When you look up the best free parental control app, you’re bound to run into apps that either don’t work or hide premium features behind paywalls. However, that’s not the case with Google Family Link. Most importantly, since the tool comes from Google itself, you can be rest assured that it isn’t a scam.

Unsurprisingly, this tool works well with Google’s own apps, like Search, Chrome and YouTube, and comes with several nifty features such as screen-time controls and location tracking.

But a deeper dive into its features reveals some missing capabilities when compared to the best parental control apps. We’ve done a detailed review of Google Family Link, discussing its best features and interface, and we’ve also compared it with a few other options, so you can decide for yourself if it’s the right tool for you.

• Want to try Google Family Link? Check out the website here

We’ve skipped our usual “Plans and pricing” section because there’s nothing to say beyond the fact that this app is free.

Family Link allows users to set screen time controls, including downtime and app-specific time limits. Parents can also manage app, website, and extension permissions and downloads through the control software. You can always see your child’s location thanks to Google’s mapping prowess, too.

Delve into many of these features, though, and you’ll discover that they’re relatively basic.

You can set device usage limits and restricted times for your children, with support for 15-minute increments, so they won’t be browsing their phones during school hours or bedtime, for instance.

In February 2025, Google added a dedicated “School Time” mode – you only need to toggle a button within the app settings to enable it. You can also add a school-time break to allow your kids a small window of phone access during school recess or breaks.

Device locking is supported, and you can also give your children always-on access to certain apps. But when compared to other tools, like Bark or Qustodio, Google’s Family Link is pretty basic here.

The filtering is relatively rudimentary, too. While there’s no doubt that Google’s SafeSearch filtering works very well by blocking or blurring unsuitable text and images, other apps offer dozens of categories to choose from if you want to block specific topics, and you can’t go any further than SafeSearch here.

You can block certain sites and allow others, but you’ll have more control elsewhere. And while Family Link filters YouTube, too, the options here are still fairly basic. More impressive is Family Link’s app capability. You can see exactly which apps your children have installed and either block or limit their usage individually.

Content restrictions are available for Google Play, and you can prevent your children from making purchases as well – handy if you want them to stop spending a lot of money on addictive games. You can also prevent app installation from unknown sources and stop your children from adding or removing users from their devices or delving into the Developer options.

Unsurprisingly, Google’s location tracking is very accurate, and you can set up geofenced locations with decent radius limits – although other apps are even wider here.

You’ll get notified if children leave the area. One smart addition is the ability to view your child’s battery status, allowing you to spot if they’re about to run out of charge, too. One notable omission here, though, is location history – it’s simply not available.

Elsewhere, Family Link doesn’t include text or call monitoring, and across basically every part of the app you don’t get the granular control you’ll find on other tools. That said, Google did add the ability for parents to whitelist calls or texts – approve or block specific numbers.

Other apps also offer more comprehensive activity monitoring, including email and social media monitoring. And when your kids are 13, they can opt out of the monitoring if they wish.

However, unlike before, kids below 18 will now require their parent’s approval to opt out. This means they can’t simply delete the app from their devices until their parents approve it.

Before you get started, it’s worth checking Family Link’s device compatibility, too. For kids, Family Link is compatible with Android devices running version 7.0 (Nougat) or higher. However, only certain settings will function on devices using Android 5.0 or 6.0. There’s no kids app for iOS.

For parents, the control app runs on Android devices running Android 7.0 or higher or iOS devices running iOS 16 or higher. This means parents can use their iOS devices to monitor their kids’ Android devices as well.

However, the “other way round” isn’t possible. This means if your kids use an iOS device, Google Family Link might not be for you.

Family Link also works on Chromebooks with Chrome OS 71 or higher. However, location tracking doesn’t work on Chromebooks.

As you’d expect from a Google app, Family Link is a sleek and minimalist piece of software that looks clean and uncluttered. It’s easy for parents and kids to navigate most of the settings available, which means setup is quick.

That’s great if you want an app that doesn’t overwhelm you with information, but it also means that some crucial bits of info can be hard to find. You’ll need to use different screens to check children’s app and YouTube usage, for instance, and you'll also have to delve into various menus to view their web history.

Many competitors make it easier to access this information, offering more centralized access to reports, alerts, and details. Lastly, setup is quite easy. Because this is an official Google product, you don’t have to deal with the sideloading that's sometimes required elsewhere.

Unsurprisingly, from a computing behemoth like Google, Family Link’s support is a little sporadic and impersonal.

If you need help you’ll need to go through Google’s official channels, and you’ll probably not get a fast response.

Thankfully, there are plenty of good knowledge base articles in the help center, but that’s it. If you want more extensive or faster support, a dedicated app will be far better.

While Google Family Link is a free application and does a decent job of providing basic parental control features, it does lack a lot of functions, which is why you might consider alternatives.

For starters, a provider like Parentaler offers more comprehensive social media content monitoring, which is entirely absent from Google Family Link. With this, you can view the content your kids post on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok.

Similarly, Parentaler can also show incoming and outgoing texts and even allow parents to view deleted ones. Parentaler also has a very nifty keyword alert feature, which can inform parents whenever specific objectionable keywords show up in their conversations.

That said, Parentaler isn’t free and can cost as high as $10.17 per month when you purchase the annual plan. If you’re looking for something more affordable, you can consider FamilyTime Premium. Its plans start as low as $2.41 per month, while also offering family plans starting at just $4.08.

FamilyTime offers granular screen-time control, allowing parents to schedule allowed screen time. We also liked its Time Bank function, which can allow a child to carry forward their unused daily allowance of time. It also has an SOS alert for emergency situations, just like HeyPolo, another affordable child location tracking app.

Google Family Link’s biggest advantage is that it’s free, and elsewhere its key strength comes from its granular, powerful app controls and its decent screen time and scheduling options. Since it’s an in-house Google product, its location tracking tends to be more reliable than some other competitors.

Go beyond this, though, and Google Family Link is lacking. For instance, it doesn’t offer social media monitoring at all or keyword alerts. Plus, parents can’t read their children’s incoming and outgoing texts or monitor their calls. You may have to pay for rivals like mSpy, but they have far more extensive filtering and device management options and work on a broader array of devices.

Overall, Google Family Link is ideal if you want to use it alongside other parental control apps, perhaps to control Google Play usage or double up on filtering to have an extra safety net. But it’s just not powerful enough to function as your primary parental control tool.

No, your child won’t be able to delete Family Link from their phone without your approval. Google says that children above 13 years of age may delete Google Family Link on their devices. However, a policy update now requires explicit parental approval for children to be able to do so.

No, Google Family Link doesn’t offer an app for iOS devices, which means if you want to monitor your child who uses an iOS device, Family Link isn’t ideal. That said, the company does offer the parent app for iOS. So, if you’re using an iOS device, you’ll still be able to monitor your child’s Android devices.

Yes. Chromebooks running Chrome OS 71 or higher can be supervised using Google Family Link. Features such as screen time and website restrictions can be used freely. However, location reporting isn’t available for Chromebooks, even though it works on Android phones.

Location tracking specifically requires the device to be powered on, recently active, and connected to the internet, either through mobile data or Wi-Fi. If it’s offline, you won’t get any updates on its current location. Other controls, such as app blocking or screen time, are enforced locally on the device and don’t require an active internet connection.

• We've picked out the best free parental control software

Mike has worked as a technology journalist for more than a decade and has written for most of the UK’s big technology titles alongside numerous global outlets. He loves PCs, laptops and any new hardware, and covers everything from the latest business trends to high-end gaming gear.

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