How To Set Up Parental Control On Android Smartphones

Android phones and tablets are great tools that besides connectivity, offer plenty of entertainment options. The latter is especially interesting for your children as they are becoming increasingly tech-savvy and are willing to explore all the possibilities these Android devices have to offer. Nowadays, even toddlers are managing to use their parent’s Android smartphone or tablet in ways we personally did not even know were possible.

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Although Android tablets and phones offer great ways to entertain your kids, they can also put your little ones in a hazard. Besides from running into heavy Play Store bills, your kids may also be at risk from adult content and online predators.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways for you to control the online behavior of your children on your Android device. Below, Chinavasion will show you several ways how to set up parental controls on your Android phone or tablet. When following these steps, you no longer have to live in fear worrying about what your child is doing online.

How to set up a kid’s account on Android:

The first thing you want to do when setting up a kid’s account on Android is to head to your ‘’Settings’’ App. Once opened, search for the ‘’Users’’ option. It might be that you first have to search through some other tabs in your settings menu before you’ll be able to find the ‘’User Menu’’.

Once you have found and opened up ‘’Users’’, you’ll see the main account that belongs to the owner of the Android phone. Also, you’ll see an ‘’Add User’’ option. Tap this option and accept the messaged by simply clicking ‘’OK’’ followed by ‘’SET UP NOW’’.

Source: Techadvisor

Once you have done so, your smartphone will log you out and request you to log back into your new user’s account. Once you have logged in, your phone offers you the option to select the right settings.

Continue by tapping ‘’Next’’ as seen in the picture below. In the second step, you’ll be asked if you want to match your new User Account with an already exciting Android account. Now, if you want to prevent your kids from downloading Applications from the App Store, you’ll have to tap ‘’Skip Setup’’. This will make it impossible for your kids to download media on this user account while you will still be able to use the Play Store via your private account.

Source: Techadvisor

In case you wish not to totally block Google Play on your kid’s account, there also is the possibility to partially block certain content. How to do this, will be explained in the section below.

How to restrict content in Google Play:

For those of you that wish to provide your kids with access to Google Play, there is the option to partially block certain content. To do so, open up your kid’s user account on your phone and head to the Play Store. Once you’re there, click on the three horizontal stripes that can be found in the top left corner.

Source: Techadvisor

After you have done so, scroll down and open up the ‘’Settings’’ tab. In ‘’Settings’’, scroll down even further until you see ‘’Parental Controls’’. When you select this tab, your phone will ask you to create a PIN code that has to be entered twice.

Once you have created a password, the parental control setting will be enabled. Now, you will be able to tap each category and select which restrictions you would like to set up for each. With respect to Applications and Games, for example, you’ll be able to restrict your kids to download files that feature a certain minimum age to use.

Source: Techadvisor

To prevent your children from buying content in the App Store, you’ll also be able to set up a password. This means that nobody will be able to install paid applications on your Android phone without knowing the password. To do so, you’ll have to head back to the main Play Store settings menu. In here, select ‘’Require Authentication For Purchases’’. After doing so, you can be assured that your kids won’t be able to buy mobile Applications. This will leave you with one less thing to worry about when borrowing your phone to your beloved children.