Google's Family Link parental controls now include per-app time limits

Google introduced Family Link in 2017 to give children their own Google account and to provide an app through which parents could manage their child's screen time. The controls have since been expanded to cover teens too, and from today there will be new features available to help parents more closely manage what content their kids see.

The big new feature is per app time limits. Now parents can set time limits for individuals apps on their child's device, letting them restrict games or video apps while allowing access to educational resources or communication apps, for example.

Another feature which kids will appreciate is bonus time. Parents can use the Family Link dashboard to grant extra time for their child to finish what they're working on or finish the level of a game, which is a way to compromise with kids who ask for the universal "just five more minutes".

Finally, Family Link is now more easily accessible. It can be found in device settings in Android 10, under "Digital wellbeing and parental controls".