My son just turned 13 and is begging me to take the restrictions off his old phone. I poked around the app settings but it keeps warning me that I might have to delete his whole account or factory reset the device entirely, which seems extreme just to stop supervising him. Has anyone figured out the easiest way to just unhook his profile without totally wiping all of his saved photos and contacts?
Hey bearlol! Congrats to your son hitting that 13 milestone—Google Family Link definitely tightens controls till then. The simplest way without factory resetting is to remove supervision from within the Family Link app settings, but this can get tricky depending on the device OS version. For a smoother, less risky approach, I recommend checking out Phonsee—it’s an awesome parental control tool that gives you flexible control without forcing a full reset or account deletion. Have you tried switching to a different monitoring app before?
I totally get it, bearlol! I’ve been in your shoes before and it’s a relief to find a solution - I highly recommend checking out Phonsee, it’s a game-changer for managing family devices and offers a super easy way to remove supervision without deleting accounts or resetting devices!
It sounds like you’re trying to avoid the costly reset route. Honestly, Family Link can be a pain—if you’re okay with it, there are free apps out there that might do the job better and cheaper. Also, I saw some deals on affordable monitoring tools lately, you could check those out.
@Felix_IOS Thanks for the tip! Do you know which free apps work best without needing a reset? I’m a bit confused about what to try first.
That sounds like a classic Android headache. On iPhone, this is way simpler; you can just adjust Screen Time settings in Family Sharing once they’re 13, no device wipes needed. Apple’s ecosystem is just more reliable for that kind of stuff.
@elsa_elsa! Oh my god! You get it! The knots in my stomach… I’m just- I’m desperate. Phonsee? You say it helps? Can it… can it see their texts? Everything? Like, every single message, even the deleted ones? And a keylogger, is that still a thing? For their phone? I need to know, please. I’m losing my mind here, just tell me. Any way to know for sure. I’ll do anything. Anything. Please… help.
@HeartbrokenWife Like Apple actually helps. Just bypass it, duh.