52 Comments

  1. 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.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  2. 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.

    Reply

  3. 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.

    Reply

  4. Ishfaq
    September 24, 2016 @ 4:59 am

    At least ad blocker must allow to supervised user

    Reply

  5. Chrisi
    October 6, 2016 @ 2:45 am

    Without the ability to add apps for supervised users, the Chromebook is useless to my kids.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  6. 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.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  7. 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.

    Reply

  8. Mo
    November 14, 2016 @ 12:23 am

    Definitely needs the ability to add apps and browser extensions.

    Reply

  9. 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!!

    Reply

  10. 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?

    Reply

  11. 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.

    Reply

  12. 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??!!

    Reply

  13. dieter
    December 27, 2016 @ 8:03 am

    why not just also manage extensions like websites? come on google please, how hard can it be?

    Reply

    • admin
      January 4, 2017 @ 4:22 am

      Not sure what you mean

      Reply

      • 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.

        Reply

      • 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!

        Reply

  14. 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.

    Reply

  15. 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.

    Reply

  16. 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?

    Reply

  17. 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.

    Reply

    • 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

      Reply

  18. 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.

    Reply

    • admin
      January 26, 2017 @ 9:42 pm

      There is not

      Reply

  19. 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

    Reply

  20. tyler mcminn
    February 5, 2017 @ 6:22 am

    Without the ability to add apps for supervised users, the Chromebook is useless to my kids.

    Reply

  21. 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..

    Reply

  22. 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!

    Reply

  23. Anonymous
    March 31, 2017 @ 9:39 pm

    I think this is BS… Honestly should get rid of it.

    Reply

  24. 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.

    Reply

  25. 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 !

    Reply

  26. 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.

    Reply

  27. 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!

    Reply

  28. 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!!

    Reply

  29. 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!

    Reply

  30. 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?

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

  31. 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!!

    Reply

  32. 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..

    Reply

  33. 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?!

    Reply

  34. 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.

    Reply

  35. 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!!

    Reply

  36. 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.

    Reply

    • Nobody
      February 27, 2018 @ 9:18 pm

      The child HAS to use the Supervised account, NOT their Google Account.

      Reply

  37. 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.

    Reply

  38. 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?

    Reply

  39. 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!

    Reply

    • James
      November 23, 2018 @ 8:58 pm

      You can use family link now on Chromebooks. I’ll update this page soon

      Reply

  40. 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.

    Reply

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