most recent activity. It is the digital equivalent of "where are you right now?" without needing a text reply.

How to enable location sharing

1. In Family Link, select your child's profile.
2. Tap Location.
3. Toggle Location sharing on.
4. Confirm on the child's device when prompted (this happens during initial setup automatically).

The location shows where the device is, not where the child is. If your child has put their phone down at school and walked off, you will see the school, not their actual position. Useful caveat to keep in mind.

For most UK families, I would recommend keeping this on for under-16s. For 16+, have a conversation about whether they want to keep sharing. Many do; relationships of trust are usually better than enforcement.

Google Wallet for kids

Google Wallet for kids is one of the genuinely new 2026 features in Family Link. Originally launched on Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatches, it is now rolling out to Android phones for supervised accounts. The use case is simple: instead of giving your child cash for school dinners or the bus, you load a card to their phone with full visibility.

What you can do

• Add or remove a payment card to your child's Wallet at any time
• See every transaction: where, when, how much
• Set spending limits
• Add gift cards and event tickets
• Remove all access remotely if the device is lost

This is opt-in for parents. If you do not want your child to have tap-to-pay, leave Wallet payment cards turned off. If you do, the audit trail is significantly better than cash and probably better than the bank-card-with-no-controls approach many UK families default to.

Chromebook differences and the school account question

Chromebooks are the most common computer in UK state schools by a wide margin. Family Link works on personal Chromebooks but does not work on school-issued ones. This catches many parents out, so let me explain clearly.

Personal Chromebook with a supervised child Google Account

This is the straightforward case. Buy a Chromebook, set the child up with their supervised account as the device owner, disable guest mode, and Family Link controls apply. You can:

• Set Chrome web filtering (block explicit sites or whitelist approved sites)
• Approve or deny app installs from the Play Store and the Chrome Web Store
• Set Daily Limits and Bedtime
• Manage extensions
• Block sites from asking for camera, microphone or location permissions

This is essentially the same experience as Family Link on Android.

School-issued Chromebook with a Workspace for Education account

This is the messy one. School Chromebooks are managed by the school's IT administrator through Google Workspace for Education. Family Link cannot supervise these accounts. The school sets the policies; you, as a parent, do not.

Two important things to know:

1. You can ask the school what their policies are. Most state schools have published acceptable use policies; many control which sites and apps are allowed. Talk to the school's IT lead or designated safeguarding lead.
2. You can sometimes add a personal supervised Google Account as a secondary user on a school Chromebook (subject to school policy). This means home use can have Family Link controls. Some schools forbid this; check before assuming.

Personal use of a school Chromebook

If your child takes a school Chromebook home and uses it for personal stuff, your Family Link controls will not apply because the school account is the primary login. The most reliable workaround is to make sure non-school usage happens on a different device entirely.

Galaxy Watch for Kids and Fitbit Ace LTE

Two wearables now plug into the Family Link supervision system in 2026.

Fitbit Ace LTE

Fitbit Ace LTE is a kid-focused smartwatch with cellular built in (so it can call and text without a phone nearby). It uses Family Link for parental controls: who can call the watch, what apps and games are available, School Time, daily limits. Genuinely useful for a primary-age child you want to be contactable but not yet ready for a phone.

Galaxy Watch for Kids

Samsung partnered with Google in 2025 to launch the Galaxy Watch for Kids experience. This is the same idea as Fitbit Ace LTE but on Samsung hardware. Setup goes through Family Link. School Time, Approved Contacts, location sharing and limited apps all work the same way.

For UK parents debating "do I give my eight-year-old a smartphone?", the watch route is increasingly compelling: contactability without the dopamine machine.

What happens at 13 (and 18)

The 13th birthday email

On or around your child's 13th birthday in the UK, Google sends an email to both you and your child explaining that they can now choose to update their account. The options are:

1. Continue supervision: do nothing. Family Link supervision carries on.
2. Update to a teen-managed supervised account: the child gets full access to their Google Account password and account settings, but you retain Family Link supervision.
3. Remove supervision: the child needs your approval until they turn 18.

I would recommend, in most UK families, going with option 2: update to a teen-managed account but keep supervision. This treats the teenager as someone who owns their account but keeps the safety floor in place.

Stopping supervision before 18

If a 13-to-17-year-old tries to remove supervision in their account settings, they need parental approval. If you approve from your own device, supervision ends and Family Link can no longer manage the account. The child's device is locked for 24 hours during the transition (a Google-imposed cooldown to prevent rash decisions late at night). You are notified at every step.

The 18th birthday

At 18, the supervised account becomes fully adult. All Family Link controls drop away. This is the right time for a final conversation about ongoing healthy digital habits, the Digital Wellbeing dashboard (which is the adult equivalent of Family Link, available on Android), and the privacy settings the now-adult should review.

How children try to bypass Family Link and what to do about it

As with Apple Screen Time, children have developed a small repertoire of bypass methods over the years. These are the ones that have circulated in UK schoolyards, and what to do about them.

The pattern across all of these is the same: Family Link is genuinely robust on the device it is supervising, and weak on devices it is not. The right answer is layered defence: Family Link plus home network DNS filtering plus device-level conversations.

Honest limitations of Google Family Link

Family Link is genuinely good and genuinely free. But it is not perfect. These are the limitations every UK parent should know:

• It does not see inside third-party apps. TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox, WhatsApp. Family Link can block them or limit them, but cannot filter content inside them.
• It does not work on iPhone, iPad, Windows or Mac children's devices. Mixed-platform households need separate parental control systems on each platform.
• It does not supervise Workspace for Education accounts. School-issued Chromebooks are out of your reach as a parent; the school controls them.
• Daily Limits apply per device. Two hours on phone plus two hours on Chromebook gives the child four hours total. Counterintuitive and worth budgeting for.
• Approved Contacts only covers Google Phone and Google Messages. Third-party messaging apps are not affected.
• Purchase approval only covers Google Play billing. Apps using alternative billing (allowed under recent UK and EU rules) may not require approval.
• Web filtering only applies to Chrome. If a child installs Firefox or Brave (and they can, unless you block it), Chrome's filter is irrelevant.
• Activity reporting is limited. You see app usage, not message contents, not specific videos watched, not specific websites visited inside apps. Apple takes a similar approach, by deliberate design.
• Some features need recent Android. School Time and Approved Contacts need Android 14+. Older Android phones miss out.

None of these are reasons not to use Family Link. They are reasons to layer it with other tools.

What to layer alongside Google Family Link

Family Link is one of the three layers I recommend in the main parents' hub. The other two:

1. Network-level filtering through your home broadband provider plus a free family DNS like Cloudflare 1.1.1.3. Walks you through every UK ISP's free filter in the complete UK ISP parental controls guide and the free DNS filtering guide.
2. In-app safety settings on every platform your child uses. TikTok Family Pairing, Instagram Teen Accounts, Snapchat Family Center, Discord Family Centre, YouTube Supervised Accounts, Roblox Account Restrictions. Free, walked through in the social media safety settings deep-dive.

And, of course, the conversation. No combination of Family Link, Apple Screen Time, ISP filters or DNS will replace the value of being the parent your child can come to when something has gone wrong online. See the age-appropriate conversations deep-dive.

Official resources and further reading

Google support pages (current 2026)

• Family Link homepage (families.google)
• Family Link FAQ
• Get started with Family Link
• Create a Google Account for your child
• Add and manage supervision on a current Google Account
• Manage your child's account on Chromebook
• How Google Accounts work when children turn 13
• Chrome and your child's Google Account

UK independent guidance

• Internet Matters: Android parental controls
• NSPCC: online safety
• Thinkuknow (NCA-CEOP)
• NCSC Cyber Aware

Coming next in this series

4. Gaming console parental controls (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Steam)
5. Social media platform safety settings
6. Router-level controls for non-technical parents
7. Free DNS-based filtering: Cloudflare, OpenDNS, CleanBrowsing
8. Age-appropriate conversations with your kids
9. Recognising warning signs
10. Reporting and getting help when something has gone wrong

Helpful video resources

Below are 1 video from authoritative sources that complement this guide. Watch them at any time for additional perspective.