As children grow older, there may come a time when parents need to remove the parental controls they had previously set up on devices. Google’s Family Link app allows parents to manage their kids’ device usage and set content restrictions. However, once the child becomes a young adult or reaches the age where they can responsibly manage their device, disabling those parental controls is a natural next step.
Removing the Family Link supervision can give your child more independence and privacy while using their device. However, disabling parental controls on Family Link may not be immediately evident to all parents.
In this straightforward guide, we’ll walk you through the simple steps to turn off the Family Link supervision on your child’s device. We’ll cover the necessary actions on both the parent’s and child’s devices, ensuring a smooth transition to more device freedom for your young adult.
How does FamilyLink work?
Family Link is a parental control app by Google that lets you manage your family’s devices. This app lets you control content, track real-time locations, and share Play Store libraries.
Using Family Link, you can block apps and set age limits for apps, movies, and books on the Google Store. You can also set daily screen time limits for your children’s phones and share the real-time locations of everyone in the family group.
To start using Family Link, someone needs to create a family group. It’s recommended that a parent or guardian do this, as they will be the group administrator. As the admin, you can manage the group’s settings and parental controls from your mobile device, adding or removing tools as needed.
Disable Parental Controls on Family Link
Family Link parental controls can be applied across Google apps and services such as Chrome, Google Photos, Play Store, and YouTube. To deactivate it, follow the steps below:
- Launch the Family Link app on your phone or tablet.
- Tap on the child’s account you want to remove the parental controls from.
- Tap on the “Settings” (gear icon) in the top right corner of the child’s profile.
- Scroll down and select “Manage settings.”
- Tap on “Account info” or “Account settings.”
- Select “Stop supervision” and follow the on-screen instructions to confirm your choice.
How to uninstall FamilyLink
You must remove the family group before uninstalling the app from your device. When performing this action, it is not possible to recover any previous parental control settings, and it is only possible to switch groups every 12 months. To delete, follow these steps:
- Open Family Link on the family manager’s cell phone. On the main screen, tap your profile icon in the right corner of the screen;
- On the group screen, tap the three dots icon in the upper right corner;
- Then select “Delete family group” and confirm the action with the Google account password.
