Google on Wednesday announced a series of updates for its parental control software Google Family Link and a plan to test new machine-learning techniques to estimate users’ ages so it could apply more age-appropriate experiences to kids’ devices.
The company earlier said that it would soon use machine learning to determine the age of YouTube users for better recommendations, but Google tells TechCrunch it will also test this feature at the Google account level. That means it will be applicable across Google products, including but not limited to YouTube.
Those tests of the age estimation model will begin in the U.S. sometime this year and will expand to more countries over time. Other social media services like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, already use age estimation and verification technologies.
Meanwhile, Google’s Family Link parental control software is also gaining a few improvements. The app is designed to allow parents or guardians to restrict kids’ access to content and control various privacy and security settings across a range of services, including Google Search, Photos, Assistant, YouTube, Chrome, and more.
Now, Family Link is being updated to include tools for managing kids’ screen time across their Android and Chrome devices while also helping kids stay focused at school.
A new feature called School Time will begin to roll out next week to Android phones and tablets, letting parents “automatically limit or adjust” the child’s device during certain hours, as well as restrict access to certain apps.
Later, parents will also be able to add contacts to their child’s device and then set controls to restrict the child to only being able to call or text those approved contacts. This could be useful when giving phones to younger kids who may need to be able to call mom or dad or grandparents, but not others.
Google says this addition will start to roll out in March.
Kids with Android devices will be able to pay in-store using Google Wallet sometime later this spring, too. Google says parents of supervised Android users under the age of consent will be able to add a payment card to their child’s Google Wallet so the kids can use tap and pay. Parents will also be able to approve new cards, remove cards, add gift cards and tickets to their child’s wallet, and see the child’s transaction history.
Teens will be able to access more AI-powered features later this year, including a “Learn About” generative AI-powered tool that offers interactive learning experiences and the AI research assistant Notebook LM. These join the AI features already offers to teens, like AI Overviews in Google Search, AI chatbot Gemini, and Circle to Search.
Under the threat of stricter regulations in the U.S. and abroad, Google and other tech giants started introducing additional safeguards and privacy features for minors. In Google’s case, it began defaulting under-18 users to its SafeSearch Filter, restricted sensitive ads, age-gated content on YouTube, and more.
