The internet is a wild place, and not particularly kid-friendly. Unfortunately, it’s highly impractical to keep your kids entirely off the web. That’s where family accounts come in handy: Parents can set their kids up with supervised accounts, giving them access to essential apps and services, without allowing unfettered access to the entire net. It’s often imperfect, and kids find workarounds for the guardrails, but still; it’s better than nothing.
Every company that offers a family account handles things differently. Meta, for example, continues to update their policies in the wake of criticism surrounding how addictive and harmful their apps can be for children. These days, teens have to deal with a number of limitations they didn’t previously have: While users 16 and older can remove these limitations if they wish, those under 16 need a parent’s consent to do so. That means things like screen time, going live on Instagram, and DMs are all blocked and controlled by the parent for users 15 and under.
If you’re the administrator of a Google Family Account, you might assume you have a similar level of control over your kids’ Google accounts. Perhaps you imagine it’s like Meta: When they’re old enough, maybe something like 16, they can decide for themselves what level of access they have on their account, but until then, you’d have the final say. As it turns out, that’s not the case. In fact, you really only have that control until your kid turns 13.
Google Accounts are available for users 13 and up
I first came across this issue from this LinkedIn post from user Melissa McKay. McKay, frustrated, shared how she received an email from Google, alerting her that her youngest child will soon have the option to remove supervision on their Google Account once they turn 13. According to the attached screenshots, the email says that once the child turns 13, they’ll be able to access more Google apps and services, and customize their Google Account to make it their own. McKay summed up her discontent with the following: “Call it what it is. Grooming for engagement. Grooming for data. Grooming minors for profit.”
The post currently has over 6,400 reactions on LinkedIn, which is relatively viral for the platform. Since I don’t have kids, this is the first I’m hearing about these rules. But a quick search pulls up Google’s official support doc on the subject. Indeed, when a child turns 13 (or an applicable age due to the law of the country or region) they are given the choice to either continue on with parental supervision, or manage their own Google Account.
Here’s what that means for your child:
-
They’ll no longer have access to YouTube Kids, but will have access to general YouTube. Google will also disable supervised YouTube experiences.
-
They’ll be able to add payment cards to Google Wallet or Google Pay, and can remove cards from their phone or watch, as well.
-
They’ll be able to use these cards for tap to pay, in-app payments, website payments via Google Pay, autofill, as well as various payments across Google services, like the Play Store and YouTube.
And here’s what that means for you, as their parent:
-
You can no longer set up supervision features like downtime, app blocking, or mandatory location sharing. (Your child can choose to share their location, if they want to.)
-
You can no longer see your child’s transactions or get notifications when they make new purchases.
-
You can’t add or remove payment cards for your kid.
-
You can’t block their access to Wallet passes.
Of course, these changes are contingent on your child’s decision to remove the supervision. They can choose to keep it on, and, as such, you can continue to monitor and administer your kid’s account. However, I can imagine many 13 year olds will choose to remove supervision, unless they’re particularly agreeable. As such, you effectively lose control when your child does turn 13.
Interestingly, Google says that once a child removes supervision without your permission, their device is locked “temporarily.” It’s not clear whether this means that the parent device needs to unlock the device, or if this just a cool down period, and the device will unlock on its own. I’ve reached out to Google for clarity here.
Not all Google services are available for minors
Even though Google allows kids to lift restrictions when they turn 13, they don’t have total access to all of Google’s services. According to this support doc, there are some key age-restricted content and services that require users to be 18 or older, including:
That’s it, at least according to Google’s safety doc. I’ve reached out to Google again for clarity on what other restrictions are in place on accounts between ages 13 and 18, and will update this article when I know more.
Google is changing its family link age policy
This is all changing, however. Kate Charlet, Google’s head of global privacy, safety, and security, posted on LinkedIn as well, acknowledging the current policy and asserting that Google has changes in the works. Soon enough, Google will require both the child and the parent to agree to lift supervision. That should help parents who aren’t ready to let their 13 year old access standard YouTube and other Google services without their permission.
Of course, for parents that have already received an email about their kids reaching “the age of digital consent,” this might not offer much solace.
