The pressure to get my son a phone arrived sooner than I expected. He was barely halfway through Year 6 (that’s 5th grade for all American readers), and his friends started taking their newly purchased smartphones on trips to the park, when before their hands were full of footballs and Frisbees. I felt like I missed a parent meeting where it was decided that this was the life we wanted for our children.
The realization that I was well behind the curve in this area started a lot of late-night Googling where I spent hours searching for the best phone for my son. At first I thought I was just going to get him a stupid phone call. At least then I could pretty much guarantee to protect him from harmful content. But this would not have allowed me to track his location, and for security reasons that was non-negotiable for me.
Then I discovered child-friendly mobile phones such as the British designed Sayph or the better known HMD Fuse. These types of phones allow parents to restrict app usage, create a whitelist of contacts and even create a school mode. They also often have additional filters to block inappropriate content. I liked the idea, but the handset options were limited.
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It was only then that I came across the Google Family Link app, which allows parents and their children to create healthy, positive digital habits. With simple, user-friendly tools, you can do almost anything a dedicated child-friendly phone can do with Family Link, and if you use them to their full potential, you can create a safe online environment for your child.
Google Family Link works across Android, ChromeOS and iOS devices – the child’s phone must be an Android device, however, as Google does not offer the “kids” version of the Family Link app for iOS; only the ‘parent’ version.
I’m not a helicopter parent, honestly!
I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to know where her child is. The advent of GPS has made it not only possible to track your child, but also to feel a little creepy. The fact that you know where they are without them knowing where you are feels slightly strange. But then again, they are your children, and you are tasked with keeping them safe.
I would like to know if my son has arrived at school, if he is still at the park, or which friend’s house he has decided to go to. As much as I want to know where he is, I don’t want him to feel like he has to constantly be on the phone texting me to send me updates. That would go against my desire to keep him as screen-free as possible for as long as possible.
This is where Google Family Link becomes your ally. With it, you can not only keep an eye on their location, but also create specific places called Family Places. Every time your child enters or leaves these places, the parent will receive a notification. With it, you can keep a close eye on them without having to follow their little avatar on Google Maps as they drive to school. Full disclaimer: yes, I did that too.
“No, I’m not giving you access to that app”
Given that this would be my son’s first experience with a smartphone, I wanted to give him only the very basics. I didn’t want to provide access to anything remotely addictive for fear that he might not be able to put the phone down. I was surprised at how easy it was to achieve this with Google Family Link.
All I had to do was navigate to the “Block and Limit Apps” tab to see a full list of available apps on his phone. From there I could select an individual app and either block it completely or set a daily time limit. The interface is incredibly well laid out, so even the least tech-savvy parent will manage to navigate it.
I also wanted some control over his contacts. Okay, now I’m really starting to sound like a control freak. With Family Link, you can not only set ground rules for incoming and outgoing calls and texts, but also require that each contact be approved before they can be contacted.
The text interactions my child could have then made me think about issues he could bring up with group chats. I’m sure we’ve all read the stories of bullying and inappropriate sharing of private photos, and I didn’t want my son to be exposed to this.
So I was grateful to see that Google offers sensitive content warnings, which add a layer of protection to Google Messages, which filters out incoming sticky photos and discourages sending sticky photos. I can’t comment on its effectiveness, although it’s nice to know it’s there. It’s worth noting that many kid-specific phones offer higher levels of nudity protection if this is a concern of yours.
Block websites because the world is a scary place
My son needs constant access to a few select websites to do his homework, but beyond that I was able to control which pages he could visit when logged into Chrome. The app allows you to enable a filter that explicitly blocks sites, although even Google admits in the app that “No filter is perfect.”
I have therefore decided to allow only approved sites. I have to say, this was the only element of my Google Family Link experience that was a pain. I was hoping to just copy and paste URLs into the app and let Google take care of the rest. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. Because many sites have subdomains, especially Microsoft websites, I found that unless I entered all the specific URLs, Family Link wasn’t smart enough to implement what I needed.
I eventually got it working and was delighted that my son could request access to specific websites by typing them into Chrome and selecting ‘request access’. That took care of everything I missed. The request appears on my phone, and as soon as I approve it, he can immediately access the site.
An evolving security platform
One of the best things about Google Family Link is how easy it is to add restrictions and remove them. As my child gets older, I want to give him more freedoms, and with the app it is easy and simple for me to do that.
With child-friendly phones, they always run the risk of being “childish” and therefore quickly get old for your child. With Google Family Link, it is possible to make any phone child-safe, whether they have the latest Samsung Galaxy or a generation-old Google Pixel.
I’m glad that instead of buying an expensive new kid-specific phone, I settled on an app that allows my son to use a “normal-looking” Android smartphone that I can use remotely. Google Family Link isn’t perfect, but it’s the easiest and most feature-packed child safety solution I’ve come across so far.
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