On Thursday, many Android users woke up to an update for a “Family Link parental controls”that shares the same name with an existing Google app.
Update: End users should accept today’s update. There are no other changes to the Family Link experience.
This Google Play update appears even if you don’t use Family Link, which lets you manage your child’s Android devices with various app limits and content controls.
Parents have long managed the experience from the “Google Family Link” app. Additionally, they’d have to install “Family Link parental controls” — com.google.android.apps.kids.familylinkhelper — “to a device being used by a child or teen.”
Google this morning released a second app named “Family Link parental controls” — com.google.android.gms.supervision — with a slightly different icon where the kite is filled in instead of being a blue outline. This app, or rather a placeholder “stub,” is already installed on Android 13 devices, including Pixel and Samsung.
Old vs. new
The Play Store description explains how “Family Link parental controls is used to enable Family Link services on managed devices. This lets parents do things like set screen time limits and hide apps. To learn more about Family Link, visit google.com/familylink.” It’s more of a background service than a traditional app.
It’s somewhat unclear why both apps share the same name.
More on Family Link:
Google rolls out Assistant parental controls and four kid-friendly voices [U]
Google redesigns Family Link with Material You, web app, and ‘Today only’ limits
YouTube Music will soon work for supervised kid accounts enrolled with Family Link
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.
Add 9to5Google to your Google News feed.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
