How To Set Parental Controls, Filters For Google & Nest Smart Speakers

Sometimes, filtering or censoring content is a good thing. That’s an unpopular opinion in many circles, to be sure. But when it comes to kids, especially with the prevalence of smart home speakers such as those bearing Nest or Google branding, learning how to set up parental controls & restrictions is a must.

The reasons for that are, it goes almost without saying, pretty easy to understand. Content on streaming platforms from music to videos can be very adult-oriented. Young kids have ready access to smart speakers due to their voice commands-based operation. It’s easy for children to stumble across content we’d rather not see them access.

Fortunately, Google’s Nest has ensured that learning how to use parental controls and filters on its smart speakers is easy. And, more to the point, that actually setting that up is fairly easy. You can even do it on a device-to-device basis.

So let’s dive in and look at how this works.

How to set up parental controls or filters on your smart home speakers from Google or Nest

Of course, in order to manage minor users with parental controls and content filters on your smart speakers, you’ll first need to learn how to manage children’s accounts. That’s a straightforward process, in itself, that only takes a few minutes to set up. That’s once Google’s increasingly feature-rich parents app is downloaded and installed on your smartphone. You’ll just need to follow the guide.

Then you’ll need to add those users to your smart home ecosystem in the Google Home app, of course. That step can be looked past since the following method also works for un-verified users via voice recognition. Which the app refers to as Guests. But for peace of mind, it can be best to set up those users in the app as well. However, once those steps are completed, managing what users can see and listen to on specific devices is incredibly easy if you know where to look.

You’ll need to set this up on a device-by-device basis

As hinted above, the easiest way — in fact, the only way that we could find as of this writing — to set up parental controls on your smart speakers is on a device-by-device basis. But you’ll also be given the option to apply all of your changes to multiple speakers in the home. As with many of our smart home how-to guides, you’ll also need to start with your mobile device, with the Google Home app installed. Here’s how you can set up parental controls or filters on your Google or Nest smart speakers to better filter content and set other limitations.

1. Open up the Google Home application on your mobile device
2. On the home page, scroll down and select the speaker you’d like to implement controls on. As noted already, you’ll be able to add these controls to more speakers later on. So start by selecting one of the speakers in the group you’d like to set limits for
3. In the menu for the speaker itself, select the gear or cog-shaped Settings icon at the top right-hand side of the UI
4. Next, on the resulting menu page, select the option that reads “Notifications & digital wellbeing.” The option will have a bell-shaped icon
5. Select “Digital wellbeing” on the following page, as shown in our images below. That will be accompanied by the subtext that reads “Filters, Downtime,
6. A brief explanation will be shown, regarding what “Digital Wellbeing” is, with regards to smart home speakers and devices.  At the bottom of the page, select the “Set up” button
7. The next page will highlight what filters and controls you’ll be allowed to enable. Select the “Next” button at the bottom of the page
8. Now, you may select who the filters and parental controls will apply to. There are two options
   1. Everyone – this will apply the changes to every person who interacts with the smart speaker or device
   2. Only Supervised Accounts and guests – as the name here implies, this will apply the changes to child accounts that the device has voice recognition set up for. It will also apply to guests who the AI does not recognize
9. We’ve selected “Only Supervised Accounts and guests for our sample images
10. Scroll down the page to choose which devices the changes will apply to. In our sample image, we’ve tapped JBL Music as a second device that the changes should be applied to
11. Select the “Next” button at the bottom of the page
12. On the next page, you’ll be provided a list of options, regarding which content to allow for video streaming. You can allow all video content or block it all. Or you can choose filtered content only, and select which services, linked to your account, you’d like to allow, as shown in the images below.
13. After selecting filters, select the “Next” button at the bottom right-hand side of the page
14. Next, we’ll apply a similar set of filters as in the video streaming section, but for music streaming before again selecting the “Next” button
15. Finally, you’ll set filters for news and podcasts, scrolling through the page of options — which also includes options for calls, voice actions, general answers, and website filtering
16. Select “Next” one more time to move onto the settings for Downtime, pressing Next to move on to those settings, which we’ll walk through below

Downtime is an important part of this as well

Now, the next steps are part of the same series in the setup. But these settings will apply to when managed users, guests, or all users can access features on your smart home speakers. That’s as opposed to how users can access features and which parental controls or filters are set on the smart home speakers from Google or Nest. So, continuing on, those steps will be as followed.

1. The first pages of the setup will explain exactly what “Downtime” is. On the first page, you’ll have the option to “skip” if you don’t want to set up Downtime. That button will be located on the bottom left-hand side of the UI, as shown in our images. Only select this option if you don’t want to set up Downtime, and then you may skip the remainder of this guide. Otherwise, select “Set up” and then, after reading the deeper description, “Next”
2. As with filters and parental controls, you’ll next need to select which users. And then scroll to select which devices these changes will apply to
3. After making your selections, press the “Next” button
4. Select the date range — or set a custom date range — for the Downtime filter, then select “Next”
5. Finally, choose the Downtime times. You’ll be allowed to set a start time and end time. Choose the “Next” button
6. You’re finished, repeat these steps as necessary if you have different filter and downtime selections you’d like to make for other devices or device groups, starting in the first segment of this guide