Giving parents more choice with School time

Parents think deeply about how their children should use technology, including how to strike the right balance for time spent on and offline. Every family has different needs and perspectives on this topic, which is why we've focused on developing tools to help each family set their own ground rules.

Today, we're announcing a new setting for Android phones and other devices that empowers parents to use a School time feature.

We regularly engage with parents when designing products, and often hear from parents who do not want their children distracted at school but still want to be able to get in touch in case of emergency.

That's why this year we introduced School time on Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatches. Over the next year, we'll bring School time to even more devices including select Android phones, tablets and Samsung Galaxy Watches to promote a productive learning environment.

School time enables parents to set their child's personal device to a dedicated home screen with limited functionality during school hours, which helps reduce distractions during class. Parents can schedule and select which apps are allowed during School time in Family Link, our parental controls app. Parents will also have the option to allow calls or texts from specific contacts.