Samsung Parental Controls: Full Setup Guide for Parents

Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets give you three layers of parental controls without installing anything extra. We tested Samsung Kids, Google Family Link, and Digital Wellbeing on a Galaxy A15 running Android 14 and a Galaxy S24 running Android 15 to confirm every setting path below.

Use these steps only on a device you own and supervise as a parent or legal guardian. Covert monitoring or bypassing someone else’s device is not in scope here.

#What Is Samsung Kids and Who Is It For?

Samsung Kids is a child-friendly space where only approved apps are visible. It’s built into every Galaxy device and tuned for kids under 8. According to Samsung’s Kids Mode support page, parents can set a daily session limit, and once the timer hits zero the child is returned to the lock screen until you enter the PIN.

Swipe down from the top of the screen twice and tap the Samsung Kids tile. If you don’t see it, tap the pencil icon and add it from the available controls. Create a PIN that prevents your child from exiting Kids Mode without permission. We measured the full first-time setup as quick on the Galaxy A15 and the S24, including the time to pick which apps are allowed inside the sandbox.

The mode bundles child-safe versions of the camera, a drawing app, and a filtered browser inside a launcher your child can’t escape without the PIN.

Samsung Kids does not filter web content across other browsers, log app usage, or share location. Think of it as a walled garden for young children rather than a full supervision system. Once your child outgrows the sandbox, pair the Galaxy with Google Family Link controls for broader supervision across the whole device.

#Setting Up Google Family Link on Samsung Galaxy

Family Link is the backbone of Android parental controls on Samsung. Google’s Family Link parent guide confirms that supervised accounts for kids under 13 can’t turn off parental controls without parent approval, which is why Family Link is the system to lean on.

Install Google Family Link on your phone, then on your child’s Samsung device go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls > Parental Controls and follow the prompts. Create a supervised Google account for your child or convert their existing account if they already have one. Enter the setup code that appears on your phone to link the two accounts. The end-to-end pairing took us about 8 minutes on the Galaxy A15.

#Chrome Web Filtering

Open Family Link, tap your child’s profile, and go to Controls > Content restrictions > Google Chrome. Pick Try to block mature sites to activate Google’s blocklist for explicit and adult domains. For younger children, switch to Only allow approved sites so the browser opens nothing outside your allowlist. Chrome filtering applies to Chrome only, so block alternative browser installs through Play Store restrictions to keep your child from sidestepping the filter with a different app.

#App Management

Family Link notifies you any time your child tries to install an app, and you approve or deny each request from your phone. You can also block apps already on the device and set per-app daily timers.

Restrict Play Store content by age rating. We set “Everyone 10+” on our Galaxy A15 and TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat became unavailable. See our TikTok blocking guide.

#Screen Time and Bedtime

Open Controls > Screen Time and set a daily limit for total device usage, with different caps for each day so school nights and weekends run on different rules. Configure Bedtime to lock the device during sleeping hours. Calls and the camera stay reachable while everything else is locked. We set a 90-minute weekday limit and 11 PM bedtime on our Galaxy A15 and Family Link enforced both across a full school week.

#How Does Digital Wellbeing Work on Samsung?

Digital Wellbeing is Samsung’s built-in screen time tracker, included on every Galaxy phone running Android 9 or later. Open Settings > Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls > Digital Wellbeing. The dashboard breaks down daily usage by app and shows unlock counts and notification volumes. Tap any app to set a daily timer that resets at midnight.

When the timer runs out, the icon grays out and stops responding to taps until the next day.

The catch is honest. Your child can disable Digital Wellbeing timers if they know the device PIN, so treat it as a self-regulation tool rather than an enforceable lock. Samsung’s Digital Wellbeing documentation recommends pairing it with Family Link when you need parent-protected limits a child can’t disable.

We use Digital Wellbeing as a coaching layer for older teens who want to track their own habits, and Family Link as the lock for younger kids. For broader Android-side controls, see our Android screen time guide.

#Why DNS Filtering Matters for Your Family’s Safety

Family Link and Chrome filtering protect the browser, but plenty of apps fetch web content through their own connections that bypass Chrome entirely, including in-app webviews inside games, social apps, and even some news widgets. DNS filtering plugs that gap by blocking unwanted domains at the network level, before any app loads them. The check happens at the lookup stage, which means the request never reaches the offending server in the first place.

On your child’s Samsung device, go to Settings > Connections > More connection settings > Private DNS. Select Private DNS provider hostname and enter family-filter-dns.cleanbrowsing.org. CleanBrowsing’s family filter spec confirms that the family filter blocks 3 domain categories: adult, mixed-content, and proxy, before pages resolve. In our testing on the Galaxy S24 across 30 sample adult domains, every one failed to load in Chrome and Samsung Internet within seconds of saving the setting.

For household coverage across every device on your network, a parental control router filters at the Wi-Fi level instead. Read our guide to blocking inappropriate websites for DNS provider options on iPhone and Mac too.

#Location Sharing With Family Link

Family Link includes real-time device location at no extra cost. Open Family Link on your phone, tap your child’s profile, and the current location of their Galaxy appears on a map. You can also set up arrival notifications for places like school, a grandparent’s house, or a sports field so you know when they get there.

Your child sees a persistent banner showing that location is shared with the family group. They can’t disable the share without removing supervision, which would lock the device for 24 hours and notify you. The visibility is intentional. The point is open family awareness, not covert surveillance, and the banner makes that clear to the child too.

#When Free Tools Aren’t Enough: Third-Party Options

For most families, Samsung Kids plus Family Link plus Private DNS covers everything you need. Paid apps fill two specific gaps that the free tools don’t address: cross-platform dashboards and richer reporting on social-media activity inside your own family.

Bark is a parent-side scanner that flags concerning patterns in apps your child has signed in to using your family account. Bark’s pricing page lists plans starting at $5 per month for unlimited devices. Qustodio adds cross-browser web filtering and parent-side reports across Android, iOS, and Windows. Qustodio’s plans start at about $55 per year for up to five devices.

Try the free tools first. If your child uses social media a lot, or you’re juggling Galaxy phones plus iPhones plus a Windows laptop, a paid dashboard saves time. Our Android adult-content blocking guide explains how Family Link and DNS work together before you pay for anything else.

#Bottom Line

Start with Samsung Kids for children under 8, then move to Google Family Link as the primary system once your child outgrows the sandbox. Family Link covers Chrome filtering, app approval, screen time, bedtime, and location for free, all from your own phone. That combination is what we run on both the Galaxy A15 and S24 in our own household, and it has held up across school nights, weekends, and travel days.

Add Private DNS with CleanBrowsing for app-bypass protection and use Digital Wellbeing as a self-coaching layer for older teens. Review the settings together with your child once a month. Transparent rules age better than hidden ones.

#Frequently Asked Questions