Supervised Users
***UPDATE***
Supervised Users has been deprecated, and replaced with Family Link.
***/UPDATE***
Supervised Users
What is a Supervised User?
There is a neat feature of Chrome OS that allows you to create what’s called a “Supervised user”. When you create a supervised user, you are able to track the websites that user is visiting, and maintain a blocked/allowed list of websites for that user.
You can either choose to “Allow all of the web” and then pick certain websites to add to the block list; or you can choose to allow “Only approved sites”, and pick certain websites the user is allowed to view.
You can also change the users password, and flip SafeSearch on/off.
As of right now, that’s all you can do with a supervised user. Keep in mind, a supervised user is not able to add Chrome apps/extensions from the Chrome Web Store. All they can do, is browse the web.
How do I create a Supervised User?
Before you create the supervised user, you’ll need to decide exactly which Google account you want to mange the user from.
Note: As of right now, only one account can manage a supervised user at a time. There’s no way to add an additional “admin”. If you’re a parent, you may want to consider creating a new, separate account that you and your spouse both have access to and manage the supervised user from that account. Otherwise only one of you will have access to manage the supervised user.
Once you’ve decided which account to manage the supervised user from, make sure that account is added to your Chromebook. If it’s not, add it.
Go ahead and logout of your Chromebook, so that you’re looking at the sign in screen. You should see all the accounts that you’ve added to this device, as well as a menu at the bottom with options like “shut down”; “browse as guest”; “add user”; and a little 3 dot icon that is the universal “more options” icon.
Click on that three dot icon, and select “add supervised user”. You should be presented with this screen:
Go ahead and click “OK got it”.
Find the account from which you will be managing the supervised user, enter the password and click next:
Now you can give the supervised user a name, a password, and a profile icon.
Once you click next, you’ll get the spinning loading icon for awhile. Sometimes, a long while. When I did it, I actually got a little red error message that said something like “this is taking longer than usual”. Just keep waiting. Walk away for a bit. It will finish eventually.
How do I manage a Supervised User?
Once you’ve created your supervised user, you’ll want to know how to do things like view the user’s browser history, how to add websites to the allowed/blocked lists, and how to change the user’s password.
First, you’ll want to make sure you’re logged into the account that has access to the supervised user, then access the Supervised User Dashboard here. (might wanna bookmark that link)
From there, you’ll see a list of all the supervised users that account has access to on the left hand side:
Click on the user you’d like to manage.
From this screen, you can change the user’s password, view their browsing history, and toggle SafeSearch on/off.
If your supervised user requests access to a site that you’ve blocked, you’ll see those requests in the middle, where you can approve or deny them.
To manage the allowed/blocked list, click the “manage” link towards the top-right in the block labeled “permissions”:
On this screen, you can choose between allowing “All the web” and choosing certain websites to block, OR blocking the entire web and choosing certain websites to allow.
Scott Brerton
September 4, 2016 @ 3:00 pm
Such a shame that you can’t add apps, otherwise it’s a great idea from Google.
Andrew
November 5, 2017 @ 11:18 pm
all apps are basically short cut links so just go to the websites for apps you want and add a bookmark.
Sarah
November 15, 2017 @ 6:08 pm
So, I can’t add app links in the bottom left for my daughter, like slides, etc.? She uses slideshow for school and was the only app she really requested.
Lisa Dirkmaat
September 16, 2016 @ 11:04 pm
Too bad… I need to be able to give my kids permission to add apps/extensions for many school projects.
Robin Varghese
September 22, 2016 @ 7:11 pm
As a teacher, this is a shame as we use Extension and apps to allow students to do basic functions like editing a PDF. Without the ability to add extension the student is stuck. The solution then becomes making an additional account without supervision which makes some parent nervous about what they have given their child access to. Some happy medium, with approval for app installation would be a nice improvement.
Ishfaq
September 24, 2016 @ 4:59 am
At least ad blocker must allow to supervised user
Chrisi
October 6, 2016 @ 2:45 am
Without the ability to add apps for supervised users, the Chromebook is useless to my kids.
Lisa
November 15, 2016 @ 3:42 pm
Yep, I thought Chromebook was the answer…but we’re back on our Kindles where we can share apps and I can control content. Returning mine.
Amy Parrish
November 3, 2016 @ 3:19 pm
Come on Google. You make self-driving cars but you can’t make a supervised user account on which a parent can approve apps? I have been searching on how to do this and every website I have been to, people are complaining about this issue. It can’t be that hard to fix. Under my account, as the manager, I want a little section that says “approve supervised users apps.” My son can go into his supervised user account and request an app. Then I go into my account and approve it. Voila! Much easier than a self-driving car.
Lisa
November 15, 2016 @ 3:44 pm
Yep, if Amazon can offer all of what we are looking for -FREE- even without a Prime membership, then why can’t Google figure it out? Returning my chromebook and going back on the Kindles. Such a shame.
D
November 4, 2016 @ 8:22 pm
The “more” button is not on my chromebook login screen. I’m using a Toshiba CB30-102. Please help as I need to add my daughter as a supervised user.
Mo
November 14, 2016 @ 12:23 am
Definitely needs the ability to add apps and browser extensions.
Lisa
November 15, 2016 @ 3:38 pm
I can’t believe I bought a Chromebook! My kids use them in school and I have an LG phone that uses Android/Google and the Chromebook absolutely sucks. Why can I share apps across my Amazon kindles, parental monitor on my kindles, set up different users on my kindles but not across Google devices?!?!? For such a tech company, Google has REALLY missed the mark. I’m returning this thing. It’s completely useless. BTW, all those features on AMAZON are FREE (even if I don’t have Prime). GET YOUR KIDS KINDLES!!
Dain
November 28, 2016 @ 10:13 pm
Set up a supervised user account and want to add a typing app and math app for my kid but it won’t let me! What’s the point of supervised user control if you can’t control anything other than web access?
Brett
December 11, 2016 @ 5:20 pm
Got my kids Chromebooks for Christmas and have quickly become disappointed and frustrated. Supervised user basically makes the laptop a web browser. Feel like I completely wasted my money. You should be able to manage the user and the apps they can access and use.
Tina Bowers
December 16, 2016 @ 12:01 am
I also can’t believe that I can’t add apps or extensions to my son’s account! I was so used to our iPads and being able to approve all of my kids’ app installations that it didn’t even occur to me that we couldn’t do this on a Chromebook. Seriously, Google??!!
dieter
December 27, 2016 @ 8:03 am
why not just also manage extensions like websites? come on google please, how hard can it be?
admin
January 4, 2017 @ 4:22 am
Not sure what you mean
scott
October 2, 2017 @ 10:25 pm
What are you not sure about? How do you add extensions for supervised users? How do I enable the camera for my child? How do I add apps from the chromestore for my child? I can do all of these things from my screen but they do not show up on my childs screen.
Mohan Patnam
October 7, 2017 @ 9:07 pm
I cannot believe Google is not ready to provide such basic functionality that iPad and Kindle supports. I would like my son to have “Lego Education” app on his supervised account. But to my disappointment, chromebook doesn’t support adding apps to supervised accounts. Is this really true? On one hand, Google is working on Moon landing projects, but it is a shame to not provide basic functionality with supervised accounts. I am assuming there must be a reason behind this, which I would love to hear from the tech giant!
Carrie Hranko
December 31, 2016 @ 3:38 am
I would really love to be able to add apps for my child’s supervised acct. Right now I feel like I wasted $250 on this Chromebook when I could have spent $99 on a Kids Kindle Fire for him.
Kimball
January 5, 2017 @ 11:56 pm
As with all the others, the inability to manage apps/extensions for a supervised account is a bummer. It completely negates the power of ChromeOS. Boo. Hiss.
Ken Knighten
January 8, 2017 @ 9:49 pm
I am disappointed with the chromebook. Reading through all of the posts here only confirms my frustrations. Unfortunately, this seems to be an issue for some time (years). If Kindle, Amazon, hell even Microsoft has figured this out why can’t Google???
I am sure the others can do this… Microsoft allows apps, the ability to print, web monitoring, etc for their version of supervised users.
Google, can you get a clue here and improve your supervised user capabilities? Allow parents add apps and printers to the Chromebook?
Panamax
January 12, 2017 @ 6:48 pm
I tired supervised user. It defeats the purpose of even getting buying the Chromebooks. That is to use the Istation app to give access to school work with a limited amount of web browsing. So then I paid for MobiCip parental controls. Mobicip probably works well with other OS’s, but not Chrome.
The Chromebooks are probably great for high school or college kids, but not little ones. They’ve had kindles since they were three. Problem with the kindles is they are only 8gb.
In summary, Chromebooks suck.
admin
January 12, 2017 @ 8:20 pm
Chromebooks don’t suck, they just don’t work for your particular application.
Supervised user however does suck, and with any luck Google is working to improve the feature
Pssst3
January 26, 2017 @ 6:22 pm
Is there a way to temporarily remove supervision from an account in order to add apps or extensions and then reapply supervision? Seems like a logical way to handle this issue.
admin
January 26, 2017 @ 9:42 pm
There is not
Alyse Pendo
February 3, 2017 @ 6:24 pm
Wow, this is a huge disappointment. I dare say a deal breaker for us. The entire reason my son purchased his own chromebook was to play apps as well as do his homework. He wanted a computer, I talked him into a Chromebook not realizing the tech was so far behind phones & tablets. I will leave the choice to him, but he will probably want to return the chromebook as I am not going to let him run amuk on the internet, but I would like him to have access to today’s technology with supervision.
If Google is planning on allowing Supervised users to access Apps & Browser extensions in the near future, please let me know and we will hang tight. If not, we will probably be returning the chromebook within our return period. Sincerely, Alyse
tyler mcminn
February 5, 2017 @ 6:22 am
Without the ability to add apps for supervised users, the Chromebook is useless to my kids.
Aidan Dunne
February 14, 2017 @ 10:43 pm
I’m yet another parent unbelievably frustrated by this terrible oversight. Just got 2 chromebooks for my kids, and I can’t believe that I can’t give them access to already installed apps and extensions without making them unsupervised users. This problem has been logged since 2014; I write software for a living and I’d be ashamed ( or probably fired )if I had a bug this bad on my list for almost 3 years! Get your act together, google and stop releasing half-baked solutions and tagging them as beta for years; no beta program should be counted in years..
SreeMV
March 1, 2017 @ 5:55 am
Not being able to install a simple plugin like ad blocker for a supervised user defeats the very purpose of ‘supervision’ – without the ad blocker, kids see all kinds of nonsense which is the very purpose of wanting a supervised user. Such a shame!
Anonymous
March 31, 2017 @ 9:39 pm
I think this is BS… Honestly should get rid of it.
chris
April 12, 2017 @ 10:54 pm
The play store is not allowed for supervised users as well. I was hoping the chromebook convertible would be a great transition device from Android/Fire tablets to Chrome OS.
colin
May 20, 2017 @ 2:59 pm
Need to allow my 11 year old certain extensions. Am now deleting Chrome from her Mac book. That was a waste of my time !
Jeremy
June 30, 2017 @ 6:24 pm
Do any of you people complaining understand what beta means and the fact that the Supervised Users settings are in beta? Sure, give them suggestions – I’m sure they will listen. But please, stop complaining about every minute thing that doesn’t go your way immediately.
Erin
August 11, 2017 @ 2:52 am
Notice that when logged out, the supervised user has the option of adding a new user. So the supervised user can easily create a new unsupervised user account if he/she has a gmail account. Am I right? I realize we can parent in real life by telling our kids not to do that, but this seems like a really dumb thing to overlook and undermines the whole point of having supervised users!
Nancy
August 30, 2017 @ 4:19 am
Is the supervised user a way to “set” a particular website for kindergarteners to log in to? They struggle with logging in with their email addresses and passwords. Ideally connecting that link in the Apps Kiosk would be super!!
James Price
September 2, 2017 @ 2:35 pm
Agree with many comments here. It’s a basic requirement for parents to enable (or not) extensions and apps of their ‘supervised user’ (ie: child). For example I want to control screen time, which I can’t do despite availability of suitable Chrome Extensions. The lack of this feature utterly compromises Chromebooks as a device for kids. Can’t be that hard to fix!
Heather Petty
September 16, 2017 @ 1:54 pm
The Supervised User Dashboard is missing the “Change Password” option. The “Notification on/off” is the only option available. Why?
Nobody
February 27, 2018 @ 9:17 pm
Because as it says in the instructions — Supervised Users do NOT have actual Google Accounts. So you can’t manage them online. The account is stored locally on the Chromebook/Computer.
Amy
October 5, 2017 @ 11:41 pm
I’ve set up Supervised Users with restriction for all websites for both my son’s and daughter’s chromebook. However, the restriction doesn’t work. They can access everything and when I got into the manager site I don’t see a singe entry showing me what they have gone into even thought their logged in as a supervised user and it tells them I can see what they are browsing. Problem is I can’t because its not logging anything on the dashboard. This application is total garbage!!
Daniel Schubert
November 2, 2017 @ 1:53 am
It’s very hard not to agree with the theme of these post, the supervised user is an excellent idea but very poorly implemented. I spent a few hours searching the web for information on how to install some basic kids apps for my daughters Chromebook for her “account”, only to find out I can’t. Given that I found articles dating back to Dec 2013 on this feature, I would have figured that they would have gone beyond “beta” version and improved the ability to do more then just control websites . I don’t think it should be too difficult to link the play store of the main account and be able to load apps using the main account, with the aid of the main account password protection. So google please improve this product beyond what it can do today. Presently this feature really isn’t worth implementing..
O
December 18, 2017 @ 6:03 pm
Oh, I so wish I had known this while picking the first laptop for my child! I had high hopes and I am so pissed right now! Why can’t I do the things I can do on any android tablet?!
Brady Plummer
December 28, 2017 @ 8:36 pm
I just want to add my agreement with the sentiment on this board that this Chromebook is worthless for my daughter if I can’t allow apps for her as a supervised user. I’m also really disappointed in Google that this feedback has been relentless for over 3 years and has not been addressed. I would not have purchased this device had I realized this was the case, and most definitely will not ever purchase another Chromebook.
Tyson S.
January 1, 2018 @ 7:29 am
When will you be able to add\approve apps to supervised users?? Managing web sites is good. but it would be GREAT if parents could manage apps on the supervised users!!
SB
January 12, 2018 @ 8:47 pm
I can’t find my kids’ history anywhere either. I know he used this Chromebook under his Google account last night–but it shows nothing in the last week. Also my other big gripe is that they don’t have any way for parents to put time controls on Google accounts/Chromebook users. That is a pretty basic need for most families, including mine.
Nobody
February 27, 2018 @ 9:18 pm
The child HAS to use the Supervised account, NOT their Google Account.
Vuthy Chau
January 14, 2018 @ 10:50 pm
After tinkering and reading comments from the other parents, I am very afraid that I am joining the club of disappointing chromebook parent (and kid) users. I was just buying this Asus Chromebook ruggedized piece for my son to use, and it is increasingly hard to find its working for us.
parents of supervised users
January 20, 2018 @ 11:06 pm
Does anyone know whether the ability to manage supervised users has been removed?
All links redirect to https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/3463947 where it seems to suggest that Family Link is now the way to manage supervised users on Chrome.
Upon review, it looks like Family Link is only for Android devices.
We’re stuck. How do we manage supervised users on Chromebooks now?
MG
February 15, 2018 @ 2:26 pm
Why did you shut this down? The only reason we bought Chromebooks was for the ability to monitor what our kids see. I have a teenage son who has a problem looking at websites he shouldn’t. We’ve already taken his smart phone and given him a flip phone. We thought this would work, but I guess no longer. Very Frustrated!
James
November 23, 2018 @ 8:58 pm
You can use family link now on Chromebooks. I’ll update this page soon
David Thompson
August 20, 2018 @ 1:09 am
Yup I’m like all others on this thread. Supervised accounts are a joke at best. Google should remove the feature until it’s ready. If my kids can’t install apps and extensions what’s the point…browse the web and send email hahahaha. I wanted them to use it for school and without apps and extensions the things is completely borked. Guess I’ll have to set up yet ANOTHER email for them with a fake age…geez can’t believe this isn’t fixed yet.