Google Family Link Ratings and Reviews

The app works really well for managing time on apps/tablet, controlling accessible content, and relative ease. It even includes a locator for the device, you can load/create children’s profiles, and really have total oversight for each child really easily from any device deemed as an authoritative one.

I would however recommend some feature, mainly unlocking a device for a set time. Another great app, Qustodio, allows this and it was quite helpful. The FamilyLink app however either locks or unlocks the device, without a specification of how long.

Other than that, I have NO complaints about the app and it’s ease of use. It works great and was well thought out and designed. This is definitely worth using!

I made a google account many years ago when I was at the age where I needed a guardian account to link with it. I didn’t actually use the account very much then, but now, many years later where I am way beyond the age where I need a supervised account I have it linked with other software accounts. Now family link doesn’t allow me to basically do anything and me and my mom have been trying for the past week to get this wretched curse off of our accounts. We have iPhones so Im not sure if it works better with androids. Google family link is unremovable if you are on iPhone. No tutorial, no link, no tech support can help you remove this binding. I can’t even log in to family link through my “child” account because the page refreshes every time. Can someone PLEASE tell me why this is happening and how to fix it?? DONT USE FAMILY LINK PLEASE!!!

P.S. : It may seem pathetic that the review about a restriction app is coming from the person being restricted but the only reason my mom didn’t write this review is because she doesn’t want anything to do with it. We are both so unsatisfied and still can’t lift the lock on both of our accounts. She can’t remove family link because I’m above 13 yet I still have restrictions!!!! Why can’t I change my age? Awful app and software.

This is free and does SOME of what I need it to do. Its biggest flaw is that just as you begin to need it, it becomes unavailable. Get this parents, It’s only for kids UNDER 13. Whaaaat? What’s the point? My kids really didn’t need restrictions much before then because #1, They were mostly only interested in using one or two specific things, and #2 they were on MY devices. By the time I want to hand a device over to them to begin developing some responsibility and independence, Google apparently thinks they suddenly become ready to completely parent THEMSELVES. 13? Yeah, useless. I was able to get around that for awhile by creating an account for my teen with a false birthdate. (Yeah well, ya do what ya gotta do to protect your kids) The other problem is that I can’t limit time for specific apps. The options are very general and vague. When my 12 y/old’s time is up, she cannot even text me or receive my texts. She can only call me using the emergency function. This is very inconvenient because a phone call during the day is often much less feasible than quick text. If they change these policies, they might have something great!

So long story short I love this app. I think it’s ridiculous for any parental monitoring app to charge because this is our children’s health/ safety we’re talking about. It SHOULD be free. Family Link is free so I hold respect for Google. The one majorly upsetting issue is that my daughter is reaching the age where she will get her first phone. We use iPhones for more than one reason in this house. So she’ll be getting an iPhone. There’s no way to set up the child portion of Family Link on an iPhone. I’ve done my research and all of the good parental control apps for iPhone cost money. With the way the world is these days we NEED family link on iPhone. We need that free option. Not all of us have the extra cash to pay to protect our kids. We shouldn’t be given the choice of pay to protect your kids from the trash of the world or don’t pay and have no option. It’s sad. I’m so sad Google Family Link doesn’t have iOS compatibility for the child portion. Please change this! We need it.

I used this to control my 8 year olds phone. While I like that I can set limits and bedtimes, and turn off his phone on command, the website approvals need work. I have it set to where he can’t access the internet at all. He needs permission for each site. When I approve a site, I would like it to automatically approve all links related to the parent site. For example, a Disney game site. I have to approve the website. Then he’ll click a character, let’s say Mickey. So then I have to approve the “new” Mickey site. On that page, he can pick whether he wants to read, draw, color, or play. He wants to read, so now I have to approve that site as well. Oh but now he wants to color. Have to ask for permission again. It’s exhausting. Every single move he makes needs to be approved. This was when I first got the app. Now, I’m having trouble even approving a site all together. I have approved the same site 5x and every time I go to refresh it after the approval, I get promoted to ask for permission again!! I literally have his phone in one hand and mine In the other trying to approve websites to no avail. PLEASE FIX

I installed this app to monitor my child's tablet activities and to ensure he doesn't go overboard on screen time. I find that when I am trying to set app time limits the majority of the app that I select to add the time limits is not the app that opens up. When I am finally able to select the correct app that I would like to change it gives me an error message saying “Could not set limit try again”.

I like that I am able to approve or deny his app downloads from my phone and set an age level for content such as apps & games, music and internet searches. And the location info is nice to have in case you misplace the device.

I spend most of my time dealing with errors on this app, not to mention you have to select each individual app to do so. I really wish they would give you the option to set limits on more than one app at a time to set limits and fix the bugs that causes the error messages and this app would be perfect.

I love the app. It has been very helpful in keeping my kids on a routine. Very thankful for having it. There are some issues though.

One issue is sometimes when checking app it doesn’t update and I have to exit and reenter to see accurate information (I.e sometimes it says down time is on when it is not. If I exit and reenter app, it’ll display correct information.)

Location can be a little bit off. Many times the location doesn’t work and can be quite stressful. Also, location doesn’t refresh in real time. It’ll say things like my son was at a location 30 minutes ago but I don’t need 30 minutes ago, I need to know where he is at in that moment.

Other than that, the app has been good overall. Would be nice if there was an option to add “breaks” because my son takes breaks from his table. Right now I can only turn his table on and off with down time. Would be nice if I could add temporary downtime for an hour or so to where it automatically changes without having to edit the whole schedule. Would also be nice to be able to send messages to devices linked to Family Link. Just a little message that can pop up when children are on their devices even if kids can’t reply.

Other than that, very thankful for app!

I thought this would be a convenient way to basically just set time limits on her phone. That part of it worked like a charm and was able to change her limits on a daily basis. BUT she has 2 Gmail accounts and it wouldn’t let us add both accounts since they weren’t school accounts. So she wasn’t able to access one of her accounts at all. We decided just to delete it and have time limits ourselves. When we deleted it she couldn’t login to her chrome book without doing a factory reset on it which was not an option when all of her school stuff was on there. I tried contacting support which was a dead end. So we either have to have the app and not access her one gmail account she uses for her games, or delete it and not access her chrome book. Definitely the worst app! If that was resolved i might change it to 3 stars but since you can never contact support it is staying at 1 star! I definitely wouldn’t recommend this app to anyone!

I use this app to control phones for all my kids. It is really good at blocking payments in App Store, allowing me to block sites, setting a bedtime and very accurate location. Only two flaws I have found in this app and I hope they fix it. When my kids are away, I do not know how they do it but they find a way to disconnect themselves from the app. My son went away for a week and I could not keep track of his where abouts and his screen time. I’m not strict I just want my kids to stay on kid friendly sites and apps and I like to see where they are when they are away. The second flaw is the fact that they have it to where I have to approve all content in the App Store but my kids somehow manage to still be able to download apps without my permission. Other than these two. The app is perfectly fine.

I’ve used this app for a while and when it works, I love the ease of control. The problem is that it randomly turns off limits. For example, I can set an app to a 30 minute time limit and I can go into the app and sometimes and it has reset to no limit. I have to constantly check to make sure the limits I set are still active. I have to do this multiple times a day. I can reset the limit and go in a minute later and it has reverted to no limit! I don’t know if my kid has figured out a way around this app or if the app is faulty!! I have contacted the company for customer support and they tell me the same things to try that don’t change a thing. I wish this app was better! I will be changing parental control apps very soon. I can’t stand this anymore!!!