Help! Can’t add child profile to Google TV Streamer.

[Jem1]

I use google tv streamer and 2 android tablets - all using family link for 2 children. 

Last week, for no reason, the tablets were no longer responsive to family link (couldn’t lock them, couldn’t manage any apps, they were basically open for as long as they wanted). I did everything I could to fix this - delete reinstall family link/kids space, clearing caches etc. I had to do factory resets and set up the tablets from scratch, after trying EVERYTHING, to get family link to be responsive to the tablets again. In doing this, I had to remove the child access to the GTS. 

The GTS now only had my adult profile so I went to add the child profiles - wouldn’t give me an option to “add a child”. So I factory reset the GTS (which now had the option to add a child) and tried to add a child profile. Every single time, after putting in the password, authorising me as parent and it going through the processing stage (where it says authorising/processing/finishing), it then goes back to the password input stage to do it all over again. 

I get confirmation emails saying my child is signed into the GTS however they are not! Also the device is not showing on family link. I’ve had what feels like thousands of emails telling me how they are signed in, using a new device but they are NOT!! 

I have factory reset, installed and used google home on an iPhone and an android tablet, made sure all devices are on the same WiFi, tried plugging in the Ethernet cable into the GTS. Kids are using full google child accounts, managed in our family group with me as supervisor. It is fully updated as well.

I have HAD IT with family link being an absolute nightmare and now my tv streamer is a complete waste of money as we can’t use it!!

Can someone please tell me how to fix this before it is thrown out of the window for being utterly useless. It’s worked before, why not now. 

The only new thing that has changed is that we have moved broadband provider to Virgin Fibre from Sky broadband which finalised 1 week ish before this all broke. However all devices have been factory reset so many times, the new WiFi password has been input and we are all using the same WiFi. I can’t think of anything else being different unless there’s a glitch in our set up. Infuriating, please help. 

[Jem1]

Sent it back for a refund. What a waste of time and energy that was. 

[NiceNath]

Many of us having the same battle right now 😥

[Jem1]

That’s crazy! Especially as it’s the high end of the price range for streamers. Got a Roku, I’m not dealing with it anymore and will have to hope family link doesn’t go AGAIN soon on the tablets and I have to format them. Saw the number of outages on google alongside news of how much code is being done by AI and got to wonder. 

[GreatRandew]

I’m running into the same issue. I’ve factory reset, re-downloaded the apps, added my wife’s Google account, and even tried removing/re-adding her access through Family Link. No matter what, it just loops.

It feels like the redirect URL is broken. It keeps sending users back to the password prompt instead of a “success” page that confirms the sign-in and moves on to the next part of setup (screen time limits, settings, etc.). The UI just endlessly cycles back to the sign-in page without progressing through the “add users” flow.

In my opinion, this points to a problem with the SSO structure: it’s returning to the login page instead of handing control back to the application itself.

[Jem1]

Thank you! That is exactly what I was experiencing! I had the day off work and ended up fighting it, installing, reinstalling trying everything to troubleshoot one potential issue/difference at a time - for 6 hours. 
It was great when it worked but it’s not now, I simply cant waste my energy on it anymore so got a refund. Expensive end streamer that has me losing hair was going back. Such a shame, it could have been amazing (and was before this happened!). 
And now I just have to lose my hair every time family link craps out on the tablets and randomly starts not working. Again. 

[MoiMoi]

Or they just changed the structure of the response and the device can't parse it properly anymore.

[PippiD · Accepted solution]

Exact same issue and frustrations here. We even tried creating a new child account from scratch via chrome, and no dice. Even bought a new GTS to see if this worked... Nope.

Coincidentally this issue occurred after a change of Wi-Fi router (new SSID and PW) and lots of factory resetting of many nest devices to pick up the new router details.  Prior to this all work fine. To note this is happening with both GTS and Chromecast with Google TV devices. 

We also tried reinstating our former router, SSID and PW, to no avail.  Also tried leaving the Advance Protection Program seeing reports this doesn't always play nicely with Google Home, no luck.

Had wondered if it had anything to do with the retirement of YouTube Kids and requesting google users to move across to YouTube and create kids account this way, in turn breaking authentication in other areas, that or the new UK regulations regarding age checks causing issue. 

Adding a second adult account works as expected.  Trying to add a supervised child account in the same way (manually adding email and password) errors out too, sometimes displaying a user-friendly message about the account being supervised/underage.

In the process of replacing with cheap Fire Sticks, temporarily hopefully.

[Jem1]

Thank you! I nearly ordered a new GTS too, I created a new child account and changed router settings as well! Exactly the same as you. So relived I didn’t buy a new one, thank you for letting me know it wouldn’t have changed anything. 

[PippiD]

Any luck anyone? Resorted to using adult accounts for 8 year olds, needless to say not a great solution and have to be supervised all the time.

Fire sticks work fyi.