Can Family Link make a child's Android phone call only one number?

Yes, for the apps it covers. Set "Allowed calls & texts" to "Only contacts I add" and add a single contact; the child's Google Phone app and Google Messages will then reach only that person. Apps such as WhatsApp aren't covered, so the child could still call out through those.

Does the "Only contacts I add" setting block incoming calls too?

Yes. Google's help describes the setting as limiting who the child can send and receive calls and texts from, so it is not an outgoing-only or incoming-only rule — both directions are limited together.

Does it cover calls made through WhatsApp or similar apps?

No. Google's help page lists only Google Messages, Samsung Messages on smartwatches, and the Google Phone app as covered. A child with WhatsApp, Google Chat, or a similar app installed can still reach people outside the approved contacts through it.

Does the setting work on a Samsung Galaxy phone?

It needs Android 14 or later, and the apps officially listed as covered are the Google Phone app and Google or Samsung Messages. Google's help page doesn't mention Samsung's own Phone app, so whether a call placed from that app is covered isn't stated.

Are emergency calls affected?

No, supervision doesn't affect emergency services. Emergency contacts registered elsewhere on the phone still need to be added to Family Link's own contact list separately before the child can reach them as an ordinary call.

Family & seniors

How to Restrict Calls on a Child's Android Phone With Google Family Link (2026)

NoDial Editorial ／ 2026-11-0612 min read

A parent managing a child's Android phone has one official way to limit who that phone can call: Google Family Link's contact settings. Google announced a stricter level in February 2025 that limits calls and texts to contacts the parent has added, which is why some older guides claiming Family Link "can't restrict calls" are now out of date. This guide covers exactly what the setting does, what it needs to work, what it leaves uncovered, what to check when a child suddenly can't make calls, and where a dedicated outgoing call blocker on the child's own phone can fill the gaps Family Link leaves open.

NoDial: Block Outgoing CallsBlocks calls to numbers you choose

NoCall: Blacklist Call BlockerBlock unwanted calls before they ring.

Steps are current as of November 2026. Google changes Family Link's menus and rules from time to time, so check the linked help pages for the current wording.

1. The short answer

In Family Link, open Controls for the child, then Contacts, calls & text, then Allowed calls & texts. There are three choices: Anyone, Contacts I add & limited groups, and Only contacts I add. Choosing the third one limits who the child's phone can call and text to the contacts you have added to their account.

Devices: Android phones on Android 14 and up, and smartwatches on Wear OS 5 and up.
Apps covered: Google says the limit applies to communication through certain apps, including Google Messages, Samsung Messages (smartwatches only), and the Google Phone app.
Calls and texts move together: there is no separate switch for "calls only" or "texts only."

KEY POINT

"Only contacts I add" is an allow-list, not a per-number rule. You are deciding who the child can reach at all, not blocking one number, scheduling a time window, or counting calls — those need a different tool, covered in Section 7.

2. What Family Link can do with calls

Google's help page for "Allowed calls & texts" describes the three levels this way: Anyone places no restriction; Contacts I add & limited groups widens the allow-list slightly beyond the contacts you add; Only contacts I add is the tightest setting, limiting the child's calls and texts to exactly the people you have added. Google's own wording is that without your approval, the child "can't send or receive calls or texts" outside that list — so the setting restricts both directions, and both calls and texts, together.

A few details matter in practice:

Voicemail still works. Even under "Only contacts I add," anyone can still reach the child's voicemail.
Emergency services are unaffected. But emergency contacts you've registered elsewhere on the phone (in Android's own emergency information) aren't automatically part of the Family Link allow-list — add them as Family Link contacts too if you want the child able to call them normally.
New numbers go through a request. If the child wants to reach someone new, they can send a request that you approve or deny from your own phone.
This is a 2025 feature. Google announced the stricter contact controls in a February 2025 blog post, rolling out over the following months. That is why some older articles and forum answers, written before the rollout, say Family Link can't do this at all.
It doesn't pause by time of day. Calls to allowed contacts stay possible even during Family Link's own Downtime or School time windows, so the contact rule and the schedule rule are independent of each other.

3. How to set it up, step by step

Open the Family Link app on your own phone and choose your child.
Go to Controls → Contacts, calls & text → Allowed calls & texts.
Choose Only contacts I add for the tightest rule, or Contacts I add & limited groups for a slightly looser one.
Add the contacts your child should be able to reach. You can add more at any time, and the child can send you a request to add a new number themselves.

There is no separate step for "calls only": the same screen controls texts as well.

4. What it needs, and what it doesn't cover

What it needs: the child's phone has to be on Android 14 or later (a smartwatch needs Wear OS 5 or later); Google's help page lists the feature only for those versions. Google's help page names the Google Phone app, Google Messages, and Samsung Messages (on smartwatches) as the apps the limit applies to. It does not mention any other manufacturer's own phone or messaging app, so whether a call placed from a different built-in dialer is covered isn't stated.

What it doesn't cover:

Apps such as WhatsApp aren't named as covered, so a child who has them installed can still call or message people outside the approved list through those apps.
The setting doesn't separate calls from texts, or outgoing from incoming — all four combinations move together.
It doesn't limit how often the child calls an allowed number, and it doesn't restrict calling by time of day.

One more thing worth knowing before you rely on this setting day to day: while "Only contacts I add" is on, the child needs your permission to change the device's default apps at all — you turn that permission on or off from Family Link's screen-time section for their device. Google's own help notes that if the child does change the device's default calling app, the contact restriction can stop working.

5. "My child can't make calls": what to check

This is one of the most common things parents search for after turning the setting on, and it usually comes down to one of these:

The number isn't on the allow-list yet. Add it as a Family Link contact, or approve the child's own request to add it.
An emergency contact wasn't added twice. A contact saved in Android's emergency information services doesn't automatically become a Family Link contact — it needs adding separately before the child can call it as a normal number.
The phone isn't using the Google Phone app. Since that's the only dialer Google's help explicitly lists as covered, a different default calling app may behave differently.
A reported bug. In May 2026, Android Authority and Android Police both reported that some Family Link–managed devices couldn't place outgoing calls at all — incoming calls and texts still worked — with an error along the lines of "Call can't be placed by System parental controls." According to these reports, turning off "Only contacts I add" cleared the problem for some people, but no official fix or acknowledgment from Google was found at the time of writing, so treat this as a reported issue rather than a confirmed, resolved one.

6. What Family Link can't do

Because "Only contacts I add" is a single allow-list switch, several requests that come up around it are simply outside its design:

Block one specific number while leaving everyone else able to call — Family Link works the opposite way, as an allow-list of everyone else.
Limit how many times the child calls an allowed number per day, week, or month — there is no counter.
Block calls only during certain hours — even Family Link's own Downtime and School time windows leave calls to allowed contacts possible.
Restrict outgoing calls while leaving incoming calls open, or the reverse — the setting always moves both directions together.
Apply on a device running Android 13 or earlier — Google lists the contact controls only for Android 14 and up.

WHY THIS GAP EXISTS

None of this is a missing toggle you have overlooked inside Family Link. The setting was built as one allow-list for calls and texts together, not as a number-by-number, hour-by-hour, or count-based rule.

7. Adding an outgoing call blocker on the child's phone

For the specific-number, scheduled, or counted rules Family Link doesn't offer, an outgoing call blocker installed on the child's own phone can add them on top. NoDial lets you register a number and choose Always blocking, Set specific hours (block it only on the days and hours you choose, including overnight windows), or Limit calls (a set number of calls per hour, day, week, or month). There's also a Block all outgoing calls switch with up to 20 Allowed numbers that can still be reached. In every mode, unblocking takes effect one hour later, and emergency numbers can never be registered or blocked.

Used together, Family Link decides who the child's phone can reach at all, and NoDial can layer a schedule or a call count onto individual numbers within that list — for example, letting a grandparent's number through at any hour while a friend's number is limited to a few calls a week.

Two of Family Link's own parental-approval settings are worth checking before you install anything new on a managed device. Whether installing an app at all needs your approval depends on the purchase-approval setting in your own Family Link app. And, as noted in Section 4, if "Only contacts I add" is turned on, the child needs your permission to change the device's default apps — and Google's own help warns that changing the default calling app can stop Family Link's own contact restriction from working, so it's worth checking that restriction still behaves as expected afterward.

Because a child's Google Account under Family Link can't always make purchases on its own, a parent can set up a plan on their own phone's NoDial and use Apply a plan to another device to generate a code, then enter that code under Enter a code to apply a plan in NoDial on the child's phone to bring the same plan to that device.

8. Family Link vs. other options

Option	How it limits calls	Device needed	Who can change it
Family Link "Only contacts I add"	Allow-list for calls and texts together	Android 14+ (Wear OS 5+ for watches)	The parent
Samsung Kids	Locked home screen; only parent-allowed contacts reachable	Samsung Galaxy	The parent (PIN)
iPhone Screen Time Communication Limits	"Contacts Only" setting for Messages, FaceTime and Phone, with a separate rule allowed during Screen Time hours	iPhone	The parent
NoDial	Block, schedule, or limit calls to chosen numbers, or block all outgoing calls except Allowed numbers	Any Android phone	Whoever holds the phone running the app

NoDial controls calls placed through the phone's own calling system; it does not affect internet-calling apps such as WhatsApp.

9. When parental supervision ends

Once a child reaches the age at which supervision becomes optional — an age that varies by country — the parent can turn off Family Link supervision at any time. For the child to remove supervision themselves, Google's current help page states that they need the parent's approval until they turn 18. Either way, turning supervision off notifies both the parent and the child.

10. FAQ

Can Family Link make a child's Android phone call only one number?: Yes, for the apps it covers. Set "Allowed calls & texts" to "Only contacts I add" and add a single contact; the child's Google Phone app and Google Messages will then reach only that person. Apps such as WhatsApp aren't covered, so the child could still call out through those.
Does the "Only contacts I add" setting block incoming calls too?: Yes. Google's help describes the setting as limiting who the child can send and receive calls and texts from, so it is not an outgoing-only or incoming-only rule — both directions are limited together.
Does it cover calls made through WhatsApp or similar apps?: No. Google's help page lists only Google Messages, Samsung Messages on smartwatches, and the Google Phone app as covered. A child with WhatsApp, Google Chat, or a similar app installed can still reach people outside the approved contacts through it.
Does the setting work on a Samsung Galaxy phone?: It needs Android 14 or later, and the apps officially listed as covered are the Google Phone app and Google or Samsung Messages. Google's help page doesn't mention Samsung's own Phone app, so whether a call placed from that app is covered isn't stated.
Are emergency calls affected?: No, supervision doesn't affect emergency services. Emergency contacts registered elsewhere on the phone still need to be added to Family Link's own contact list separately before the child can reach them as an ordinary call.

11. Summary

SUMMARY

Family Link's "Only contacts I add" is a real, working way to limit who a child's Android phone can call and text, as long as the phone runs Android 14 or later and the calls go through the Google Phone app or Google Messages. It is an allow-list for both directions at once, not a per-number, scheduled, or counted rule — for those, a call blocker such as NoDial on the child's own phone fills the gap.

Controls → Contacts, calls & text → Allowed calls & texts → "Only contacts I add," on Android 14+ or Wear OS 5+.
Covers the Google Phone app, Google Messages, and Samsung Messages on smartwatches. Not WhatsApp or similar apps.
No per-number block, no call count, no time-of-day schedule, and calls/texts/incoming/outgoing all move together.
A reported May 2026 bug blocked outgoing calls on some managed devices; no official fix was found at the time of writing.
NoDial adds per-number blocking, schedules, and call limits on the child's own phone, and a plan can be applied to a second device with a code.

NoDial — block, schedule, or limit a numberPer-number rules Family Link doesn't offer.