A child's first phone raises the same questions everywhere: what can they install, how late does it work, where are they. Google's Family Link answers all three from your own phone, free.
Updated August 15, 2026, after a fresh review, with updated visuals and links.
Here's the complete setup, the settings that matter at each age, and how to keep it a trust tool instead of a surveillance fight.
Short version: Install Family Link on both phones first, then set the app approval gate. Details below.
The how to part
- Install Family Link on both phones. Family Link for Parents on your device, and follow its walkthrough to create or connect the child's Google account. On the child's phone, sign in with that account during setup: the pairing code dance takes about ten minutes total.
- Set the app approval gate. Every Play Store install now requires your approval notification. This single feature reshapes everything else: no unknown games, no mystery social apps. Review requests weekly with the child initially, so the why becomes a conversation, not folklore.
- Build the screen-time skeleton. Daily limits per device plus a bedtime schedule: the phone locks into emergency-calls-only at 9 p.m. on school nights, for example. Per-app limits can cap TikTok at an hour while leaving school portals unlimited.
- Turn on location and filters at their level. Location sharing lets you see the phone on a map (with the child clearly informed, secrecy here destroys trust permanently). Content filters limit Play Store ratings and SafeSearch; YouTube gets its own supervised settings worth a visit.
- Handle purchases and web rules. Require approval for every purchase, including in-app, and decide the Chrome policy: explicit-site blocking or an allowlist for younger kids. Payment surprises and weird corners of the internet both end here.
- Plan the loosening schedule. Controls that never relax breed circumvention experts. A healthy arc: full approvals under 12, app approvals but looser time at 13, mostly location plus purchase rules by 15, and graduation settings as trust proves out. Family Link adjusts without a new setup.
A few things worth knowing
- Review the weekly activity report together once a month: numbers on a screen start better conversations than accusations.
- Teacher-needed apps can be allowlisted to work even during locked hours, check the 'always allowed' section.
- Lost child phone: locate, ring, or lock it from your Family Link, breakfast-table drama to solved in two minutes.
Questions people ask
Can my child just factory-reset the phone?
Family Link prevents removing the supervised account or resetting the device without your approval: the protections hold against the obvious escape hatches.
What happens at 13?
The child can choose to graduate to a full account in many regions; discuss it ahead, and if they opt to stay supervised, controls keep running without interruption.
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Approvals on, bedtime set, location shared openly, and the first phone becomes a training-wheels system instead of a leap of faith.
