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27 April 2026 · parental controls, Android, South Africa, family safety

How to Set Up Parental Controls on Android in South Africa

A practical step-by-step guide for South African parents on locking down Android phones and tablets — from Google Family Link to network-level filtering that actually works.

Your child has an Android phone or tablet. You want to make sure they're safe online without turning it into a fight every time they pick it up. The good news: Android has decent built-in tools. The bad news: those tools alone have real gaps — especially when it comes to blocking content at the network level.

This guide covers both, in plain language, in under 15 minutes.

Step 1: Set Up Google Family Link

Family Link is Google's free parental control tool. It gives you a dashboard where you can approve app downloads, set daily screen time limits, lock the device remotely, and see your child's location.

What you need:

  • Your child must be under 18 and have their own Google account (you create this during setup)
  • Your phone with the Family Link parent app
  • Your child's Android phone or tablet

Setup on the parent's phone:

  1. Install Google Family Link from the Play Store
  2. Open it and tap Get Started
  3. Select Manage your child and follow the prompts to link your child's Google account

On your child's device:

  1. Make sure they're signed in with their Google account
  2. Family Link will prompt your child's device to accept supervision — they need to tap Allow

Once linked, you'll see their device in your Family Link dashboard. From there you can:

  • Approve or block apps before they install them
  • Set a daily screen time limit (e.g. 2 hours on weekdays)
  • Set a bedtime — the device locks automatically
  • Remotely lock the device immediately if needed
  • See their location on a map

Step 2: Turn On SafeSearch and Restrict YouTube

Google SafeSearch filters explicit results from Google Search. It's not foolproof, but it catches the obvious stuff.

For Google Search:

  1. On your child's device, open Chrome and go to google.com
  2. Tap the three-dot menu → Settings → SafeSearch
  3. Set it to Filter

If your child has a supervised Google account (via Family Link), you can also enforce SafeSearch from the parent dashboard: Controls → Google Search → SafeSearch.

For YouTube: The safest option for younger children is to switch them to YouTube Kids — a separate app with age-appropriate content only.

For older children who need regular YouTube:

  1. Open YouTube on their device
  2. Tap their profile picture → Settings → General
  3. Enable Restricted Mode

Important: Restricted Mode can be turned off by anyone logged in. If your child has their own Google account, they can disable it. The only reliable way to lock Restricted Mode is to force the device to use DNS filtering — covered in Step 4.

Step 3: Lock Down the Play Store

Without this step, your child can install anything rated "Everyone" without your approval.

Via Family Link:

  1. Open Family Link on your phone
  2. Tap your child's name → Controls → Google Play
  3. Under Content restrictions, set the age rating to match your child
  4. Enable Require approval for purchases and free downloads if you want to approve every install

This stops new app installs. It doesn't remove apps already on the device — go through those manually if needed.

Step 4: Block Content at the Network Level

Here's where most parents stop — and where most kids find the gaps.

Family Link and SafeSearch only work inside specific apps. A child who opens a browser in incognito mode, installs a less-popular browser, or uses an app with its own built-in browser can often bypass them entirely. Restricted Mode on YouTube can be disabled in seconds if the child knows their Google password.

DNS filtering closes this gap.

Every time a device tries to load a website — any website, in any app — it first asks a DNS server "what's the address for this domain?" If the DNS server is configured to block adult, gambling, or violent content, the device never reaches those sites at all. It doesn't matter which browser or app is used.

Android lets you set an encrypted DNS server for the entire device:

  1. Go to Settings → Network & Internet → Private DNS
  2. Select Private DNS provider hostname
  3. Enter the hostname provided by your DNS filtering service

If you're a GreenLine subscriber, your devices connect through a VPN that routes all DNS through our filtered servers automatically — no manual setup required, and it works even when your child is on mobile data, not just home Wi-Fi.

Step 5: Turn Off Bluetooth and NFC App Sideloading

A determined teenager can install apps outside the Play Store using APK files sent via Bluetooth or downloaded from the web. Family Link won't catch this.

Block unknown app installs:

  1. Go to Settings → Apps → tap the three-dot menu → Special app access → Install unknown apps
  2. Make sure every app listed shows Not allowed

This prevents sideloading entirely without needing any third-party tool.

What Each Layer Covers

| Control | What it stops | Can a child bypass it? | |---|---|---| | Family Link screen time | Device use after hours | Not without your PIN | | Family Link app approval | New app installs from Play Store | No | | Google SafeSearch | Explicit Google Search results | Yes — incognito mode | | YouTube Restricted Mode | Mature YouTube content | Yes — log out or disable | | DNS filtering | All blocked content, all apps | Very difficult | | Block unknown installs | APK sideloading | No |

The honest answer is: no single setting is enough. The combination of Family Link + DNS filtering covers the vast majority of risks for primary school and high school children without requiring you to check their phone every day.

A Note on South African Mobile Data

Most South African children use mobile data (MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, Telkom) rather than fixed home Wi-Fi. This matters because many DNS filtering solutions only work on Wi-Fi — meaning the moment your child leaves home, all filtering stops.

GreenLine routes all traffic through a VPN tunnel, so filtering stays on whether your child is at home, at school, or using data anywhere in the country.

Quick Checklist

  • [ ] Family Link installed and child's account supervised
  • [ ] Daily screen time limit set
  • [ ] Bedtime lock enabled
  • [ ] Play Store restricted to age-appropriate ratings
  • [ ] App approval required for new installs
  • [ ] Google SafeSearch enabled
  • [ ] YouTube Kids installed (under 13) or Restricted Mode on
  • [ ] Unknown app installs blocked
  • [ ] DNS filtering active on all networks (not just home Wi-Fi)

Work through this list once and you've done more than 90% of South African parents have. It doesn't need to be a perfect system — it just needs to raise the bar high enough that stumbling across harmful content becomes an accident rather than a habit.