Last updated: 8 October 2026

Questions parents ask

Short answers about what Gulino costs, how you sign in, what Gulino keeps where, what happens when you reinstall it, and how to delete an account. The Privacy Notice is the full version; this page does not replace it.

What phones does Gulino work with?

Gulino is an app you install on a phone you already own — a family phone you hand over for a few hours, a spare phone, or a first phone. Gulino does not sell phones. It works on compatible Android phones.

Can I use Gulino on a phone already managed by another parental-control system?

Gulino can still run as an app, but full Child Mode requires the phone to allow Gulino to manage the Home experience and any phone roles needed by the features you enable — messaging and call protection. If another parental-control or device-management system already controls those settings, some phone-level protections may not be available; Phone Setup in Parent Mode shows what is in place. Gulino works best as the primary child experience on the phone, which is why a family phone you hand over, or a spare phone, is the simplest starting point.

Which languages does Gulino speak?

Gulino follows the phone's language. The current version is available in 20 languages: English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. If the phone is set to a language Gulino does not offer, it shows English.

How do I get the phone back to normal after Child Mode?

Open Parent Mode with your Parent PIN and choose Exit Child Mode. Gulino then asks the phone to let you pick your usual Home screen again. If you made Gulino the messaging app, choose your usual messaging app in the phone's default-apps settings as well — Gulino opens that screen for you from Parent Mode. Text messages (SMS) that arrived while Child Mode was on are already in the phone's inbox, and your apps, accounts and data are not touched. Picture and group messages (MMS) are not received while Gulino is the messaging app.

How much does Gulino cost?

Gulino is an annual subscription, bought in the app through Google Play. The price is shown in Google Play, in your local currency, before you subscribe, and Gulino's plan screen shows the same price that Google Play gives it. Prices can differ from country to country, and taxes are shown and charged as Google Play presents them where you live. Gulino has no ads.

How does the free trial work?

Eligible new subscribers can start with a 14-day free trial where Google Play offers it. Google Play decides who is eligible — for example, it may not offer a trial to a Google account that has already had one — and Gulino shows a trial only when Google Play offers it to you. If no trial is offered, the plan screen shows the annual price instead.

Google Play asks for a payment method to start the trial. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, the annual subscription starts automatically when it ends and Google Play charges the annual price you were shown. If you cancel during the trial, you are not charged.

How do I cancel?

In Google Play. In the Google Play app, open Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → Gulino → Cancel subscription. You can also go to play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions on any device, signed in to the Google account you subscribed with, or open Parent Mode → Account & Security → Gulino plan → View plan → Manage subscription.

Cancelling stops future renewals. Gulino keeps working until the end of the period you have already paid for, or until the end of the free trial. Uninstalling Gulino or deleting your Gulino account does not cancel the subscription.

How do I restore my subscription?

Sign in with the Gulino Parent account you subscribed with, then open Parent Mode → Account & Security → Gulino plan → View plan → Restore purchase. Gulino checks your Parent account's plan, and the subscriptions of the Google account signed in to Google Play on the phone, and confirms them for your Parent account. During setup, the plan step offers the same Restore purchase. If you deleted the Gulino account you subscribed with and kept the subscription, sign in with your new Parent account and use Restore purchase on a phone where Google Play uses the Google account you subscribed with: Gulino links the subscription to the new account.

A subscription belongs to the Gulino Parent account it was bought with. It cannot be moved to a different Gulino Parent account.

What happens if my subscription ends?

Nothing changes abruptly on a phone that is already in Child Mode. The current Child Mode session is not cut off: your child keeps the people, apps and SOS you configured. You can still open Parent Mode with your Parent PIN, change settings, exit Child Mode, read the legal documents and delete your account.

What needs an active plan is starting a new Child Mode session. Once Child Mode has been turned off, turning it on again needs an active free trial or subscription. If Google Play cannot take a renewal payment, it may keep the subscription active for a short grace period while you update your payment method in Google Play. Gulino keeps the last plan status our servers confirmed and checks it when you start Child Mode. Without internet it can rely on that confirmation for a limited time; after that it asks you to connect so it can confirm your plan.

Does my child see prices or payment screens?

Not from Gulino. Gulino shows its plan, prices and payment screens only to the parent: during setup, and in Parent Mode behind the Parent PIN. Gulino never shows them in Child Mode, and never opens Google Play's purchase or subscription pages from Child Mode.

Apps you approve are different. An app you approve for your child can show its own prices and offer its own purchases — many games do — and so can the Google Play Store if you approve it. Purchases made through Google Play are charged to the Google account signed in to Google Play on the phone. Look at an app before you approve it, and consider requiring authentication for purchases in the Google Play app's settings. Google Wallet, if you allow it in Parent Mode, is Google's own payment app and works with the cards added to it.

Google Play itself may also send its own emails and notifications about the Gulino subscription to the Google account that subscribed, and those notifications can appear on the phone.

How do I sign in to Gulino?

Create or sign in to your Parent account with your email address and password, then create a Parent PIN for this phone. A Parent account is required; setup does not continue without one. The same choice appears when you add a parent account from Parent Mode → Account & Security. The Parent PIN is separate from the account and is not sent to us. Details of the provider we use are in the Privacy Notice.

Signing in restores your Parent account only. This phone's settings — Parent PIN, child profile, approved people, apps and theme — are kept on the phone and are set up again after a reinstall.

Before Child Mode starts, Gulino asks you to confirm your account's email address, because that address is how you reset a forgotten Parent PIN. Open the link in the email on any device, then choose I have verified — check again. If you choose Finish setup later, everything you set up is kept and Child Mode simply is not started yet.

Do I need to add my Google account to the phone my child uses?

Not to sign in. You sign in to Gulino with an email address and password.

The subscription is the one part that uses a Google account: it is bought through Google Play on the phone you set up, with the Google account signed in to Google Play there. Subscribing or restoring a purchase needs a Google account signed in to Google Play on that phone; use an adult's account for it. Apps you approve can charge their own purchases to that account too — see Does my child see prices or payment screens?

Does signing out of the Parent account stop Child Mode?

No. The Parent PIN is the local key to the phone and the Parent account is for account and cloud features. Signing out ends the cloud session only: Child Mode stays on, and you can still open Parent Mode, change settings and close Gulino with your Parent PIN — without internet. Sign in again whenever you want to use account features. If you forget the PIN, recovery goes through the account and does need internet.

Can someone sign in on the phone my child uses with a different Parent Account?

No. An existing Gulino setup can be reached only by the Parent account it is connected to. Signing in with another account is refused, and refusing changes nothing on the phone: not the child, not the settings, not the Parent PIN, not Child Mode. Knowing the Parent PIN does not give an account access either.

What if I forget my Parent PIN?

Choose Forgot PIN. Once Gulino has verified your Parent account, you can set a new Parent PIN. The old PIN is not shown, because the phone does not keep it in a readable form.

This needs an internet connection and your account's password, and the account's email address must be confirmed. If something stands in the way — no connection, too many attempts, an email that is not confirmed yet, or an account that has been disabled — Gulino says so. The Forgot PIN screen also shows a short support reference; if you need help, write to contact@gulino.app and include it. The reference only helps us find your account; it cannot unlock the phone.

If the account cannot be recovered at all, the phone is still not locked: see Can't recover your Parent Account?

What if I forget my password?

Choose Forgot password and a reset email is sent to the account's address; after resetting, sign in again. The Parent PIN is separate from the password and stays on this phone.

Can't recover your Parent Account?

Gulino from Google Play uses standard protection, and the phone itself is never locked for good. If you cannot recover your Parent Account — forgotten PIN and password, no access to the email address, an account that was disabled or deleted, no internet — you can remove Gulino or clear its app data from the phone's own Settings. This returns Gulino to first-time setup and removes the Gulino setup on that phone, including the Parent PIN and Child Mode. It does not delete the phone's other apps, photos or data.

• Most Android phones (for example Google Pixel): Settings → Apps → Gulino → Uninstall, or Storage & cache → Clear storage.
• Samsung Galaxy: Settings → Apps → Gulino → Uninstall, or Storage → Clear data.

Menu names differ a little between phones and Android versions. Some phones also offer Archive; archiving keeps the app's data, so it does not reset Gulino.

After Uninstall, Android goes back to the phone's usual Home screen, messaging app and call settings. After Clear storage, Android may keep Gulino as the default Home, SMS or caller-ID app; Gulino's first screen then says so and opens the phone's own settings so you can choose your usual apps (Settings → Apps → Default apps). Text messages (SMS) that arrive in the meantime are kept in the phone's message inbox; picture and group messages (MMS) cannot be received until you choose your usual messaging app again.

If Clear storage (or Clear data) is greyed out, Gulino has been switched on under Settings → Security → Device admin apps. Gulino never asks for this, but it can be switched on there by hand. Switch it off there and clear the data, or choose Uninstall, which Android then offers as Deactivate & uninstall. Neither needs your Parent PIN or account.

Two things are separate and are not done by removing Gulino from the phone: deleting your Parent Account (see How do I delete my Gulino account?) and cancelling a Google Play subscription (see How do I cancel?). If you install Gulino again, setup starts from the beginning.

What happens if I reinstall Gulino?

Gulino keeps the child setup on the phone rather than backing it up to the cloud. So removing Gulino, clearing its storage or resetting the phone removes what it stored there — the Parent PIN, the child profile and theme, the approved people and their numbers, SOS settings and the app allowlist — and those settings need to be configured again.

Your Parent account is unaffected: sign in again with your email address and password, then set the phone up again.

Your subscription is unaffected too, because it belongs to your Parent account and to Google Play, not to the app on the phone. Sign in with the same Parent account and Gulino shows your existing plan; if it does not, use Restore purchase. You do not need to subscribe again. Uninstalling Gulino does not cancel the subscription.

How do I delete my Gulino account?

In the app: open Gulino, enter Parent Mode, open Account & Security, choose Delete account and confirm your identity with your account password. The app shows what will be deleted before it asks.

By email: write to contact@gulino.app from the account's email address with the subject Delete my account. We confirm it is you and aim to finish within 30 days.

Deleting your Gulino account does not cancel your Google Play subscription. If you no longer want it, cancel it in Google Play first.

The full list of what is deleted, what is cleared on the phone, what is left alone and what the law may oblige us to keep is at gulino.app/account-deletion.

Does Gulino restore a previous phone setup?

No. Signing in restores your Parent identity only. The Parent PIN, the child profile, the approved people, SOS settings, theme and app allowlist are stored on the phone, and a phone that has been reset, wiped or reinstalled no longer has them. You configure the phone again. This is intended behaviour, not a backup failure.

What information stays only on the phone?

• The Parent PIN.
• The child profile and buddy theme.
• Approved people with their phone numbers.
• SOS settings and the approved app list.
• Your local setup preferences, and the record of your acceptance of the Terms and Privacy Notice.

Gulino does not upload this local information, and there is no analytics, no advertising identifier, no location history and no crash-reporting service in the app.

What is stored in the cloud?

Gulino stores a limited amount of information needed to provide your Parent account and to associate it securely with your Gulino setup. That is basic account information — your email address, display name, an account identifier and whether the email is verified — and technical service identifiers held in our database in the European Union. If you subscribe, it also holds your subscription's status and dates and Google Play's identifiers for the purchase, linked to your Parent account; your card or bank details stay with Google Play.

The Privacy Notice sets out the full detail and the providers involved.

Why is there no cloud backup?

Gulino keeps sensitive child and family settings on the phone wherever it can, and for privacy it does not create a cloud backup of them — not with us, and not with the phone owner's Google account. The trade-off is deliberate: if the app is removed or the phone is reset, those settings need to be configured again.

Questions not answered here: contact@gulino.app.