You have decided to give your child their first smartphone and, to have the ability to monitor all their activities, you have downloaded Family Link , Google’s parental control app. After creating your family group, you completed its configuration without encountering any kind of problem: unfortunately, however, you did not have the same luck when you tried to associate a payment method to the group , in order to allow individual members to shop independently, albeit under your supervision.
If this is indeed the case and, therefore, you are still wondering how to add a payment method on Family Link , let me give you a hand and provide you with all the necessary information to succeed in your intent. In addition to the detailed procedure for setting up a payment card for your group, both from smartphones and tablets and from computers, you will also find instructions to enable a function that allows you to make a payment only after approval by the group manager.
How do you say? Is that exactly what you wanted to know? So let’s not dwell further and see together how to proceed. Make yourself comfortable, set aside five minutes of free time and dedicate yourself to reading the next paragraphs. By carefully following the instructions I am about to give you and trying to put them into practice, I assure you that adding a payment method to use on Family Link will really be a breeze. Let it bet?
Index
- Preliminary information
- How to add a Family Group payment method on Family Link
- Da smartphone e tablet
- Da computer
- How to activate the approval of purchases on Family Link
Preliminary information
Before we get to the heart of this guide and explain in detail how to add a payment method on Family Link , let me give you some preliminary information in this regard.
First of all, you must know that to associate a payment method with your family group on Family Link you must activate the Family Collection function , the option that not only allows you to share apps, games, films, programs, audiobooks , etc. purchased on Google Play with up to five family members but which also allows you to add a payment method that members of the group can use to make purchases on Google Play.
In this regard, it will be useful to know that members of the family group can use the payment method of the group to make in-app purchases and to purchase apps , books , movies , games , TV shows and magazine issues on Google Play. However, the purchase of Google Play balance, the activation of subscriptions and the purchase of products (eg Chromecast , Google Home , smartphones and other devices produced by Google) from the Google Store are not allowed.
I would like to underline that although it is possible to make purchases on Google Play through payment cards, PayPal and paysafecard, you should know that it is possible to associate only credit / debit cards with Family Link ( Visa and Mastercard cards are accepted ).
Furthermore, please note that once you have added a payment method to your family group, it cannot be deleted but only replaced with another valid payment method. The only solution to remove a credit / debit card without adding any more is to delete the family group.
Finally, it will be useful to know that Family Link allows you to activate the approval of purchases : this option allows each member of the family group to make purchases on Google Play using the payment method associated with the group but the actual payment will only take place later. any approval by the group manager (eg a parent). Having clarified this, let’s see how to proceed.
How to add a Family Group payment method on Family Link
It is possible to add the Family Group payment method on Family Link both from smartphones and tablets and from computers. In both cases, the procedure is quite simple and takes just a few minutes. Find everything explained in detail right below.
Da smartphone e tablet
As I mentioned in the opening lines of this guide, to add a payment method on Family Link you must first activate the Family Collection option .
If you have not already done so, then start the Play Store by tapping its icon (the colored ▶ ︎ symbol) and, first of all, make sure you are logged in with the same Google account with which you created the family group on Family Link. Then press on your photo (or on the initial letter of your name, if you have not customized your Google account), at the top right, and select the Settings option from the menu that opens.
In the new screen displayed, tap on the Family item, press the Register to Family Collection option and tap the Register button . Now, if you see the Bring your family to Google Play screen , press the Continue button twice in a row and, in the Set up a family group payment method section , tap the Set item .
Once this is done, check that the information in the Customer Information section is correct, otherwise press the pencil icon to add any corrections. Then locate the item Payment method , enter the data of the credit / debit card you wish to associate with Family Link in the fields Card number , MM / YY (with the expiry date), CVC (with the 3-digit code shown on the back of the card) and Name of the cardholder and tap the Accept button .
Finally, in the Add Items to Family Collection screen , choose whether to add any items you have already purchased to the Family Collection ( Add all eligible purchases now ) or whether to later choose which ones to include (I ‘ll add them later, one at a time ) and press the buttons Continue and OK , to complete the creation and configuration of the Family Library.
At this point, by starting the Play Store again , pressing on your photo , at the top right, and selecting the Payments and subscriptions and Payment methods options , you can view all the payment methods associated with your Google account including the one in use in the group Family (indicated by the wording Payment Method of the Family group ).
Note that only one payment method can be associated with the family group, and you can change it at any time. To do this, select the Other settings option on the Payment methods screen and press the Remove option for the payment method associated with Family Link.
Then enter the number of the new credit / debit card to add to the family group, also specify the expiration date , the CVC code and the name of the holder and press the Save and remove and OK buttons to replace the previous card payment with the new one.
As you well know, Family Link is also available as an application (dedicated to parents) for iPhone / iPad . However, just like the Android device app, it doesn’t allow you to directly add and manage payment methods associated with your family group.
Consequently, to add a credit / debit card to Family Link you will necessarily have to proceed via the browser , by connecting to the main page of Google Play . The procedure is almost identical to that for adding a payment method to the Family Group from a computer .
Da computer
If you prefer to proceed from a computer , connected to the main page of Google Play and, if you have not already done so, log in with your Google account. Click, then, on your photo , at the top right, select the Family option from the opened menu and, in the new screen displayed, select the Register to Family Library option .
Now, press the Start and Continue buttons (twice in a row) and, on the Set up a family group payment method screen , make sure that the details in the Customer Information section are correct. If not, click on the pencil icon for the information you want to edit.
Once this is done, locate the Payment Method section , enter your credit / debit card details in the Card number , MM / YY , CVC and Cardholder name fields and click the Accept button .
Also in this case, choose whether to add any items already purchased to the Family Collection by placing the check mark next to the option of your interest between Add all eligible purchases now and I will add them later, one at a time and click on the Continue and OK , to complete the creation and configuration of the Family Library.
Finally, I would like to point out that you can replace the card associated with the family group at any time. To do this, click again on your photo , at the top right, and select the Payments and subscriptions option .
At this point, you can proceed in two different ways. You can select the Add a payment method option , add a new credit / debit card and then click on the Change payment method option of the family group . Once this is done, through the appropriate drop-down menu, select the new payment method added and click on the Continue button .
Alternatively, click on Change payment methods , select the Remove option relating to the card currently associated with Family Link, enter the details of the new card to be added in the appropriate fields and click on the Save and remove button . Simple, right?
How to activate the approval of purchases on Family Link
After associating a payment method to your family group on Family Link, I also recommend that you activate the approval of purchases in order to view and possibly approve each purchase request made by the members of the group.
To proceed from smartphones and tablets using an Android device , start the Play Store , tap on your photo (or on the initial letter of your name), at the top right, and press on the Settings item .
In the new screen that appears, select the Family option , tap on the item Manage members of the family group and press on the name of the first member of the group for which you want to activate the approval of purchases.
Then access the Purchase approval section , put the check mark next to one of the options available between All content , All purchases made with the payment method of the Family group and Only in app purchases and press the OK button , to save changes. Then repeat the procedure for any other members of the group.
To view purchase requests, launch the Family Link app, tap the ☰ button at the top left, and select the Approval Requests option . The Pending screen lists the new requests received, while selecting the History tab allows you to view the requests you have approved and rejected.
If you prefer to proceed from a computer , connected to the official Family Link website , click on the name of the user of your interest among those listed in the box The members of your family group and, in the new page opened, select the option Controls on Google Play .
Now, locate the section Purchase and download approvals , click on the item Request approval for and put the check mark next to the option of your interest between All content , All purchases made with the payment method of the family group and Only purchases in the app .
If, on the other hand, you have an iPhone / iPad , start the browser installed on your device (eg Safari ) and follow the instructions I have just given you to activate the approval of computer purchases. To view the requests, however, you can proceed directly from the Family Link app, by pressing the ☰ button and selecting the Approval Requests option .
