Google is updating a file assistant platform To be more child friendly with a host of new parental controls, sounds and more.
Before that, Google Assistant didn’t have any parental controls, But as the company claims in the ad (Opens in a new tab)And the Children commonly interact with shared devices, so it was appropriate to give parents the tools to monitor them.
Assistive Parental Controls allow users to control the type of content, features, and devices that children can access at home. As for the content, you can limit things to a few approved services like YouTube Kids or YouTube Music. Parents can also restrict access to news and podcasts. Define features such as making phone calls that can be disabled and the answers given can be modified to be more age-appropriate. There will also be a new downtime tool to set a schedule when kids can use the Google Assistant.
Other new features
Age-appropriate answers come with the introduction of the Children’s Dictionary, which allows the assistant to provide “simplified … answers” to children. According to the announcement, the feature works by making the assistant aware that the child is speaking and “understand” that they are being asked a question. Google gives an example of a child asking what a telescope is and the child receives a basic introduction from the Nest Hub screen.
In order to use the Children’s Dictionary, you must first add your child’s voice to a supportive device. There are instructions on how to do this at Google Assistant Help Page (Opens in a new tab).
The last addition is the arrival Four new sounds suitable for children (Opens in a new tab). Google states that these sounds were designed with input from children and parents to reflect a variety of dialects. They also speak in a slower and more expressive manner when compared to Standard monotone (Opens in a new tab) for adults.
Everything in the update will be available to all US users over the coming weeks. It is not known at the moment if there are plans for a global launch. Google states that parental controls will make their way to the Assistant, Home, and Family Link apps on both Android and iOS. It is assumed that Kids Dictionary and Four Voices will also carry over to these apps, but the announcement doesn’t say that for sure.
We’ve reached out to Google for more clarification and asked how parents can switch sounds to more child-friendly sounds. This story will be updated if we hear back.
Better protection
The Google Assistant update is part of a file long-term effort (Opens in a new tab) By the tech giant to enable parents to better protect their families. In fact, the The aforementioned Family Link has recently changed Which changed its user interface and added a new feature for location tracking. Additionally, Google TV has got new parent-controlled watchlists as a way to monitor content more easily.
But let’s say this is not enough and you want more security tools for your family or you want to suggest some. We recommend to leave TechRadar’s Best Identity Theft Protection List for Families. These security packages provide tools such as a password manager, malware protection, and VPNs.