How to Turn Off Family Link: What Parents and Teens Need to Know

Google Family Link is a powerful parental supervision tool — but there comes a point where disabling it makes sense. Whether your child has aged out of needing close monitoring, you're switching devices, or you simply want to restructure how you handle digital oversight, turning off Family Link isn't always a single-click process. The steps vary depending on who initiates it, which device is involved, and the child's age.

What Google Family Link Actually Does

Before removing it, it helps to understand what you're dealing with. Family Link lets parents manage a child's Google Account — controlling app downloads, screen time, content filters, and location sharing. It works across Android devices and Chromebooks, and applies to the child's Google Account itself, not just the device.

This distinction matters: Family Link supervision is tied to the account, not the hardware. Deleting the app doesn't remove supervision. You need to go through Google's account settings to fully disable it.

Who Can Turn Off Family Link?

This is where most confusion starts. 🔑

• Parents (supervisors) can remove supervision at any time through the Family Link app or via Google's account management tools.
• Children under 13 (in the US) cannot remove supervision themselves. Google enforces this because accounts for under-13s are subject to COPPA compliance rules.
• Teens 13 and older can request to remove supervision, but the parent must approve it. In some regions, once a child turns 13, they can initiate the process directly from their device settings.

The age threshold varies slightly by country, so the exact cutoff where a child can self-manage depends on local regulations Google follows.

How to Turn Off Family Link as a Parent

Method 1: Using the Family Link App

1. Open the Family Link app on your device (the parent's phone).
2. Select your child's account from the main screen.
3. Tap the Settings gear icon.
4. Scroll to Account Info and look for Manage Settings.
5. Select Remove supervision or Stop supervision.
6. Follow the prompts to confirm.

Once completed, the child's Google Account continues to exist — it just loses parental oversight. The child regains full control of their account settings, app installs, and screen time.

Method 2: Through Google Account Settings (Web)

1. Go to families.google.com and sign in with the parent Google account.
2. Select the child's profile.
3. Navigate to Settings > Account Info.
4. Look for the option to remove parental supervision.
5. Confirm your identity if prompted.

This method is useful if you no longer have the Family Link app installed or you're working from a desktop.

How to Turn Off Family Link on the Child's Device

If your child is 13 or older and supervision needs to be removed from their end:

1. On the child's Android device, go to Settings > Google > Manage your Google Account.
2. Tap the People & sharing tab.
3. Scroll to find Family settings.
4. If eligible, there should be an option to remove supervision or notify the parent of the request.

Note: The child's device must have an internet connection for the changes to sync. If the account was originally created as an under-13 account and the child has since turned 13, Google may prompt the teen to review and update their account independently.

What Happens After You Remove Supervision

Removing Family Link supervision has several downstream effects worth knowing about:

Location sharing specifically — this stops automatically once Family Link supervision ends. If you want to continue location sharing for safety reasons, you'd need to set that up separately through Google Maps sharing or another method.

Variables That Affect the Process 🔧

Not everyone's experience will be identical. Several factors shape how smoothly this goes:

• Child's age and region — the 13-and-over threshold isn't universal globally, and some countries have different age thresholds for account autonomy.
• Device type — Android phones, Chromebooks, and Android tablets each have slightly different navigation paths to reach the same settings.
• OS version — older Android versions may have a different interface layout for Google account settings.
• Whether the child's account was created as a supervised account from birth or transitioned later — accounts created under strict supervision sometimes have additional steps during removal.
• Two-step verification and account recovery settings — if the parent's Google Account has security settings that require verification, the removal process will include extra confirmation steps.

Partial Removal vs. Full Removal

It's also worth knowing you don't have to go all-or-nothing. Before fully turning off Family Link, parents can adjust rather than eliminate:

• Turn off specific restrictions (like app approvals) while keeping location sharing active.
• Raise screen time limits significantly rather than removing them entirely.
• Change content filter settings to more permissive levels.

These options live inside the Family Link app under the child's profile settings. For families in a transitional period — say, a teenager who's earned more trust but where some oversight still feels appropriate — this middle ground may be more relevant than a full shutdown.

The right approach depends on the child's age, the devices in use, and what level of oversight actually fits your household's current situation.