{"slug": "google-family-link", "name": "Google Family Link", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 6, "warners": 2, "score": 1.352, "rising": 1.67, "first": "2026-01-02", "latest": "2026-09-13", "why": "i use google family link - which allows me to limit any apps/websites my child could view.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "i use google family link - which allows me to limit any apps/websites my child could view.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://families.google/familylink/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Google Family Link", "Family Link"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 794943328, "item_id": 49683958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49683958", "by": "a_lifters_life", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use google family link - which allows me to limit any apps/websites my child could view.", "excerpt": "i use google family link - which allows me to limit any apps/websites my child could view. i paired this with nextdns to auto-block obvious blacklisted sites (porn, etc) for a child. Works really well.", "context": "parent", "use_case": "child parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's a good \"semi-dumb\" phone/watch for kids?"}, {"id": 791496992, "item_id": 49468562, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468562", "by": "narfman0", "date": "2026-08-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Consider google family link, screen time and app restrictions", "excerpt": "Generally aligned on the bizarrely culturally-absent parent responsibility gap, chiming in from the feedback... It is your responsibility as a parent to raise and care for your kids, regardless of the law. It doesn't just have to do with social media or phone use, it applies to addictions, to behaviors, to their mental and physical makeup. We've had decades of unambiguous feedback that screens and especially social m", "context": "parent", "use_case": "parental controls for kids' phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "Did Meta's Big Settlement Actually Help It?"}, {"id": 774369648, "item_id": 48398103, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48398103", "by": "ItsBob", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Google Family Link to control what he does on his phone", "excerpt": "They worry me. A lot. My son is 15 and I use Google Family Link to control what he does on his phone: it's pretty open for the most part (I receive notifications of installs) but Gemini is a hard-ban. We've spoken at length of the dangers. He says his pals use LLMs frequently and I suspect that's the reason for their test scores: some of them are in the 20% - 40% range for tests whereas my son is 80%+ because he stud", "context": "parent of a 15-year-old", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 785858704, "item_id": 49116169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49116169", "by": "ingvay7", "date": "2026-07-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Cross-platform support is very poor (iOS/Android/Windows/Mac)if ur trying to use family link.", "excerpt": "Cross-platform support is very poor (iOS/Android/Windows/Mac)if ur trying to use family link. After trying to make FL work for weeks, i moved to another service that has morel granular features than FL and detailed activity reports with web filtering rules but its paid but it atleast works instead of those unusable knobs on FL.", "context": "parent", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "Family Link", "story": "Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year"}, {"id": 743446641, "item_id": 46465415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46465415", "by": "datajanko", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google family link is also kinda weird.", "excerpt": "I'm stuck with my son not able to play minecraft from his nintendo account anymore though it used to work. I'm just getting an unhelpful error message and all permissions should be enough. Parental control is a joke. Deezer has kids accounts but you can just switch to another account. Spotify kids was a joke when I used it, poor discoverability, poor cataloge specifically if you care about childrens audio books. Goog", "context": "parent", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents"}]}], "who": [{"by": "a_lifters_life", "context": "parent", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49683958", "date": "2026-09-13"}, {"by": "narfman0", "context": "parent", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468562", "date": "2026-08-27"}, {"by": "logifail", "context": "parent of three", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48960964", "date": "2026-07-18"}, {"by": "ItsBob", "context": "parent of a 15-year-old", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48398103", "date": "2026-06-04"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["parental controls", "child parental controls", "parental controls for kids' phones"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668960", "title": "Ask HN: What's a good \"semi-dumb\" phone/watch for kids?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49464678", "title": "Did Meta's Big Settlement Actually Help It?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49107950", "title": "Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48960155", "title": "Goodbye, and Thanks for All the Bikesheds", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48392004", "title": "Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46464652", "title": "TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 794943328, "item_id": 49683958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49683958", "by": "a_lifters_life", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use google family link - which allows me to limit any apps/websites my child could view.", "excerpt": "i use google family link - which allows me to limit any apps/websites my child could view. i paired this with nextdns to auto-block obvious blacklisted sites (porn, etc) for a child. Works really well.", "context": "parent", "use_case": "child parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's a good \"semi-dumb\" phone/watch for kids?"}, {"id": 791496992, "item_id": 49468562, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468562", "by": "narfman0", "date": "2026-08-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Consider google family link, screen time and app restrictions", "excerpt": "Generally aligned on the bizarrely culturally-absent parent responsibility gap, chiming in from the feedback... It is your responsibility as a parent to raise and care for your kids, regardless of the law. It doesn't just have to do with social media or phone use, it applies to addictions, to behaviors, to their mental and physical makeup. We've had decades of unambiguous feedback that screens and especially social m", "context": "parent", "use_case": "parental controls for kids' phones", "switched_from": "", "story": "Did Meta's Big Settlement Actually Help It?"}, {"id": 785858704, "item_id": 49116169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49116169", "by": "ingvay7", "date": "2026-07-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Cross-platform support is very poor (iOS/Android/Windows/Mac)if ur trying to use family link.", "excerpt": "Cross-platform support is very poor (iOS/Android/Windows/Mac)if ur trying to use family link. After trying to make FL work for weeks, i moved to another service that has morel granular features than FL and detailed activity reports with web filtering rules but its paid but it atleast works instead of those unusable knobs on FL.", "context": "parent", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "Family Link", "story": "Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year"}, {"id": 783375424, "item_id": 48960964, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48960964", "by": "logifail", "date": "2026-07-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Yes, we use Family Link with pretty restrictive settings.", "excerpt": "> A sensible regulator would leave some responsibility to the parents (Speaking as a parent of three) why can't we just leave all responsibility to the parents? In our experience in the offline world it seems this applies! I speak as someone who's taken each of my three children - for two of them, multiple times - to the emergency room to be treated for broken bones incurred in the course of Real Life[tm]. Yes, they ", "context": "parent of three", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "Goodbye, and Thanks for All the Bikesheds"}, {"id": 774369648, "item_id": 48398103, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48398103", "by": "ItsBob", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Google Family Link to control what he does on his phone", "excerpt": "They worry me. A lot. My son is 15 and I use Google Family Link to control what he does on his phone: it's pretty open for the most part (I receive notifications of installs) but Gemini is a hard-ban. We've spoken at length of the dangers. He says his pals use LLMs frequently and I suspect that's the reason for their test scores: some of them are in the 20% - 40% range for tests whereas my son is 80%+ because he stud", "context": "parent of a 15-year-old", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes"}, {"id": 743446641, "item_id": 46465415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46465415", "by": "datajanko", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google family link is also kinda weird.", "excerpt": "I'm stuck with my son not able to play minecraft from his nintendo account anymore though it used to work. I'm just getting an unhelpful error message and all permissions should be enough. Parental control is a joke. Deezer has kids accounts but you can just switch to another account. Spotify kids was a joke when I used it, poor discoverability, poor cataloge specifically if you care about childrens audio books. Goog", "context": "parent", "use_case": "parental controls", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents"}]}