Android Smartphone

Controls & Settings guide

Android smartphones have parental controls for the Play store but not on the device itself. These allow you to set the maturity level of apps and set a PIN code for purchases.

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What do I need?

You will need your Google account email and password for the device.

Restrictions you can apply

icon Apps Access
icon In App purchasing
icon Online games

Step by Step instructions

Guide them to age-appropriate content

Approve or block apps your child wants to download. Family Link also allows you to choose the right YouTube experiences for your child: a supervised experience on YouTube, or YouTube Kids.

   
1

When setting up your phone you will need to activate a Google account on the handset. You can use your own Google account or create/use the account of your child. You will be enabling a PIN on the handset that you will be using to set parental controls.

2

Launch the Google “Play Store” application on your handset.

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3

Tap the menu button.

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4

From the pop out menu scroll down and tap “Settings”.

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5

In the “Settings” section scroll down and tap on “Parental controls”.

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6

Enable parental controls by tapping on the radio button.

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7

You will be now prompted to create a PIN.

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8

You can now set restrictions for “Apps & games”, “Films”, “TV”, “Magazines” and “Music” all of which are accessed via the Play Store.

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9

Now we will enable your handset to require the Google account password when making purchases. Return to the “Settings” menu within the “Play Store” app (Steps 2-4).

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10

Scroll down and select “Require authentication for purchases”.

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11

On the “Require authentication” pop-up you can select to require your Google account password for all purchases, open a 30-minute window where all purchases are allowed after inputting your password, or disable authentication entirely.

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12

Finally, we will now block the device from being able to install applications from services other than the “Play store” where we have placed the restrictions. From your devices “home Screen” swipe down from the top of the screen and then select the settings cog.

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