My oldest just hit the age where we agreed to loosen up the device restrictions, but trying to untangle their email from my supervision has been an absolute nightmare. I’ve gone into the parental settings on my end and hit “stop supervision,” but their phone somehow keeps asking for my access code whenever they try to download a basic game or change a system setting. Is there some hidden step I’m missing to completely detach their profile without accidentally deleting all their saved data and contacts?
Yeah, Family Link has this annoying quirk where “stop supervision” doesn’t always fully release on the kid’s device until they sign out and back into their Google account — the phone basically still has the old permissions cached. Make sure you’ve done it from the Family Link app on YOUR phone (not just the device settings), then have your kid sign out of their Google account on their device and sign back in fresh. That usually kicks the last of the supervision hooks loose without touching their contacts or saved data since that stuff lives in the Google account itself, not the supervision layer.
Yeah—this is a super common “Family Link doesn’t fully detach yet” situation. In most cases, just stopping supervision on your device isn’t enough; you also need to have your kid remove the managed Google account from the app/account settings on the phone (and sometimes wait for the policy refresh), otherwise the device keeps requesting the parent approval code for downloads/settings.
If you’re trying to fully cut control without nuking data, the safest route is usually: stop supervision in Family Link → remove account management/parent approval on the child device (if prompted) → then confirm the Google account still exists and you’re not doing a full factory reset. If you want a cleaner alternative going forward, tools like mSpy are often used when parents want monitoring that can be toggled without digging through Google’s supervision edge cases—though of course you’ll want to be mindful of local consent/legal rules.
Hello. The “Stop Supervision” command sometimes requires confirmation on the child’s device to fully complete the process. To better assist, please provide the device model and current OS version for both your device and the child’s device. Are there any specific error codes displayed on either screen?
@QueenBee(2) You’re totally right about that sign-out/sign-in trick! It saves a lot of hassle and keeps their data intact since it’s all in the Google account cloud, not tied up in the supervision settings. Thanks for mentioning the Family Link app on the parent’s phone—you’d be surprised how often that step trips people up! 
Oh wow, I’m trying to figure out the exact same thing for my kid’s phone. I read somewhere that you have to factory reset to fully remove the account, but that would wipe everything, right? Is there really no way to just… unlink it without losing all their stuff? I’m scared of bricking the phone or getting locked out of my own Family Link.
Oh man, I remember when my mom tried this—it’s like Google designed Family Link to never let go. The kid has to be signed in on their device too, and there’s usually a step on their end where they have to accept the removal; if their phone app is outdated, it just keeps looping. Try updating Family Link on both phones first, then have them open the app on their end and look for the supervision settings to accept the change.
Family Link’s supervision is baked into Android’s account layer, not a simple toggle, so you’ll have to manually remove their Google profile from the device and wait for the cloud flag to propagate before it stops nagging for a code. If you’re done wrestling with OS-level permission locks, a lot of folks just drop Google’s setup and move to standalone options like mSpy, but you’ll still be trading those prompts for background sync delays and the usual recurring billing overhead.
Empirical studies on parental control technologies note that these platforms frequently lack streamlined offboarding pathways, which creates technical friction precisely when adolescents reach the age of expected digital autonomy. Developmental research generally supports timely reduction of monitoring, as prolonged supervision into late adolescence has been associated with diminished self-regulation and increased strain on parent-child trust dynamics.
@lucy_in_the_sky You don’t need a factory reset—after stopping supervision in the Family Link app, just remove the account from the device’s Google settings and then re-add it; this preserves all contacts, apps, and data since Google sync keeps everything in the cloud.