UPDATED February 10, 2022 This piece has been updated to reflect the emergence of new technology
Christian Mathews Security Writer
Do you want to limit the screen time of your kids? Are you looking for ways to limit their cell phone usage without fully depriving them of the fun? Parental controls for Android cell phones are the best way to help your kids’ addiction to their cell phones. When used appropriately, parental controls for android cell phones and tablets not only protect the kids from cyberbullying and other threats, but also keep their eyesight and overall health in check. A cell phone stand is a great way to view content without having to hold your phone the whole time.
Here is how you can set up parental controls on android cell phones.
1Parental Control For Content From Play Store
Kids these days are too smart to catch up with the functioning of smartphones. They can operate mobile devices flawlessly, making it all the more important for parents to restrict the content they download.
Internet is full of unwanted and non-kid friendly content that can affect kids innocence in no time.
For this, if your kid can access the Play Store easily, it’s time to change that. You can set parental control for content on Play Store. The process is extremely easy, as well.
Here is how you can set parental control on Play Store:
- Open the Google Play Store on the Android device you want the parental controls to be configured on.
- Now, tap on the left top corner, shown as three horizontal lines.
- From the sidebar menu, click on Settings and scroll down to find Parental Controls under User Controls.
- Toggle the Parental Controls to turn them on.
- Create the pin to prevent others from changing settings for parental controls other than you.
- Now, set content restrictions for the type of content. You can set content restrictions for apps, games, TV, books, music, and movies on Play Store.
- It will display the filtering content according to age. Depending on the age of your kid, you can allow content rated for their age. Do the same for other options as well.
- To prevent your kids from making in-app purchases, you can turn on authentication for all your Google Play purchases found under User Controls as well.
2Parental Controls For Web-Based Content
Kids are exposed to an innumerable amount of data through the phone itself and enabling parental controls on the Play Store won’t be enough to keep your kids safe. Parental controls for Android cell phones can go further than that.
If you and your kids use the same device, it’s better to add another user account to your phone named your kid’s account. This will make it easy to filter all the content and make your mobile kid-friendly.
To add a child’s account to your mobile, visit the Settings on your Android phone. After that, find the managed account or related settings, and you will find an option of Add an Account or Multiple Users, set your Child’s account under it, and switch to it when your child is using your mobile.
How To Disable The Internet On The Child’s Phone
One of the finest ways of keeping your kids away from the internet and its content is by not providing them with the taste of using the internet. Make them unprivileged of such activity in the first place. However, if your kid is already exposed to using the internet, you can try to minimize it by disabling the internet from time to time.
Here are some of the ways you can do so:
- Change The WiFi Password
If you have a broadband connection at home and everyone uses WiFi at home to connect to the internet, changing its password is the coolest idea. Set the time limit for which they can use the internet and refrain them from using it further. You can either turn off the Wi-Fi or change the password altogether.
- Use A Parental Control App
If basic regulations don’t seem to work for your kid, you may be asking what app to control kids phone do I need. A parental control app would be of great help. A parental control app lets you control your kid’s phone without actually taking possession of it.
All you need to do is download the parental control app on their mobile. Once that is done, you can smoothly control their mobile with yours. This way, you will know whatever they access on their mobile on your parental control app dashboard. There are many apps that have parental controls for android cell phones.
How To Keep Track Of Your Child’s Phone
You can ask your child to keep their GPS on so you can track their phone by downloading third-party apps on your mobile. You can download apps like Find My Kids and follow the instructions required to keep track of your child’s phone.
Having a parental control app is another solution. This will also fix the problem of tracking your child’s phone as they come with geofencing and GPS tracking features that let you know the whereabouts of your child anytime.
This will also let you track all the chat messages, browser history, call history, aand other data of your child’s phone without them knowing.
Time Restriction
Other parental controls for Android cell phones that is helpful for web-based content is fixing the screen time of your child. This can be either done with any parental control app or by setting the screen time of the apps individually.
Various applications, internet browsers, and even gaming apps come with screen time features that let you set the time for which you want them to be used. After the screen time is crossed, the apps notify you of the same.
You can also download screen time apps from the Google Play store to track the screen time and put time restrictions. You can also pair these apps with your device to ensure that your kids do not cheat.
Lastly, screen time on your kid’s phone can also be managed through Google Family Link. It won’t only help in setting time restrictions, but help set other parental control as well.
