Active Device Hours
Set the hours Chromebooks can be used, per weekday and per OU. UserAuthGuard pushes the schedule to Google Admin as a device restriction, so a device locks at the cutoff whether or not it is online with you.
What it does
Parents ask for it more than anything else: a Chromebook that is not usable at 1 a.m. ChromeOS supports this as a device-level setting, a restriction schedule that locks the device outside allowed windows, but the Admin console makes you set it per OU by hand and gives you no view of what is set where.
Active Device Hours gives each of the OUs UserAuthGuard manages (the Assigned parent, Unassigned, Repair, Loaners, Missing, Disabled and Deprovisioned) its own schedule. For every weekday you set the time ranges when devices can be used; outside them the device locks. You choose a warning (one to sixty minutes before the cutoff) and the message students see while locked. UserAuthGuard syncs the schedule to Google as the OU’s device restriction policy and shows the sync status per OU, so you know it took.
Because it is a Google device policy, it does not depend on the extension or on the device talking to UserAuthGuard. It applies on the device at the scheduled time. Schedules follow your organization’s timezone, or the device’s own if you prefer. On the Chromebook Rules page it appears as the “Overnight lock” rule, with who it applies to and where it stands.
- ✓ A Google device policy, not an extensionThe schedule is written to the OU’s device restriction setting. It holds with the extension removed and with the device offline.
- ✓ Per weekdayDifferent windows for school days and weekends, or a single window every day. Multiple ranges per day are allowed.
- ✓ Per OUAssigned student devices can lock overnight while loaners, repair-bench devices and unassigned stock follow their own schedules, or none.
- ✓ A warning, then your messageStudents get notice before the cutoff, and the lock screen shows the text you wrote, not a generic error.
- ✓ Sync status you can seeEach OU shows whether its schedule is synced to Google, syncing, or in error, so a failed push is never silent.
Requires
- The Enterprise plan, and UserAuthGuard authorized to write Chrome device policy for your OUs.
- Devices placed in the UserAuthGuard-managed OUs the schedule targets, which 1:1 assignment does for you.
Does not
- Filter by time of day. A site that should be blocked only outside school hours is a Blocked Content rule, not an Active Hours one.
- Set per-student exceptions. The schedule is per OU. A student who needs a later window belongs in an OU with that window.
- Handle one-off holidays by itself. The schedule is weekly; a break week means changing the schedule for that week.
Where it fits
The overnight lock
Assigned student devices usable from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on school nights, later on Fridays and Saturdays. A ten-minute warning, then a lock screen that says what time the device comes back.
Elementary earlier than high school
If each building has its own Assigned parent OU, each gets its own schedule. Younger grades lock earlier without touching the high school.
Loaners and stock, untouched
Leave the Loaner and Unassigned OUs without a schedule so a technician imaging devices at 7 p.m., or a student on a short-term loaner, is not locked out by a rule meant for take-home devices.
Frequently asked questions
What does the student see at the cutoff?
A warning the number of minutes before that you chose, then a lock screen with your message. The device unlocks on its own when the next allowed window starts.
Does the device need to be online for the lock to apply?
It needs to have received the policy once, which happens the next time it checks in with Google after you sync. After that the schedule is enforced on the device itself.
Can I have different schedules for different days?
Yes. Each weekday has its own list of allowed time ranges, and a day can have more than one range.
What timezone is used?
Your organization’s configured timezone by default. You can choose to use the device’s own timezone instead.
How is this different from blocking sites after hours?
Active Device Hours locks the whole device. Time-of-day site rules, such as YouTube blocked except during the school day, are part of Blocked Content on the Enterprise Plus plan and apply through the extension.
Lock the fleet overnight
Active Device Hours is part of the Enterprise plan, priced per student, à la carte. Start free first: the gap report lists every device with no owner and every student with no device.