Quick answer: To remove parental control on a Google account, the managing parent can use Family Link → child → Controls → Account settings → About supervision → Stop supervision, when the account is eligible. The applicable account age varies by country, and Google requires parent approval for users under 18. Turning 13 or uninstalling Family Link does not automatically end supervision.
First identify the restriction you want to change. Ending Google account supervision, allowing one app and taking an old phone out of use are different jobs. This guide explains the parent-authorized routes, what each change affects and what to check if a restriction remains.
Choose the right parental-control change
A missing app or a bedtime lock does not necessarily mean you need to stop supervision altogether. If the family still wants app approvals or time limits, changing the smallest relevant setting can keep those useful controls in place. If an eligible teen is taking over their account, stopping supervision is the broader change.
Use these distinctions before confirming anything:
- Stop Family Link supervision: end the parent’s supervision of the Google account, subject to the account’s eligibility and approval requirements.
- Adjust Google Play or an app rule: change the allowed content or app access while continuing supervision.
- Remove the Google account from one device: clear its local account information on that device; this is not deletion of the online account.
- Delete a Google account: a separate procedure with data-loss consequences. Do not use it just to get a missing supervision button.
Leaving a family group is another account-management action. Do not assume a family-membership change, deleting an app or resetting a phone is interchangeable with the supervision process.
Check age eligibility and parent approval
Google’s minimum age for managing your own account depends on the country. Thirteen is a common threshold, not a worldwide rule. Confirm the applicable threshold against the account’s real age and country rather than changing a birth date to make a control disappear.
Reaching that age does not automatically turn supervision off. Google explains that the child and parent receive an account-update notice, and the current settings continue until the account is updated. Updating the account can also keep supervision in place. Google’s account-age guidance explicitly requires parent approval to stop supervision for users under 18.
For a child below the applicable account-management age, do not expect the normal stop-supervision route to be available. A parent can still reconsider individual app or content rules. These are Google service requirements; they are not a promise that every device restriction disappears at a particular birthday.
If a birthday has passed but the option is missing, look for the account-update notice and verify which Google account is signed in. A child’s Gmail address and a parent’s Gmail address can both be on the same phone, so the account name matters more than which device is in your hand.
Prepare the accounts and access you need
- Confirm the child profile and email address that the parent actually manages.
- Use the managing parent’s Google account and the latest available Family Link app.
- Have an internet connection and access to the account verification Google requests.
- Agree which rules will end and which device or app settings the family wants to keep.
- Check that important account data is available before removing it from an old device.
Enter a password or parent access code only into Google’s own verification screen. Do not give either to a website selling a removal service or an app claiming to unlock supervision. Paid parental-control software is not required to perform Google’s authorized account-management steps.
If you cannot sign in to the managing account, resolve account access through Google’s recovery process. Trying other people’s credentials or treating a factory reset as account recovery can create another problem without solving the original one. A school or employer’s managed account can also have administration outside Family Link; the administrator is the correct contact for those controls.
Stop supervision from the parent’s Family Link app
For an eligible account, start with the parent-side route. It keeps the account selection and approval in the same workflow instead of searching unrelated Android or Play Store menus.
- Open Family Link while signed in to the managing parent’s account.
- Select the child whose Google account you want to manage.
- Open Controls → Account settings → About supervision.
- Select Stop supervision if it is available, read the consequences and complete the requested parent verification.
- Follow the confirmation prompts and check the resulting account status.
Google documents this route in its supervision-management help. Menu wording can vary with app updates and the account’s setup. If the option is unavailable, check eligibility and the account-update step before changing anything else.
What happens after supervision ends?
Ending supervision removes management attached to that Google account. Plan for the account holder to take responsibility for the settings that were previously managed by the parent. It does not delete the Google account, erase every device rule or convert a school-managed account into a personal one.
Tell the child which app choices, content settings and screen-time arrangements the family now expects them to manage. A family agreement can remain useful even when a technical account-control relationship has ended. Keep a separate device restriction only when it is intentional, rather than leaving everyone to guess why access is still blocked.
Child-device, browser and Google Play options
A child-device or browser option is not a way around parent approval. The same eligibility rules still apply. Google’s official supervision help includes the available routes for the current account setup; use that help while signed in to the correct account if the parent’s app is not available.
On a supervised Android device
The existing Android supervision settings may be under Digital Wellbeing & parental controls, or under Google’s services and parental-control settings, depending on the Android version. Where Google offers Stop supervision, complete the official parent verification and confirmation. Do not assume every Android version exposes the same menu or that a missing entry can be replaced by clearing app data.
On the web
Open Google’s official supervision help and follow its account-specific browser route. Check the signed-in address before continuing. A browser session belonging to the parent is not automatically the child session, and a browser route does not waive the under-18 approval requirement.
If you only want to change Google Play restrictions
For a supervised child, the managing parent can adjust Google Play content restrictions through Family Link. Select the child, open Controls → Google Play, and review the relevant content category. Google’s Play controls guidance distinguishes this from local Play restrictions on a device.
An age-rating setting and permission to install a particular app are different decisions. Allowing an app does not mean every in-app feature or third-party purchase is approved. If supervision has already ended, inspect the remaining restriction where it is actually configured instead of assuming Family Link can still manage an unsupervised account.
Likewise, an Apple Screen Time setting, a router’s filtering rule or a school’s device policy belongs to a separate control system. Changing Google supervision alone is not a reliable test of those systems.
Remove an account from an old device without deleting it
If your goal is to hand down, replace or stop using a device, Google’s account-removal guidance explains a different action: removing the child’s account clears associated information from that device, including local emails, contacts, device settings and supervision settings. For a child below the applicable account age, Google directs the parent to perform the removal from the parent device.
This action affects the device you select. It does not mean the Google account has been deleted or that supervision has ended everywhere. Check the device name and account address, and make sure important data is available elsewhere before confirming a local removal.
Deleting the entire account is substantially different. Read Google’s child-account deletion guidance if that is your actual intention. Google warns that the order of deletion and device removal can cause a device to become locked. Account deletion should not be an improvised fix for a content rule or an unavailable stop-supervision option.
For a device being passed to someone else, complete its own official preparation or reset procedure only after the account-removal and data checks. That is device handover, not a hidden shortcut to changing who manages the online account.
Troubleshoot missing options and remaining restrictions
Stop supervision is missing
- Age: confirm the country-specific threshold and the account’s genuine birth date.
- Account update: look for Google’s update notice after the applicable birthday.
- Role: check that you are the managing parent and have selected the intended child.
- App: update Family Link and recheck the official instructions for the account’s setup.
- Other administration: distinguish a school or work policy from Family Link supervision.
Changing methods without checking these causes can return you to the same eligibility check. If the official route still cannot proceed, use Google support or account recovery for the precise account problem; do not pay an unlock service or falsify account information.
An app, website or bedtime lock remains
Read the restriction message and identify the system enforcing it. A content-category rule, individual blocked app, local Play setting and device-wide downtime schedule can look similar to the person trying to use the phone. Check one scope at a time. An app’s own age or content policy can also remain after a parent changes a Google setting.
If you only allowed one app, continued supervision is expected. If you removed an account from one device, seeing the account still managed elsewhere is also expected. Those outcomes show why it is useful to choose the scope first.
Check the result and agree the next arrangement
- Reopen the relevant account or device settings and confirm the change you intended.
- Try the specific app or content category that prompted the change.
- Check separately for an intentional device-level rule, such as Apple Screen Time or Android downtime.
- Keep account sign-in and recovery access secure.
- Agree with the child how app choices, purchases and time online will be handled next.
My recommendation is to change the narrowest rule that solves the family’s problem. Stop supervision when the eligible account holder is ready to take over and the required parent approval is in place. If you only want one game or a different bedtime arrangement, adjusting that rule is usually a clearer decision than ending the whole account relationship.
For the wider setup and platform limits, see our Google Family Link review. This removal procedure does not require buying another monitoring product.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove parental control on a Google account?
For an eligible account, the managing parent can use Family Link, select the child, then open Controls → Account settings → About supervision → Stop supervision. Complete Google’s verification and confirmation. Users under 18 need parent approval.
Does Family Link stop automatically at 13?
No. The applicable age varies by country, and reaching it does not automatically end supervision. Google sends an account-update notice; current settings continue until the account is updated, and an update can keep supervision.
Why is Stop supervision missing?
Check the account’s applicable age, any account-update notice, the selected child and managing parent, and the current Family Link app. A school or work account may also have separate administration.
Can I remove Family Link by uninstalling the app?
Uninstalling the app does not by itself end the Google account’s supervision. Use Google’s eligible supervision-management process. A child-device or browser route does not bypass parent approval.
Is removing an account from a phone the same as stopping supervision?
No. Device removal clears associated local account information from the selected device. It does not delete the online Google account or establish that supervision has ended on every device.
Do I have to stop supervision to allow a Google Play app?
No. The managing parent can review the appropriate app or content setting while retaining supervision. Check the specific category, app permission and any separate device restriction.
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Stuart Kerr Spindlow is Impulsec’s Publisher, Chief Editor and Lead Reviewer. He writes and maintains coverage of consumer cybersecurity and digital-safety software, with a focus on practical suitability, limitations and the evidence behind product claims. Read Stuart’s full profile.