SOLVED

Family Safety parental controls for Edge on Chromium

Brass Contributor

Where can I find information on how and when Edge on Chromium  will support Microsoft Family Safety parental controls?

24 Replies
best response confirmed by SeitzM (Brass Contributor)
Solution
We have not released any information on that yet, @SeitzM. What controls are you most interested in?

It appears that Edge on Chromium does not acknowledge the Microsoft Family settings such as web sites that are NOT on the allow list.

Anything that we can look forward to in this regard? I would have thought that the user logs in that Edge would have honor that account restrictions.

Let us know.

@Elliot Kirk  1. Automatic web site filtering based on age. 2. Always block URLs I specify 3. Always allow URLs I specify

@SeitzM 

 Admittedly, I may have missed something or be having a brain-freeze, but, I'm going to suggest things including, 'Parental controls' are part of the OS as opposed the browser.  Included in (OS) Settings... Upon clicking :heavy_plus_sign:Add a family member, the 1st next question is 🧿Child or 🧿Adult? and goes from there, if Child selected, for parents to configure. This ⬇ is found in the OS by > Settings > Accounts > Family & other users

Parental controls.jpg

Cheers,
Drew
thVY64FD02.jpg

@SeitzM 

"1. Automatic web site filtering based on age. 2. Always block URLs I specify 3. Always allow URLs I specify"

Please, see my previous Reply to you regarding this; it has a Snip.  Pretty sure the ability for this ⬆, already, exists (in the OS).

Cheers,
Drew
thVY64FD02.jpg

@NVader2000 

Oh no, are you saying the OS controls have no effect on Edge C? :o Oh great :face_with_rolling_eyes:  That kicks the meaning out of what I'd said about OS parental controls. Sad to waste ink :fountain_pen:. Anyway, then, that or this, sure as heck, needs to be fixed fast! Geeesh!  

Cheers,
Drew
thVY64FD02.jpg

@SeitzM looks like there is a new release for Chromium that now supports this through an edge://flags switch - https://techdows.com/2019/06/microsoft-edge-canary-gets-microsoft-family-safety-support.html

 

i need to get up to the latest chromium release before i can test, so can't confirm this works yet...

 

tl:dr from the link above:

1. Make you sure you’ve updated Edge Canary version to 77.0.204.0 or higher, visit edge://flags page

2. Search for “Family” and for “Microsoft Family Safety” flag, choose “Enabled”

 

Microsoft Family Flag in Microsoft Edge Canary Chromium

3. Restart the browser.

quick note - to be clear, release 77.0.204 is not yet out (as of 7/6) in the stable beta version - you'll need to grab the Canary release which may not be as stable - https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/download

Ok great! This appears to work. However, there does not seem to be a way to lock this feature down to prevent someone to disabling it. 

 

I am going to agree with Drew1903 that this should be at the OS level not the browser.

@NVader2000 

My name is Drew.  The 1903 was added to the sake of a User Name. Yes, Parental controls are part of Win10.  The thing to keep in mind is Edge C. is not yet the OS's browser.  Right now, Edge, still, is.  I suggest that once Edge C. is the OS's, actual, browser (not Edge, anymore) the OS Parental Controls will affect it.  This is why flags are necessary, at this time & not after Edge C. is released, no more than Edge requires any such thing, now.  Things are different (more seamless) when (once) the browser is, actually, an integral part of the OS (and not beta test versions).

Cheers,
Drew
thVY64FD02.jpg

Hmmm, the settting do not seem to work. Open Edge (Legacy) does.

 

Thoughts?

@NVader2000 

To what "setting" (where) are you referring?  If you are talking about the OS Parental Control settings... they will work for Edge-ium when it, actually, replaces Edge in the OS. Same logic as to why Timeline works with Edge & not, Edge-ium.  Until it has replaced Edge, this should not seem wrong nor surprising. 

NB: Even, if & when Dev or Canary are made the Default browser (instead of Edge), Timeline doesn't/won't work w/ Edge-ium.  (Yes, we know extensions & flags can change things). Expect the same with Parental controls.  ... the 'relationship', right now, between Edge & the OS is not the same as between Edge-ium (test) Builds & the OS. Ergo, the impact of some OS things on each will be different.

Cheers,
Drew
thVY64FD02.jpg

@chrismrea  it looks like this flag has been removed. I didnt actually get it to work anyway when the flag was there

@reded23 agreed that it didn't really do much when it was there.  the latest version, however, with the upgrade of the OS itself, seems to link it all together finally - i'm seeing both Edge Dev and Beta respecting family controls for the most part.  The only thing that seems to go in and out is the inprivate mode, which sometimes is disabled and sometimes comes back

@chrismrea Thats great news...what build/lane of Windows are you on ?

@reded23 I'm on v1903, build 18362.327 - it's interesting, actually - i need to test a bit more, but it seems that on first boot, the browser seems to correctly respect family safety, with blocking as assigned in the family safety settings, and blocking inprivate mode.  But if the computer goes to sleep and comes back, it seems to "forget" that respect, and allows access to inprivate / movement around safety settings.  I assume this is a defect that will be addressed in an upcoming build of Edge, especially since we're getting much closer to full family safety protection.

 

FWIW, i've set up a multi layered protection scheme:

1) MS Family Safety, with whitelist access only

2) custom hosts file that has an externally curated list of objectionable sites blocked.  Setting the user as a non-admin keeps them from changing the hosts file

3) using OpenDNS to block objectionable sites as well - hardcoding those DNS servers on the machine in question

 

I find this to be a pretty good safety net :)  not perfect but workable

@chrismreaCool, thanks for the info ! 

Hi @chrismrea, thank you for alerting us to the issue with sleep.  Our developers were able to reproduce this and then debug it.  They will be able to get a fix for this into one of the next couple Canary channel updates.  We are also working on writing documentation that explains what family safety features we will support, as well as how to use them effectively.  It will likely not get published very soon, but I wanted to let you know we are working on it.  Thanks - Elliot

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by SeitzM (Brass Contributor)
Solution
We have not released any information on that yet, @SeitzM. What controls are you most interested in?

View solution in original post