Screen time apps: four kinds, and what each one stops
For a child's Android. What stops, and what keeps going, decides the kind.
You installed one, and the music and the clock stopped too.
A lock screen appears, and your child comes to you every time: "unlock it".
You switched to a kids' home screen, and the learning app vanished with everything else.
"Screen time app" covers four different ways of working. None is simply better. What you want to stop at home, and what you want to keep, decides which kind fits.
Live Lock is the fourth kind: a parental control app that closes only the screen and keeps the app running. Pick the apps you don't want opened; when your child opens one, the screen quietly closes, and everything else works as usual. Music and notifications keep going.
Four kinds, by how they work
1Daily-limit apps
"Two hours a day", "nothing after 9 pm". They set how much, and when. Google Family Link is this kind, and it is free. The foundation when a child gets an Android phone.
Good at "how much". Not built for "which app stays hidden inside that time". Within the limit, an hour of YouTube is still an hour of YouTube.
2Passcode-overlay lockers
Open a chosen app and a passcode screen lays over it. This kind grew out of hiding photos and notes on your own phone, and is often used on kids' phones too.
The child sees the lock, so "unlock it" happens every time. On a large external screen the overlay does not always land where it should.
3Kids-mode launchers
The home screen itself is replaced by a children's one, showing only allowed apps. Good for lending your own phone to a small child for a while.
Everything not allowed disappears, so fine lines like "the learning app yes, Settings no" are hard to draw.
4Close only the screen, keep the app running
The moment a chosen app's screen opens, it quietly closes. The app itself is not stopped, so background music, notifications, and the smartwatch or earbuds connection continue. Live Lock is this kind.
No lock screen, no PIN prompt, so nothing to argue about. With the weekly schedule and switching from your calendar, "this app, at these hours" is easy to set up.
What do you want to keep?
Kinds 1 and 4 do different jobs, so they sit side by side. Keep Family Link, add Live Lock.
Questions parents ask
QSo which kind should I choose?
If you want "no more than N hours a day", a daily-limit app (Family Link covers it). If you want "not this app, not at these hours", the kind that closes only the screen. If you want both, the two sit side by side.
QDo music and the clock stop during a limit?
Depends on the kind. Apps that stop the app also stop whatever it was doing in the background. Live Lock closes only the screen, so music, notifications and Bluetooth connections keep going.
QWill my child know it is locked?
Passcode-overlay lockers show a lock screen to the child. Live Lock simply closes the screen the moment it is touched: no lock screen, no passcode prompt.
QCan I switch it from my own phone?
With Live Lock, put an event on the Google Calendar you already use, and your child's phone switches modes for that hour. No parent app, no new account.
No more heart-skipping moments.
Every feature free for 14 days. One app stays free after that. No card needed.
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