A New Mechanism to Control Children's Apps
Samsung has announced an upcoming update to the parental control features for Galaxy devices, aimed at giving parents greater control over the digital content accessed by children. Under this update, certain apps on the child's phone will appear in gray, meaning they will be unopenable and unusable until a parent explicitly approves them.
This measure will include pre-installed apps on the device, as well as apps that the child has already downloaded from the app store. This feature is scheduled to be rolled out as part of the upcoming user interface update (One UI) in 2027, although the company has not yet specified the exact UI version that will carry this feature, whether it will be One UI 9.5 or One UI 10.
What Changes Practically?
This change comes in response to the growing need to regulate access to apps that may not be suitable for children, including social media apps or pre-installed programs that parents may not want their children to use. So far, Samsung has not clarified the technical standards it will adopt to determine which apps will be automatically blocked, or whether the system will rely on specific age ratings.
How to Prepare for the Update
Samsung advises users to prepare for this feature by activating the "Family Group" through Samsung accounts. The recommended steps include:
- Inviting children aged 13 and older to join the family group.
- Creating a "Samsung Child Account" for children under the age of 13.
- Enabling Samsung's parental control features, which allow parents to manage app permissions, block, or allow them directly from their own phones.
This update is considered an additional step by Samsung to enhance the privacy and security of young users, reducing the likelihood of their exposure to unwanted content without direct intervention from the supervisors of their devices.