Guide · 2 min read
YouTube parental controls for a Chromebook or family computer
Short answer
Google’s tools decide what a child is allowed to watch: Family Link manages their account, and Restricted Mode filters mature videos. Quiet handles the other half, removing Shorts, the endless feed and autoplay in Chrome, and Quiet Pro’s parent lock stops the settings being flipped back in the extension’s popup.
On YouTube
- 1Give your child a supervised Google account with Family Link.
- 2Choose their YouTube content level in the Family Link app.
- 3On a shared computer, turn on Restricted Mode from the profile menu.
The catch: These filter which videos can play. The feed, Shorts and autoplay are all still there.
With Quiet
Works in Chrome on the computer itself. It can’t reach the YouTube app on a phone or tablet, so use Family Link there.
Parent lock, with Quiet Pro: freeze these settings from your own dashboard so they can’t be flipped back in the extension’s popup. It is a soft lock: anyone who can open chrome://extensions can still disable Quiet, so on a school or family-managed Chromebook pair it with Chrome’s managed policies. Quiet also emails you if a device stops checking in for a few days.
Common questions
- Can my child just switch Quiet off?
- Without the parent lock, anyone using the browser can change the switches. With Quiet Pro’s parent lock, the settings are frozen from your own dashboard, so they can’t be flipped back in the popup. It is a soft lock: someone who knows Chrome can still turn the extension off at chrome://extensions, so on a managed or school Chromebook ask the admin to lock the extension in place, and note that Quiet emails you if a device stops checking in for a few days.
- Does this work on a phone or tablet?
- No. Quiet runs in desktop Chromium browsers such as Chrome, so it cannot reach the YouTube app. Use Family Link or your device’s own controls there.
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