How to Enable or Setup Kids Mode on an Android Phone

As the use of smartphones is flooding homes, the kids' interest has also increased in the phone. And it is also necessary somewhere that the kids should be made aware of the new technology. In such a situation, keeping in mind kids' likes and dislikes, parents should decide what their children can access and view.

In the last few decades, there has been a lot of inclination of kids and teens toward smartphones and tablets. Seeing all this, as a parent, you may be worried about this, but don't worry. Allow kids mode on your child's phone to restrict which apps your child can access, set the time limit to use the phone, and even monitor their activities. Many tools and setting options are available in a phone that ensure your child uses their phone safely.

This article illustrates enabling or setting up kids' mode on Android phones and tablets.

Various ways to setup kids' mode on Android phone

• Play Store Parental Controls
• Parental Controls in Chrome
• Share Content with Family Library
• Set up Kids mode on Samsung phones
• The alternate method to set kids mode on Samsung Galaxy devices
• Replace YouTube with YouTube Kids

Play Store Parental Controls

If your child and kids are 13 or above (or have any account), use the built-in parental controls on your smartphone from Play Store. This app allows you to control which apps, games, videos, and TV shows your child can download and watch based on age rating. Such apps also offer features to restrict books and magazines labeled with explicit types.

To get and set up a parental control app on your Android phone or tablet, open the Play Store app, go to Settings > Family (Parental Controls), and start setting up as you need. Look at below the step-to-step guide:

• Launch the Play Store app on your Android phone or tablet.
• Tap on the profile icon or (user alphabet icon), scroll down the popup screen, and click on Settings.
  
• Now, tap on the Family option to get various parental control options and kids set up mode.
• Tap on the Parental Controls option and enable it.
  
• Now the screen will prompt you to set up a new PIN password, using which you can change settings and manage parental controls.
  
• Now go through each content type, set an age limit, or enable the explicit filter and tap Save.

You are finally all done; your kids (child) can't be able to access any things outside the settings options. Remember, this parental control setup is only done for a single phone or tablet rather than an account. If your child uses multiple devices, you must set up each one.

Parental Controls in Chrome

To protect your child from some of the harmful or unwanted content on the web, you can apply the SafeSearch filter to their web browser. The SafeSearch option to filter web content is available on the Google Chrome browser app, and SafeSearch lets you manage explicitly in your search result.

Besides, this setting might not be applied if your child uses any other third-party browsing app. Following are the steps to enable SafeSearch (parental controls) in the Chrome app browser:

1. Launch the Google app on your Android device.
2. Tap on the Profile menu and Settings.
   
3. Tap on the SafeSearch option.
   
4. Now, enable the Filter option.
   

Use Google's Family Link

Google restricts creating an account for those below a certain age limit, which varies in some countries. But many parents use fake age to create their children's accounts. Such tricks work, but they violets Google's terms and conditions, and potentially company suspend the account.

To overcome such things, Google provides a service termed Family Link. This service is similar to Android kids' mode, and Family Link only works for kids under 13 years old (or legal age as per country). This service is an effective monitoring tool for monitoring your kids.

Parents can use Family Link to remotely control and monitor their kid's devices, like apps they use, what they search online, how many hours they spend on their devices daily, and much more.

What you can do with Family Link

With the help of the Family Link service, parents can control their kids' devices, monitor their activities, etc. Some of them are given below:

• Control screen time: you can control how many hours your kids spend on their phones daily.
• Control app downloads: you will be prompted to allow or disallow app installation whenever your child downloads.
• Set a bedtime: set a specific time (mainly for the night) after which the phone can't work.
• Set up filters: to control what apps, videos, and games they can download.
• Filters to apply safe search over Chrome browser.
• Track kid's phone: you can track your little one's phone to monitor where they are.

How to Set up Family Link

Download the Google Family Link app for parents from Play Store to enable kids mode using Family Link. Open the app and read the guide (or instruction) on the first few screens, then create a Google account for your kid when prompted. During this process, you may need to verify the payment methods.

Now, log in to the account on your kid's device and install the Family Link app for a child on the phone. Once it gets installed, open the app and follow the onscreen instructions to finish its setup.

Share Content with Family Library

Family Library is a service offered by Play Store that allows all the users in your family member to maintain their own Google account while sharing paid Play Store apps and content. It means you don't need to buy the same app or movie more than once.

Gratefully, you can do this based on selection, allowing you to hide some of your purchased content from your children. Although you must approve each purchase, this method allows your kids to use your credit card to buy items through the Play Store. To get started for sharing content with Family Library, follow the below-given steps:

1. Launch the Play Store app and tap on the user Account icon.
   
2. Tap on Settings and go to the Family section.
   
3. Now sign up for the Family Library.
   
4. On the next screen, you will get a brief introduction, like sharing your stuff and managing your family's purchases. Tap on the Signup button below to sign up and continue.
   
5. Now, select a payment method you want to share with your family.
6. When screen popups to share content, choose to Add All or One by One.
7. Invite your household to your group by adding their Gmail address when prompted. All the family members need to accept the invitation.

The members under 18 years old will require approval when buying anything. Parents will receive a notification on their phones to allow or decline their kid's purchases.

Set up Kids mode on Samsung phones:

If you use a Samsung smartphone and want to set a kids mode for your little one, you can easily do it. Setting kids mode on your device will entertain your child and prevent accidentally deleting important files or making phone calls. Following is a quick guide to setting up kids' mode on a Samsung phone running on OS 9 and above.

• First, you must add the Kids mode setting option to the Quick Setting panel.
  • Swipe down from the top of the notification panel to visit the Quick Setting panel.
  • Tap on the Plus option to find Kids mode there.
  • Now, long-press and move the Kids icon to place in the quick panel. Now tap on Done.
    
• Now, turn on the Kids mode on your phone before giving the device to your kids.
  • Swipe down from the top of the notification panel to visit the Quick Setting panel.
  • Tap on the Kids icon and then Start.
  • If you wish to add the Kids feature on the Home screen, tap Next.
  • You must enter the PIN you set whenever you want to edit settings on Samsung Kids, and you can even choose a separate PIN for the Kids mode setting.
    

The alternate method to set kids mode on Samsung Galaxy devices

There has an alternate way to set kids mode on Samsung Galaxy devices using the Galaxy Apps itself. The steps are given below; how you can do this:

1. Tap on the App list icon to open and view all the apps installed on your phone.
2. Find and tap on the Galaxy Apps app to search apps for your Galaxy phone.
3. Tap the search button and search for apps with kids' mode.
4. From your search result, you will see the Samsung Kids Mode app appears on the search screen.
5. Tap on the Kids Mode app to view its detailed information. Now, please tap on the Install button to install it on your phone.
6. Once it gets installed, tap on Open to launch it.
7. Accept the permissions it asks for; it helps you get the most out of the Kids Mode app.
8. Kids Mode needs to install additional files to run the device in kids mode; tap the Install button to install such files.
9. Tap on Let's Get Started to proceed, and it appears only once after installation finishes.
10. Now, create a pin to secure the Kids Mode you set up so your kids can't access beyond the setup.
11. Create your child's profile by providing their name, date of birth, etc. Based on age, it determines which apps best suit your kids. Tap Next to proceed.
12. Add a contact number from the contacts list; you want that your child can call and communicate with them.
13. Add apps from the list of apps installed on your phone that you want your child can use.
14. Finally, tap on Finish to complete the kid's account settings and kid's mode.
15. Once you launch the Kids Mode after setting up, you will find some basic apps for kids. It includes a specific Phone app that allows making calls to set contacts number, a Camera app that keeps photos separate from the device's main Camera app, and a Kids' Store to download and install new kids' apps to the device. When you open these apps for the first time, you will see a prompt to allow permission to access some device services for the best experience.
16. Open the Kids Store app to view new apps for kids to download and install. The Kids Store looks much similar to the regular app store, but its UI is designed by keeping the interest of kids. Here the apps are categorized into different age groups. However, you can search for specific apps you need or view them by category.
17. Set up the Kids Mode by tapping the Settings icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen before you hand over the phone to your kids.
18. To access the Settings menu, input the PIN you set earlier.
19. Tap on the Daily playtime limit option to set a time your child maximum use to access the phone. There has the option to set different times for weekdays and weekends.
20. You can see your kids' activities on their phones by tapping the Activity Information button.
21. Kids Mode allows you to safely use apps and services you approve while setting kids mode without changing your settings.
22. To exit from Kids Mode and access the phone in normal mode, a PIN password is required that you set.

Replace YouTube with YouTube Kids

These days, many kids spend their time watching YouTube videos. And we all know that many contents are available that parents never want their children to watch. To make Android phones and tablets children-friendly, you can provide YouTube Kids instead of the standard YouTube app. YouTube Kids is an official app offered by YouTube which is family-friendly.

For this, you must first disable YouTube by navigating to Settings > Apps > YouTube and tapping the Disable option. Disabling YouTube hides the app's icon so your kids can never access it.

Now, install YouTube Kids from Play Store. From its settings, you can enable or disable the search option, set the limit of time your kids spend watching the app, and flag and restricts any unwanted videos from appearing accidentally.

If your children are aged for that, there has the option to set the standard YouTube app in restricted mode. Setting the app to standard YouTube mode hides videos other users reported as an adult or inappropriate content. YouTube also filters out some mature content automatically. However, YouTube commits that no such filters work 100% accurately. But it helps users to avoid the most inappropriate content they find.

Launch the app to enable restricted mode on YouTube and click the user Account icon in the screen's upper-right corner. Now, from the list of available options, tap on Settings and then the General option. Finally, turn on the Restricted Mode toggle button.

Kids mode options on Android

However, no specific kids mode is available on Android; the combination of Family Link and Family Library services helps make the device safe for children. It is worth checking whether specific apps offer options to reduce access to explicit content on mobile phones. Also, remember that no parental control apps are perfect, so you should be prepared for your child to bypass parental control in any method you can't expect.