Parental control on Google Play: how to use it?

Over the years, Android has become much more secure and has started offering several privacy options for its users. This includes excellent parental controls on Google Play, the official store for Android apps and Android games.

With this feature, you can control what kind of Android apps and movies available on Google Play your kids can access. Since they have age ratings, you only need to use parental controls on Google Play to establish your children's age. To learn how to use this functionality in just a few steps, check out our guide below!

Parental controls on Google Play

The best news for anyone who wants to use parental controls on Google Play is that the process is very simple and you can do it in minutes. We detail the following step by step:

Step 1: To get started, open the Google Play Store on the smartphone you want to apply parental controls. So there is no use just opening your smartphone and trying to control your children's device.

Then click on the three vertical strokes at the top left of the screen. This is where we have the main options for your Google Play account.

Step 2: among the options available in this tab, you will see the “Settings”. Click on it to proceed.

Step 3: on the general settings screen for your account, you'll find a section called “User controls”. There, the first option will be “Parental Control”, which is exactly where you must click to move on.

Step 4: This is where we’ll decide what to do about parental control on Google Play. You will notice that it is disabled by default and to change this, you need to click on the main button.

Step 5: When you do this, Google Play will ask you to create a numeric PIN to protect your changes to parental controls. This way, your children will not be able to change these settings if they do not know the password.

Step 6: After creating the password, the app will ask you to confirm it. Just repeat the PIN and click "Ok" to continue.

Step 7: with that done, parental control on Google Play will be enabled. What you have left is to decide the age range of apps, games and movies present in the Google store.

This is what will define what your children will be able to access or not in the store.

Step 8: By clicking on the “apps and games” option, you can choose between apps without age restrictions, recommended for 10 years, 12 years, 14 years, 16 years and 18 years. By default, the store shows all apps, including unrated apps.

Choose the one you prefer and click "Save".

Step 9: then click on the “Movies” option to make a new selection of age groups of what your children will be able to see. There are exactly the same ratings as the apps, so just choose the one that you think is most appropriate.

When you're done, click "Save" again.

There, you will have a much better management of parental control in the app store. Fortunately, you can change these settings at any time, either to increase or decrease the restrictions you imposed earlier.

Did you like the tips?

Did you take advantage of our guide to learn how to use parental controls in the Google app store? So don't forget to leave your comment telling us if you managed to follow our tutorial or if you have any questions!

And if you're interested in more ways to keep your kids safe, just check out our tips on the best parental control apps!