Normally apps would not get downloaded on their own on your Android device. Unless you have turned on the auto-update apps feature, apps would not update themselves either. However, at times when the phone gets into the hands of others, especially children, they might end up downloading a bunch of useless and inappropriate apps. Hence, it is important to stop the apps from being downloaded like this. In this article, you would learn how to block the downloading of apps on Android.
Suggested read: Eight Methods to Fix Problems Downloading Apps from the Play Store
How to block the downloading of apps on Android?
1. From Google Play Store– You need to turn on the Parental controls option for this process. Here is how it is done:
- Open Google Play Store
- Tap on your profile icon
- Click on Settings
- Click on Parental controls under the User controls section
- Slide the toggle switch to turn on Parental controls
- Create a PIN and press OK
- Confirm the PIN and click on OK again
- Hit the Apps & games option
- Select the age limit
- Click on Save to apply the changes
2. Using Google Family Link– This can help you stop your children from downloading inappropriate apps on their phones if they got one. To do this, you need to:
- Download and install the Google Family Link app on your device
- Go along the setup process and add the children if not done already
- Click on the hamburger icon on the top left
- Choose your children’s accounts from the menu
- Click on Manage settings
- Click on Manage
- Choose Google Play from the list
- Choose the Apps & games option under the Content restrictions section
- Choose the appropriate age limit
- Click on OK on the pop-up
- Click on the back arrow or back button to exit from the page
3. Stop auto-updates of apps– If you do not want apps to update automatically when an update is available, you can follow the steps given below:
- Open Google Play Store
- Go to Settings by tapping the hamburger icon
- Click on Auto-update apps
- Choose Don’t auto-update apps
Watch this YouTube video:
If you know how to block the downloading of apps on Android in any other way, let us know in the comment section below so that more people can be helped. Share this article with others if you found it useful.
