Articles on: Android

Protect an Android device with Safe Surfer

It’s easy with Safe Surfer to block harmful online content on an Android device. It will take around 30 minutes for the installation, or 45 minutes for the entire guide.

We demonstrate the installation process on a Samsung device (running Android 16, released in 2025), although the steps will be very similar if you are installing on a different kind of device.

Step 1: Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard

If you were directed to this guide from the My Safe Surfer dashboard website, skip ahead to step 2.

Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard (https://my.safesurfer.io) on one of your personal devices and log in to your account. Click the Devices menu on the left-hand sidebar, then click the New device option.

Click the option labelled "Another mobile, laptop, or desktop device".

Click the Android option.

Click the option labelled "Get the Android app".

Inside this section, you'll see a QR code to be scanned within the Safe Surfer app. We’ll use this later on.

Step 2: Install protection

Once you're ready, open the Play Store app on the device to be protected.

Tap the Search option at the bottom, then tap the search bar at the top. Search for "safe surfer", then tap the Install button on the Safe Surfer listing.

Once you're inside the Safe Surfer app, scroll down to the bottom, then tap the Continue button.

On the following section, tap the Continue button.

Enter a friendly name for this device (so that it can be easily identified later), then tap the Next button.

If you signed in with your email address (rather than scanning the QR code on the dashboard), you can assign this device to a person, or you can tap the Skip button to do this later.

Tap the Finish button.

On the following section, if you're protecting a child or an individual, tap the "Person to be protected" button. Otherwise, tap the Admin button.

On the following section, tap the Continue button.

Safe Surfer will take you to the Accessibility menu of the device. Tap the "Installed apps" menu.

On devices not manufactured by Samsung, the menu might be called "Downloaded services" or similar.

Tap the Safe Surfer listing.

Tap the switch at the top. (You can ignore the shortcut switch.)

Tap the Allow option.

Safe Surfer will take you back to the protection setup process. Tap the "Start VPN protection" button.

If you're protecting a device not manufactured by Samsung or Google, the Safe Surfer app might recommend to use Private DNS mode instead. If this is the case, tap the Install Private DNS button. When you're taken to the Settings app, tap the search option and search for "private dns". Once you've opened the Private DNS menu, tap the third option ("Private DNS provider hostname" or similar), then tap the Save option. Once you've done this, you can return to the Safe Surfer app and tap the Continue button.

If you tapped the "Start VPN protection" button, tap the OK option on the prompt that appears.

Tap the "Set a PIN" button.

Select either four, six, or eight digits, then set a PIN and tap the Continue button. You'll also need to verify the PIN afterwards.

If you would like to perform monitoring for texts & social media, tap the "Enable notification access" button.

If you're protecting your own device, tap the "Not now" button, as this feature doesn't affect the quality of filtering.

To continue the texts & social media setup process, you'll be redirected to the Notification access menu. Tap the switch for the Safe Surfer listing.

Tap the Allow option.

If you would like to perform monitoring for text and images seen on-screen, tap the "Turn on screen monitoring" button.

If you're protecting your own device, tap the "Not now" button, as this feature doesn't affect the quality of filtering.

Tap the "Enable lockdown" button.

Tap the Activate option.

Tap the Finish button.

If you would like to hide Safe Surfer from displaying inside the device notifications, tap the "Don't allow" option. Otherwise, tap the Allow option.

Great work! You've now finished the protection installation. There are also some extra optional steps as described further below in this guide.

You can verify the protection installation for this device by visiting our protection check guide. Once you've done this, you can return to this guide.

Step 3: Set up Google Play Store parental controls

Play Store parental controls help hide Play Store content listings that contain sexually suggestive content. If the device is older than 13 (that is, not using Google Family Link), you can find out how to set this up by clicking this link. Once you're done, return back to this guide.

If you are aware of any apps that have already been installed (that is, any apps classified above the age rating you want available), they will not be removed by changing the Play Store parental control settings. If this is an issue, you can simply uninstall the applicable apps, and they will then be unavailable for download once you have finished this step. Apps that remain on the device will still continue to receive updates through the Play Store.

Step 4: Enable Data saver (optional)

If you enabled the social media monitoring and/or nudity detection features, and you wish to avoid consuming mobile data unnecessarily (especially if the device user will have a mobile plan with only a small amount of data), you can delay the sending of potential content detections with the Data saver feature (where Safe Surfer will wait for up to a day for a Wi-Fi network to send potential content detections). You can find out how to enable this by clicking this link. Once you're done, return back to this guide.

Step 5: Configure screen monitoring detection settings (optional)

If you enabled the monitoring features earlier on, Safe Surfer will show a message on-screen that mentions "Image detected" to the device user. If you like, you can hide this, or you can show the message along with closing the app at the same time. You can change these settings by opening the Safe Surfer app > enter your PIN > tap the three-dot button at the top > App settings > under the Nudity detection section, tap the Action option. You can now select what you would like to happen when a detection occurs.

Step 6: Hide Safe Surfer app (optional)

If the device user will not be using the Screentime controls feature in the Safe Surfer app, you can hide the Safe Surfer app. If you wish to do this, you can find out how to do so by clicking this link.

Protection complete

Great work! This device is now fully protected. If you have any other Android devices you would like to protect, simply start again from the top of the guide. If you would like to protect a different kind of device, visit our installation guides article.

Updated on: 03/08/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!