Google Family Link allows parents to create accounts for children under 13

For the first time ever, Google is targeting children under 13 for account creation. The new "Google Family Link" app allows parents to make special Google accounts for kids under 13, which can be monitored and locked down. Right now the program is in a US-only, invite-only "early access" beta, and the child's device has the hefty requirement of running Android 7.0 Nougat and up.

In the US, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) restricts the collection of data on children under 13, requiring parental notification and consent. Previously Google complied with this law by banning kids under 13 from making an account. Google has created some kid-focused products in the past, namely YouTube Kids, but that app did not have a log-in feature—a bummer for anyone that wanted customization or their ad-free YouTube Red subscription to work.

Family Link is Google's COPPA-compliant account-creation system, and it marks the first time kids under 13 can have a Google account. Family Link is built on top of the Android device-management framework, taking a lot of the "Android for Work" controls created for company administrators and turning them into parental controls. Rather than digging through an administrator dashboard, parents get a parental version of the Family Link app (which works on Android 4.4 and up) while the kid gets a locked-down device that is basically a slave to the "parent" device. The app even verifies an adult is doing the setup process by charging 30¢ to a credit card, which is apparently one of the FTC-approved ways of getting "verifiable parental consent."

Parents become gatekeepers to the app store, approving or blocking downloads the child requests. Parents can see usage times for apps, total screen-on time, and set bedtime limits or total usage limits. Remotely monitoring app usage is a new administrative feature that was added in Android 7.0, which explains why the child's device needs to have such up-to-date software. Parents can also force SafeSearch to be on, lock down the Play Store's content restrictions, monitor app permissions, track device location, and share all these controls with a second family member.

Other than not showing "personalized" ads to kids, data collection and storage seems to work just like a regular Google account. On the "Disclosure for Parents" page, Google notes that "your child’s Google Account will be like your own" and "Most of these products and services have not been designed or tailored for children." Google won't do any special content blocking on a kid's device, so they can still get into plenty of trouble even with a monitored Google account.

When a kid turns 13, they can "graduate" to a full Google account and break free of the locked-down account.

If you're interested in trying out the program, you can request an early access sign up here.

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