FamilyShield

Whose device is this?

Nothing is restricted yet. You will choose how strict to be after the device is set up and working.

Setting up a device that is already locked down by FamilyShield but has disappeared from your list? Take it back.

Set up the device

Follow these on the child's device. About ten minutes, and nothing on the device is erased.

Scan this with the child's device

Open FamilyShield on the child's device, tap Scan the code, and point it at this.

Or type these two values in by hand.

Server address

— Copy

Enrolment code

— Copy

This code works once, and expires. If the device has already used it, or it has run out:

Make a new code

Waiting for the device to appear.

The code for erasing and setting up from new

Only for the Android 10 route described on the right. This one is read by the device's own setup screens, not by FamilyShield, and only works on a device that has just been erased.

1. FamilyShield is installed

   That was step 1. If it is not, go back a step and do that first.

2. Open FamilyShield and tap "Scan the code"

   Point the device's camera at the small code on the left. The two boxes fill in on their own. Press "Register this device".

3. Tap "Give FamilyShield control"

   The app walks through three short steps: sign out of the accounts, switch on Wireless debugging, and type a six-digit code into the message that appears at the top of the screen.

4. Sign back in

   Put the accounts back on the device. Nothing was lost — signing out is only needed for the moment control changes hands.

5. Wait for the confirmation below the code

   The device arrives completely open, with nothing blocked. That is intended.

If the device runs Android 10 or older

The steps above need Android 11. On anything older the device has to be erased and set up from new, which means copying off anything you want to keep first — photographs, files, anything not already in an account.

1. Copy anything you want to keep onto a computer. A cloud backup is not enough on its own.
2. Reset the device. Settings, then System, then Reset options, then Erase all data.
3. At the first welcome screen, tap six times on an empty part of the screen. A camera opens. Do not sign in to anything first.
4. Point it at the large code on the left. The device connects, installs FamilyShield and restarts on its own.

Give FamilyShield control

One thing to do on the child's device, then hold this screen up to it. Nothing is erased.

1. Sign out of every account on the child's device

   Settings, then Accounts and backup, then Manage accounts. Remove all of them — Google, Samsung, and anything else. You sign back in when this is finished and nothing is lost.

   This is the one step Android insists on. It will not hand over control of a device somebody is signed in to, and that rule is what stops this being done to a phone behind its owner's back.

2. On the child's device, open Wireless debugging

   Settings, Developer options, Wireless debugging, then Pair device with QR code. FamilyShield on that device shows the whole route with pictures if you need it.

3. Show it the code below

   Hold this screen up to the child's device camera. Nothing is typed by anybody, and FamilyShield finishes on its own.

Choose a level

These run from open to closed. You can change level at any time afterwards, and moving down releases what the stricter level added.

Setup complete

This is now in force on the device and cannot be removed from the device itself.