Google Nest

    Set up Parental controls & Digital wellbeing on devices in your home

    Manage your child’s device and feature usage and restrict content access through Parental controls & Digital wellbeing in the Google Home app.

    Important:For Parental controls & Digital wellbeing to work correctly, your devices and apps must be up to date and each child must be a member of the home .

    With Parental controls & Digital wellbeing, you can:

    To set up Parental controls & Digital wellbeing, you need to:

    Set up the desired controls and settings

    Set up Parental controls
    If you’ve switched to Gemini for Home voice assistant , follow the steps for the Google Home app. If you are using Google Assistant, you can follow the steps for either the Google Home app or the Family Link app.

    In the Google Home app

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top right, tap your Profile pictureor Initial.
    3. Tap Home settings and then Google Assistantor Gemini for Home voice assistantand then Parental controls.
    4. Tap Set up.
    5. If you have already created an account, tap your child’s name. Otherwise, select Create account for child. Follow the on-screen instructions.
    6. Choose music and video filters, set up other features, and schedule when your child should take a break from voice assistant-enabled devices. Edit desired settings, then tap backto go back to other settings.

    In the Family Link app

    1. Open the Family Link appFamily Link.
    2. Select your child.
    3. Tap Controlsand then Google Assistantand then Parental controls.
    4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

    Important:After adding your child’s account to Parental controls, invite them to be a Home member.

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top, tap Addand then Home member.
    3. Follow the on-screen instructions.
      • For child accounts, they can only be a Member not an Admin by default.
      • Customize your child’s access by turning Activity and/or Settings access on or off.
    4. Review what your child can access. Tap Add.
    Set up Downtime through Digital wellbeing

    With Downtime, you can set a schedule to limit when your Google smart speaker or display can be used. Downtime is part of the Google Home app’s Digital Wellbeing tools. It can help you manage the use of your family’s speakers and displays.

    Important:Only home admins can create and manage Downtime schedules. Learn how to share a home and devices in the Google Home app .

    Learn what happens when Downtime is on

    • Your devices don't respond to most commands or questions. Commands to stop or cancel activities still work.
    • You don't receive notifications on your device.
    • Automations don’t work unless you started one before you turned on Downtime.
    • Activities that started before Downtime begins will continue. For example, you can play music before Downtime starts, and it'll continue to play until you stop it.
    • You can set an alarm or timer, or ask for the time.
    • You can use commands to control your smart devices, like when you ask your voice assistant to turn the lights on or off.

    Create a Downtime schedule

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top right, tap your Profile pictureor Initial.
    3. Tap Home settings and then Digital wellbeingand then Set up. You can set up Filters or skip to Downtime setup.
    4. If you’ve previously set up Filters, under "Downtime," tap New schedule. Follow the in-app steps to schedule Downtime.

    Change Downtime schedule

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top right, tap your Profile pictureor Initial.
    3. Tap Home settings and then Digital wellbeingand thenthe schedule that you want to change.
    4. Turn off your schedule or make changes.
    5. Tap Save.
    Set up additional settings for YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube TV

    Turn on Restricted mode for YouTube Music and YouTube video search

    1. Open the Google Home app.

    2. Tap Home and thenAll devices , then touch and hold your device's tile.
    3. Tap Settingsand then Notifications & Digital wellbeingand then YouTube settings.
    4. Under "Use Restricted mode," turn on Restrict for meor Restrict when someone isn’t recognized.

    Learn more about YouTube Restricted mode .

    Turn on content filters for YouTube TV

    You can allow only programs that are rated YT-Y, YT-G, G and PG.

    Important:YouTube TV is available throughout the United States .

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. Tap Home and thenAll devices , then touch and hold your device's tile.
    3. Tap Settingsand then Notifications & Digital wellbeingand then YouTube settings.
    4. Under “Filter content for YouTube TV,” turn off Filter for me.

    Turn off auto-play next video for YouTube

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. Tap Home and thenAll devices , then touch and hold your device's tile.
    3. Tap Settingsand then Notifications & Digital wellbeingand then YouTube settings.
    4. Under “Auto-play next video,” tap Turn off for meor Turn off when someone isn’t recognized.

    Edit, disable or remove settings

    Edit Parental control settings

    If you have switched to Gemini for Home voice assistant, you can follow the steps for the Google Home app. If you are using Google Assistant, you can follow the steps for either the Google Home app or the Family Link app.

    In the Google Home app

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top right, tap your Profile pictureor Initial.
    3. Tap Home settings and then Google Assistantor Gemini for Home voice assistantand then Parental controls.
    4. Select the child you want to customize settings for.
    5. Edit desired settings, then tap Backto go back to other settings.

    In the Family Link app

    1. Open the Family Link appFamily Link.
    2. Select your child.
    3. Tap Controlsand then Google Assistantand then Parental controls.
    4. Follow the on-screen instructions.
    Edit Digital Wellbeing settings for people and devices

    Use these steps if you’ve switched to Gemini for Home voice assistant.

    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top right, tap your Profile pictureor Initial.
    3. Tap Home settings and then Digital wellbeing.
    4. Tap Add device filterif you want to filter media or other features for everyone or supervised accounts and guests. You can also decide which devices these filters apply to.
    5. Follow the on-screen instructions. Tap Done.
    Disable or remove Digital Wellbeing settings for people and devices
    1. Open the Google Home app.
    2. At the top right, tap your Profile pictureor Initial..
    3. Tap Home settings and then Digital wellbeing.
    4. Filters:Tap the device name to modify filters. Tap the toggle to temporarily turn off the filter on the device.
      • To delete the filter permanently, tap Moreand then Delete filterand then Delete.

      Downtime:Tap the schedule to modify. Tap the toggle to temporarily turn off Downtime.

      • To delete the schedule permanently, tap Moreand then Delete scheduleand then Delete.

    How Parental controls & Digital wellbeing work

    Important: Gemini for Home voice assistant uses filters to limit inappropriate content, but they aren’t perfect and mistakes can happen. Supervise your child and double-check Gemini’s responses. Remind them that Gemini is an AI, not a person, and should not be treated as a friend or given personal information.

    You can choose whether filters affect everyone using your device, or just guests and children with a Family Link account. You can apply filters to a specific device or to all supported devices.

    Your child might be able to play videos and other content you’ve restricted through:

    • News.
    • Podcasts.
    • A phone or tablet cast to a voice assistant-enabled device.

    If your child’s Google Account was created without a Gmail address and password on a new Pixel Tablet, you can’t set up Parental controls for:

    • Music filters
    • Video filters
    • Calling

    You can filter content or features with Parental controls. You can also schedule Downtime to limit screen time, pause devices, or schedule quiet periods directly from the Google Home app.

    You can set filters and schedule downtime for these services:

    • Music filters
    • Video filters
    • News
    • Podcasts
    • Calling
    • Answers to questions

    For some music, video, and podcast services, you can filter explicit content reported by a third-party. These filters can help you manage your child’s access to mature content, but may not filter content that you consider inappropriate.

    Available filter settings

    Music filters
    • Allow any music:Play any available music on your device for your child, without filters.
    • Only allow non-explicit music:Play non-explicit music for your child, from the services you choose. The listed services in this option can provide content filtering.
      • You can tap Content settingsnext to “YouTube“ to choose which YouTube experience you want for your child.
      • Filters are applied based on the Voice Match profile of the person speaking.
    • Block all music:Devices don’t play any music.
    Video filters

    Important:If you block videos for your child but allow music from YouTube Music, music videos might still play on devices and TVs.

    • Allow any videos:Play any available videos on your device, without filters.
    • Only allow filtered videos:Play videos on your device from the services you choose and based on the filters you set for those services.
      • You can tap Content settingsnext to “YouTube“ to choose which YouTube experience you want on your device.
    • Block all videos:Devices don’t play any videos.
    News

    Important:Your child might still be able to play news in other media services you allow. Some news might have mature content. You can manage your child’s news sources in their voice assistant settings.

    • Allow news:Play news on your device.
    • Block news:Devices won’t play news.
    Podcasts

    Important:Your child might still be able to play podcasts in other media services you allow. Some podcasts might have mature content. You can manage your child’s podcast services in their voice assistant settings.

    • Allow any podcasts:Play any available podcasts on your device, without filters.
    • Only allow non-explicit podcasts:Play non-explicit podcasts on your device.
    • Block all podcasts:Your device won’t play any podcasts.

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