Kids today meet the internet through Google long before they type their first search. They watch YouTube on the family tablet, install games from the app store, and ask Google Assistant to play songs. The good news for parents is that Google products include free, surprisingly thorough safety tools. The catch is that they live in several different places, and missing one leaves a gap. This guide explains how to set parental controls on Google services step by step, so you can cover everything in a single sitting.
Google's safety tools work on three levels. Account-level supervision through Family Link controls your child's Google account itself, including app installs, screen time, and device location. Service-level privacy settings cover individual products, such as SafeSearch for Google Search and Restricted Mode for YouTube. Device-level parental control settings apply to specific Android devices, no matter who picks them up, and work across all recent Android versions.
The strongest setup combines all three. Supervision alone will not filter search results, and SafeSearch alone will not stop a late-night app install. Plan for about thirty minutes to work through the full list below, with your child's device in one hand and yours in the other.
One more thing before you start: knowing how to set parental controls on Google is not a one-device job. The same account follows your child from the family tablet to a Chromebook at school to a hand-me-down phone, and account-level settings travel with it. That is why this guide starts at the account level and works outward, rather than treating each gadget as a separate problem.
Family Link is the foundation of everything else. Download the Family Link app on your own phone, then follow the prompts to create your child's Google account or link their existing email address to your family group. Children under the applicable age in your country, usually 13, get a supervised account by design, and Google will route every important permission request to your phone for approval. You manage everything from your own Google account, and your child cannot change the rules without your Google account password.
Once linked, you can approve or block new apps, review app permissions before anything installs, set daily limits on your child's screen time, and schedule a bedtime lock for your child's Android phone or tablet. Family Link also includes a school time mode that limits the device to approved apps during class hours, and it shows the location of your child whenever the device is online. If the phone ever loses connection to your account, a parent access code lets you unlock parental controls settings directly on the device.
A practical security note: your child's password and your own account credentials should never be the same, and your child should not know yours. Supervision only works if the parent side of the family group stays in the parent's hands.
Even with supervision active, it is worth setting the Play Store's own filter. On your child's device, open the Play Store, tap the profile icon, then Settings, then Family, then Parental controls. Switch the toggle on and create a PIN your child does not know. You can then set the highest content rating you are comfortable with for apps, games, and other digital content. Anything above that highest rating simply stops appearing, so a search for a harmless puzzle game never surfaces an 18+ title alongside it.
While you are there, open the purchase approval settings and require authentication for everything that goes through Google Play's billing system. This single toggle prevents the most common nasty surprise in family tech, the accidental in-app purchase spree, and it pairs naturally with the spending guardrails we covered in our gacha games guide.
SafeSearch filters adult content out of Google results, including explicit images, videos, and websites. The direct link is google.com/safesearch, where you sign in to your child's account and choose Filter, the strictest of the three levels. For supervised accounts, Family Link lets you lock this setting from your own account settings so your child cannot quietly switch it back off.
Family Link supervision also extends into Google Chrome. You can block specific websites by address, allow only sites you approve, and prevent your child from sharing personal information with sites Chrome flags as risky. Anyone learning how to set parental controls on Google tends to stop at SafeSearch, but remember that it only applies to Google Search itself. A different search engine in a different browser ignores it completely, which is why the Chrome controls and account-level layers matter so much.
YouTube deserves its own step because it is where children spend the most time. For younger kids, the YouTube Kids app is the better choice, with hand-reviewed content categories and a built-in timer. For older kids, open YouTube settings on their Google account and turn on Restricted Mode, which hides mature content, comments included. Parents with supervised accounts can choose between content levels in Family Link, from Explore for ages 9 and up to most of YouTube for teens. If your living room TV runs the Google TV app, check its profile settings too, since a kids profile there keeps recommendations age-appropriate on the big screen.
If you have a Nest speaker or display at home, open the Google Home app and check which voice results are available to family members. Voice Match can recognize your child and serve filtered answers automatically, and you can disable purchases by voice entirely. It takes two minutes and closes a loophole most parents never think about.
No filter replaces an honest conversation. Settings block content, but they do not teach judgment, and a determined teenager treats every restriction as a puzzle. Explain what you switched on and why, revisit the rules as your child gets older, and loosen them deliberately rather than waiting for a workaround to force the issue. Android's built-in Digital Wellbeing tools are useful here for the whole household, since kids take limits better when they can see parents managing their own account habits too. Common Sense Media publishes age-based guidance that makes these conversations much easier to start.
Half of knowing how to set parental controls on Google is maintenance, so recheck the parental control settings twice a year. Google reorganizes menus, new devices join the household, and a tablet handed down to a younger sibling inherits the older child's account rules unless you reset them.
Open the Family Link app, select your child, then tap Manage settings to update any rule. Supervision can be removed under Account info once your child reaches the applicable age, usually 13. Younger children must stay supervised, though every individual setting remains adjustable at any time.
Learning how to set parental controls on Google takes one focused evening, and the protection compounds across every device your child touches. Start with Family Link as the foundation, lock down the Play Store and SafeSearch, give YouTube its own attention, and finish with the smart speakers everyone forgets. Thirty minutes of setup now buys years of calmer screen time for the whole household.
Miles Hollen · Editor
Editor
