How to turn on Safesearch on Google for multiple devices – 4 EASY ways for parents

School closures and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic force children to rely heavily on Internet-connected devices to learn, play, and explore the surrounding world. The more time spent on the Internet, the greater the risk children are exposed to harmful content.

Therefore, parents need to proactively take measures to prevent their children from accessing harmful content before their healthy development is negatively affected by pornography, violence, bloody accidents, terrorism, etc.

The article below will show you How to turn on Safesearch on Google for multiple devices.

How to turn on Safesearch on Google for multiple devices

Use Google SafeSearch via Family Link

Family Link is an app developed by Google that allows you to monitor your child’s device by enabling SafeSearch for their account on mobile or desktop. The SafeSearch feature in this case helps filter out your child’s age-inappropriate search results such as pornography on Google Search.

Google says that while filtering search results isn’t 100% accurate, it helps children somewhat avoid most of the pornography that appears in Google Search.

To restrict your child from accessing adult websites, you can take the following steps:

1. Open the Family Link app
2. Select your child’s account.
3. On “Settings”, tap Manage Settings > Filters on Google Chrome.

4. Choose the setting that’s suitable for your family:

• Allow all websites: Your child will be able to access all websites, except the ones you block.
• Try to block adult sites: It helps hide pornographic and violent websites.
• Only allow certain websites: Your child will only be able to access the websites you allow.

5. After tapping Manage sites, you can manually add certain sites to prevent your child from using or allow their use.

To set up kid safe browser, you can take the following steps:

You can do so by blocking a certain website and your child may need your permission to access that website. You will receive a notification in the Family Link app where you can approve or deny your child’s request.

• Websites: If you block or allow a specific website, such as www.google.com, this permission will not apply to other starting or ending websites, such as www.google.co.uk or photos.google.com.
• Domain: If you block or allow an entire domain, such as Google, the permission will apply to sites that start or end differently, like www.google.com and images.google.fr.

Steps to allow or block websites:

1. Open the Family Link app
2. Select your child’s account.
3. On the “Settings” tab, click Manage Settings > Filters on Google Chrome > Mange sites > Approved or Blocked
4. In the bottom right corner, press Create
5. Add a website (like www.yahoo.com) or domain (like yahoo). If adding a site, you should include www. of the URL (like www.yahoo.com instead of yahoo.com).
6. At the top left, click Close.

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Use Google SafeSearch for Mac

You follow the steps:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Enter the command “ping forcesafesearch.google.com” and write down the IP address. The IP address should look like this: 216,239.38.120.

3. Enter the command “sudo nano /private /etc/hosts”

4. Make an entry at the end of the hosts file with the IP address you obtained. Example: “216.239.38.120 www.google.com #forcesafesearch”

5. Save the hosts file.

Use Google SafeSearch for Windows

You follow the steps:

1. In Windows, click the Windows key and type “Notepad”
2. Right-click on Notepad and select Run as Administrator.

3. Click Yes when Windows asks if you want the program to make changes.

4. In Notepad, open your hosts file which is usually located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

5. Click the Windows key, type “cmd” and press enter. This will open the Command Prompt.

6. Enter the command “ping forcesafesearch.google.com” and write down the IP address. The IP address will look like this: 216.239.38.120

7. Make an entry at the end of the hosts file with the IP address you obtained. Example: “216.239.38.120 www.google.com #forcesafesearch”

8. Save the hosts file.

Note: If Windows is installed in a different location on your PC, you can find the hosts file by entering the following command in the Command Prompt: cd /d%systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc.

Use Google SafeSearch for Linux

Google SafeSearch for multiple devices could not be completed without applying for Linux. The steps are the same as above:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Enter the command “ping forcesafesearch.google.com” and write down the IP address. The IP address will look like: 216.239.38.120.
3. Enter the command “sudo nano /etc/hosts”
4. Make an entry at the end of the hosts file with the IP address you obtained. Example: “216.239.38.120 www.google.com #forcesafesearch”
5. Save the hosts file.

If you are not tech-savvy – Try using Porn Blocker Software

If the steps above are quite complicated and require certain technical knowledge, you should consider using add-ons/extensions for browsers.

It has become the popular choice of many parents today and is considered one of the best google chrome parental controls!

Google’s built-in SafeSearch features can help keep your kids away from adult and violent websites, but the truth is that most pornographic and violent images/videos regularly appear as ads, pop-up ads, and sneaking into websites that are NOT RELATED TO PORN.

So blocking adult and violent websites is not enough. Besides, parents do not always have time to adjust each setting or manually add each website for their children, or if it is true for you, some of the above methods are quite complicated and take lots of technical work, you might consider using online content filtering software.

The tools available can only protect your child within Google Chrome, with other websites your child visits every day, your child is at a very high risk of sneaking inappropriate content. 

To ensure your child’s online environment is safe and healthier, you should consider using an additional Porn Blocker Software to hide 15 types of harmful content on the Internet, including:

• Pornography
• Horrifying content like gore, accidents, ghosts, violence, murder, terrorism, etc
• Content about stimulants, addictive substances such as alcohol, beer, marijuana, drugs, etc
• Content with aggressive elements, hurting others like Hate speech

The special thing is that this extension is completely free, helps to minimize your child’s access to harmful content, ensuring a healthy online environment for your child but at the same time, not invading their privacy rights.

How to set parental controls on Google Chrome? The steps are as follows:

You follow the steps below:

1. Open Google Chrome browser
2. Access to Google Chrome Extensions / Firefox Extensions / Safari Extension or Edge Extension
3. Type the keyword CyberPurify in the search box

4. Click on CyberPurify displayed in the results

5. Select Add to Chrome

6. Select Add extension

7. The result displayed as shown below is that you have successfully installed it.

However, you should KEEP IN MIND that these technological tools and features even best free porn blocker software only partially help you keep your children safer online, it is still important to educate and actively communicate with your children about: 

• How to keep your child safe online during COVID
• Is TikTok safe for kids? – 6 reasons why it is NOT
• Crucial soft skills to use the Internet effectively
• Why is pornography aimed at your children?
• How has sexting increased during COVID?
• Is anime safe for kids? 2 proven reasons why it is NOT
• Pros and Cons of parental controls that should be considered before installing.

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