Can someone walk me through setting up Google Family Link?

General
1

I’m trying to set up Google Family Link to manage my kid’s Android phone, but I keep getting confused by the different accounts, permissions, and parental controls. I want to make sure I do it right the first time so I don’t mess up their existing Google account or lose any data. Can someone explain, step by step, how to properly set up Google Family Link and which settings I should focus on for screen time and app approvals?

2

Here is a simple step by step that usually works without drama. I’ll assume your kid has an Android phone and you have your own Google account.

  1. Prepare your account
    • On your phone, install “Google Family Link” for parents
    • Log in with your own Google account
    • Create a “family group” if it asks. Make yourself the family manager

  2. Decide on your kid’s account
    You have two paths:
    • Kid under 13: create a new Google account for them through Family Link
    • Kid 13 or older: you can add their existing Google account, or create a new one if things are messy

To create through Family Link:
• In the parent app, tap “Create a child account”
• Enter name, birthday, username, password
• Confirm you are the parent. It might ask for a small 30 cent charge for age verification on your card
• When done, it shows a code or says to sign in on the child device

  1. Set up the child phone
    On your kid’s phone, do this:
    • Factory reset if you want a clean slate. Settings > System > Reset > Erase all data
    Not required, but it prevents leftover accounts and random settings
    • On first setup, connect Wi Fi
    • When it asks for a Google account, enter the child account you created or their existing one
    • It should detect it is a supervised account and tell you to hand your phone to the parent
    • Open Family Link on your phone, tap “Add” or “Set up device”
    • Follow the prompts until it says the device is linked

If the phone is already set up:
• On kid’s phone, go to Settings > Accounts > Add account > Google
• Log in with child account
• It should pop up that this account needs supervision
• On your phone, open Family Link and approve

  1. Core parental controls to set first
    In the Family Link parent app, tap your kid:

a) Screen time
• Daily limit: set a number of hours per day, like 2 or 3
• Bedtime: set start and end times. The phone locks during that window
You can allow phone or messaging during lock if you want, in “Always allowed”

b) Apps and Play Store
• Settings > Controls on Google Play

  • Apps & games: set age limit, like 9, 12, 16
  • Require approval for all purchases
    • In “Manage apps”, block ones you do not want or set “Always allowed” for important ones like phone or text

c) Filters
• For Chrome: block mature sites or allow specific sites
• For Google Search: turn on SafeSearch
• For YouTube:

  • Either use YouTube Kids
  • Or in normal YouTube, use “Restricted mode” and keep an eye manually

  1. Location and device access
    • In Family Link, enable “See your child’s location”
    This needs location on the kid’s phone and Google Location Accuracy set to On
    • Turn on “Allow device location” under your kid’s account settings

  2. Common confusing bits
    • Your account is the parent account, do not sign your account into their phone as the main account
    • Their account should be a “child” account in your family group, not a random Gmail outside the family
    • If you get stuck in loops, remove the account from the kid phone, uninstall Family Link from kid phone if present, then start linking from the parent app again

  3. What to check once it is “done”
    On the kid phone:
    • Try to install an app from Play Store and see if your phone asks for approval
    • Check if bedtime lock works. In Family Link, tap Lock now and see if the kid phone locks
    • Open Chrome and see if content filtering shows as managed

If you say what step you are stuck on, like “It fails when I add their accout to the phone” or “Family Link does not see the device”, I can walk through that exact bit.

3

I’ll add a different angle than what @sonhadordobosque already laid out, focusing on avoiding the usual traps rather than repeating all the steps.

1. Decide the “account strategy” first

This is where people usually get tangled.

  • Do NOT put your own Google account on the kid’s phone as the main account.
  • Ideal setup:
    • Your account: on your phone only, as the parent / family manager.
    • Kid’s account: one single child account, in your Family Group, as the main account on their phone.

If your kid already has 2–3 Gmail accounts floating around, pick one to be their “forever” account, or create a new supervised one and retire the others.

What I do:

  1. On a piece of paper: write “parent account” and “child account” emails.
  2. Never log the parent account into the kid phone except maybe for Play Store purchases, and even that I usually avoid.

2. Clean up before installing Family Link on the kid phone

This is where I slightly disagree with the “just add account” approach. If you’re already confused, layering FL on top of a messy phone is pain.

On the kid phone:

  1. Go to Settings → Accounts
    • Remove every Google account you see.
  2. Check Settings → Apps
    • If “Family Link for children & teens” is already installed, uninstall it for now.

Optional but often worth it:

  • Factory reset if the phone is full of old junk / accounts / weird settings.
    I usually do this for a “first serious setup”.

After that, you should have:

  • No Google accounts on the kid phone.
  • No old Family Link remnants.

3. Use only the “parent app” on your phone

On your phone:

  • Use “Google Family Link (for parents)” only.
  • Do not install the kids version on your device.
  • Inside that parent app:
    • Create / add the child account.
    • Confirm it’s in your Family group under your Google account.

Quick check: In Family Link, the child should appear with a “Supervised” label. If it just looks like a random adult account, something’s off.

4. Link the device in a very specific order

This order avoids a lot of endless loops:

  1. On your phone:
    • Parent app open, child already created and showing.
  2. On the kid phone:
    • Connect to Wi‑Fi.
    • At “Sign in with Google” screen (after reset) or in Settings → Accounts → Add account → Google (if you didn’t reset), sign in with the child account only.
  3. When it says the account needs supervision:
    • It will show a code or ask to “hand the device to a parent”.
    • Now look at the parent app, approve from there.

If it loops or fails:

  • Stop.
  • Remove child account from the kid phone again.
  • Force stop / clear data of “Google Play services” and “Google Play Store”.
  • Try again in that same order.

5. Start with minimal rules, then tighten

People go wild with controls on day one and then spend the weekend whack‑a‑mole’ing exceptions.

I’d start with:

  1. App installs

    • In Family Link:
      • Require approval for all new app installs.
      • Do not immediately ban 30 categories. Just watch what they request.

  2. Screen time

    • Set a generous but clear limit first, like:
      • Weekdays: 3h
      • Weekends: 4–5h
    • Add “Always allowed”:
      • Phone, Messages, maybe a homework app.

  3. Bedtime

    • Pick one bedtime and stick to it, like 9:30 pm to 7:00 am.
    • Test the “Lock now” button from your phone so you know what the lock actually does.

Then, after a week of seeing real usage:

  • Tighten limits and add app‑specific rules instead of guessing everything on day one.

6. Handle YouTube correctly

This is the messiest piece for most parents.

Pick one of these, not a weird combo:

  1. YouTube Kids

    • For younger kids. Set it up and keep normal YouTube blocked in Play Store.

  2. Normal YouTube with restricted mode

    • For older kids.
    • In Chrome and YouTube app: turn on Restricted Mode.
    • Expect it to be imperfect. You still need manual oversight.

Do not let them sign in with a totally separate non‑supervised Google account inside YouTube. That bypasses most controls.

7. Prevent “oops my kid removed everything”

A few extra things:

  • On kid phone:
    • Settings → Accounts → Google
      Make sure you cannot just remove the child account without the parent’s approval. A supervised account should be locked down.
  • Disable installing apps from unknown sources:
    • Settings → Security / Install unknown apps
      Make sure nothing random like a browser is allowed to “Install unknown apps”.

Also, if your kid is… inventive:

  • Periodically open Family Link:
    • Check number of devices under their account.
    • If you see a device you don’t recognize, review it.

8. Quick sanity checks once you think it’s done

On the kid phone:

  • Open Play Store and try to install any random game:
    • It should trigger an approval request to your phone.
  • Try using the phone past bedtime:
    • It should show locked or have very limited apps.
  • Open Chrome:
    • There should be a “Managed by your parent” kind of notice in settings.

If any of those do not behave as expected:

  • Don’t tweak 20 options blindly.
  • Remove account from kid phone, clear Play services, re‑link once clean.

If you say:

  • Kid’s age
  • Whether you’re willing to factory reset
  • Whether they already have a Gmail you want to keep

people here can help you dial in a very specific, “do this, not that” checklist for your case instead of another generic walkthrough.

4

I’ll zoom in on the parts that usually stay confusing after you follow walkthroughs like @cacadordeestrelas and @sonhadordobosque posted: account structure, what’s actually enforced on the device, and what Family Link is bad at.

1. Mental model first: who “owns” what

Think of it like this:

  • Your Google account
    Owns the rules: screen time, filters, approvals, the family group.

  • Child’s Google account
    Owns the data: apps, emails, YouTube history, saved passwords.

  • The phone
    Is just a container that obeys the rules because a supervised account is signed in.

If at any point the kid signs in with a different non‑supervised account as the primary Google account, that phone effectively stops being “managed” in the way you expect. This is the usual “why is YouTube suddenly wide open?” moment.

Tip: in Settings → Accounts on the kid’s phone, there should be only one Google login for day‑to‑day use: the supervised child account.

2. Where people get stuck even after setup “works”

You’ve linked the phone, controls show in the app, yet:

  1. Play Store does not ask for approval

    • Check in Family Link > your kid > Controls on Google Play:
      “Require approval” should be set to All content or at least “Paid content & in‑app purchases”.
    • Also open Play Store on the kid’s phone, tap their avatar: confirm it is the child account, not some old Gmail.

  2. Chrome is not filtering sites

    • In Family Link > your kid > Controls > Content restrictions > Google Chrome:
      Make sure “Try to block mature sites” or “Only allow certain sites” is actually selected.
    • On the phone, open Chrome > Settings. Somewhere it should say it is “Managed by your parent.” If you do not see that text at all, the browser may be signed into a different Google account internally, which can weaken enforcement.

  3. Bedtime locks are inconsistent
    Family Link is strict about the phone clock.

    • Ensure automatic time / network‑provided time is on.
    • If your kid changed time zone or disabled automatic time, bedtime logic can drift or break.

3. When you should not factory reset

Both replies you saw are fine with the “reset and clean slate” route. I slightly disagree for some cases:

Do not rush a factory reset if:

  • The kid already has an established Google account with tons of schooling stuff, contacts, game progress.
  • They are older and very attached to their setup.

Instead:

  1. Remove extra Google accounts that are not needed.
  2. Make their main existing account supervised via Family Link.
  3. Use a reset only if:
    • Device is full of junk apps and unknown settings,
    • Or linking fails again and again even after you’ve cleaned accounts.

Resets blow away all local data. That is sometimes overkill if your confusion is purely account‑mapping, not a “dirty phone” problem.

4. Family Link strengths vs weak spots

Think of Google Family Link as:

Pros

  • Tight integration with Android sign‑in and Play Store.
  • Free and maintained by the same ecosystem that runs the OS.
  • Pretty good for:
    • Time limits
    • App install approvals
    • Basic browsing and search filters
    • Location sharing

Cons

  • Rules mostly apply to Google accounts and Google apps.
    For example:
    • Some third‑party browsers, VPNs, or app stores can still be a loophole if not explicitly blocked.
  • Web and YouTube filtering are “good enough,” not bulletproof.
  • Tweaking many small options can get messy and hard to reason about.

So even if you “do it right the first time,” expect that you will still be revisiting and adjusting over the first few weeks.

5. How to keep it simple over time

Once the initial chaos is sorted:

  1. Limit surfaces, not just content

    • Do not allow multiple browsers. One browser, one YouTube option, one messaging app is easier to supervise than trying to filter five different things.

  2. Use the app list as your main dashboard

    • In Family Link > your kid > Apps:
      Periodically check:
      • What has been installed recently
      • Which ones are set as “Always allowed”
    • Remove duplicates and “shadow apps” that duplicate functions (extra browsers, hidden gallery apps, etc.).

  3. Talk through the rules instead of silently tightening

    • “You have 2 hours on school days. If you keep stopping on time, we’ll revisit it in 2 weeks.”
      This makes Family Link feel like structure, not like a trap.

6. On competitors and alternatives

What @cacadordeestrelas did nicely is lay out a clear practical flow that rarely breaks.
What @sonhadordobosque added was a more strategy‑focused “avoid the traps” angle.

Compared with those:

  • I would lean on Family Link only as your first layer and accept its limitations instead of chasing perfect technical control.
  • If you ever outgrow it, common next steps people explore are non‑Google solutions that do deeper web filtering or cross‑platform monitoring, but those come with their own complexity and costs.

If you post back with:

  • Kid’s age
  • Whether they already have a Gmail you must keep
  • Whether you prefer to avoid a reset

you can get a very specific “do this, ignore that” plan tailored to your exact situation instead of more general recipes.