Add Child account to speaker - parental control not available

[Villo]

I basically have the same problem as described in this thread - since this discussion is closed I open a new one.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Apps-Account/Can-t-setup-parental-controls-Add-child-to-speak...

I have an environment with 2 google nest speakers and one sonos speaker. Every family member has a smartphone. My kids's account run under family link. Now I woud like to assign a google nest mini speaker to each of my kids. If I try to add the kids to my google home I get a message saying, that child accounts cannot be added to a home and I should instead add them to a device. If I try this by clicking the provided link I get an error message about "Can't setup parental controls, it looks like parental controls aren't available at the moment..." 

Any help would be appreciated. I contacted google family link support with this issue. They said it's a issue of google nest rather than family link. So I contacted the support and had a chat with the support there. Finally I received the following  E-Mail with the following information but none of the suggestion is applicable or clear. I live in Switzerland and the setup language is german.

This usually indicates one of the following:

• Temporary Service Outage: There might be a temporary issue with the Google servers that handle Family Link and parental controls.
• Account Restrictions: There could be limitations on your Google Account or your child's account that prevent the use of parental controls on the Nest Mini.
• Country/Region Restrictions: Parental control features might have specific availability restrictions based on your location.

Here's how to troubleshoot:

1. • Visit the Google Support website or check social media for any reported service outages related to Family Link or Google Home.
   Check for Service Outages:
2. • Your Account: Ensure your Google Account has the necessary permissions to manage devices and set up parental controls.
   • Child's Account: Verify that your child's Google Account is properly set up within Family Link and that the necessary parental controls are enabled.
   Review Account Settings:

• Your Account: Ensure your Google Account has the necessary permissions to manage devices and set up parental controls.

• Child's Account: Verify that your child's Google Account is properly set up within Family Link and that the necessary parental controls are enabled.     

If all else fail, please do send us feedback in the google home app so this could be passed to our engineering team and youll be notified if this issue be ended as soon as possible. 

Send feedback from the Google Home app 

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. At the top-right, tap the account icon.
3. Tap Feedback  tap the device to submit feedback for.
4. To display available emails, in the From section, tap the arrow on the right. Select the email address.
5. In the feedback summary, write a brief description of the issue.
6. Be sure to check the box for Screenshot and System logs.
7. To submit feedback, at the top-right, tap Send .

[Guarcax]

Hi @Villo!

Thanks for posting in the community.
I want to apologize for the late response and for the inconveniences that you’ve been experiencing when trying to set your Nest speakers to your kid’s accounts. I can see that you’ve been trying to set up your kid’s account in the Google Home app, but you’re getting a message that it can’t be added, and when trying to use the provided link, it gives you a different message. No worries, help is here.

Here are some steps that you can try to let your kids use your Nest speakers:

1. Connect your child’s phone or tablet to the same Wi-Fi network as their speaker, display, or smart clock.
2. On your child’s phone or tablet, open the Google Home app.
3. Tap Favorites or Devices.
4. Touch and hold the shared device they want to add your child’s voice to.
5. At the top right, tap Settings Link with Voice Match.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions. To give permission, sign in with the parent’s password.
7. Hand the phone or tablet to their child, and help them teach Google Assistant to recognize their voice.

You can check the next article for further information: Set up Google Nest or Home speakers or displays for your child. 

Tell me how it goes.

Regards,

Daniel.

[Villo]

I've tried to follow this steps but there is no posibility to perform

1. Touch and hold the shared device they want to add your child’s voice to.

I can touch it so I get into a menu but unlike on my (parent) phone there is no access to settings.

All the other ways which are there to achive the same end up with the error messages about the parental control not available.

[Guarcax]

Hi @Villo!

Thanks for your reply and efforts.

I can see that you have already tried following the steps that I sent you before, but you cannot see any option to set it up. If you were able to share with me some screenshots of the messages that you are receiving and about the steps that you are following, it will be great. 

I'll be waiting for your response.

Regards,

Daniel

[Villo]

The following screenshots show what typically happens. I try to add a kids account to google home. The system then says, it's not possible to add a kids account to google home directly and I should rather add the account to a device directly. Trying this I get the error about parental control not available.