Google made it easier for parents to set digital ground rules for children in the newly-designed parental control application.
Google's Family Link app gives parents a new experience in helping their children play, learn, and explore online. Parents can view their activity, manage the apps, and feed the curiosity of their children with the Controls tab.
'Today Only' Option, Location Tab, Highlight Tab
The "Today Only" option will allow parents to set the limit for screen time for a day only without going through the hassle of changing the general setting. This option, Engadget noted, gives the children the choice to either spend longer time online while doing their school home assignments.
Moreover, the Location tab shows a map of the devices linked to the children's for parents to see. They can even know the battery life of these devices.
When misplaced, parents can ring the phones of their children in the Location tab.
Monitoring the location of their children is made easy with the app. Parents will know the time the children arrive or leave a specific place.
To know what apps their children are using, including the screen time usage in real time, parents only have to check on the Highlights tab.
Latest Updates, Request for App Downloads
At the top of the app, there is the notification bell. Parents will get to know the latest updates on their children's device by tapping this notification. It will also give reports on the requests for either purchases or app downloads from their children.
This feature will also let the parents know if their children have requested for access to sites they have blocked previously.
Google has solved the situation when parents or guardians don't have their phones at hand. Parents and guardians can still access the Family Link on the web.
There is a caveat, however. Family Link cannot track fully some app activities like that of music players and messaging apps running in the background.
More From Family Link
The tech company has added the following features:
Parent-managed watchlists for their children's profile on Google TV. They can make a list for children from the children's profile.
Children can also receive suggestions about what to watch from Google after they are done with what they are watching.
Parents need not worry anymore with Google's algorithm recommending titles they disapprove of. To do away with these lists of popular movies or TV shows, they can use the "hide" button by tapping the Select button on the remote, then, choose the "hide" option.
For older children or teens in the family, Google TV launched a supervised experience on YouTube app allowing settings for the appropriate content they can watch.
These features will be available in Chromewas, Google TV, and devices powered by Google TV a few weeks from now.
Learn More
Creating a Google Account for children under 13 or whatever is the applicable age in a given country, parents can get the facts here.
Family Link provides the necessary tools in Google's disclosure for parents. They must know that Family Link can be run by children on some Androids and Chrome devices.
Finally, parents can add teacher-approved apps. But these are accessible only to parents of children of certain ages in the United States.
Related Article: Google's Family Link Makes Parental Gadget Control a Cinch
