GardionTelegram and MAX on your child's phone: how to limit time and keep school chats
Aleksandr Popov · · How we write our articles
Between September 28 and October 28, MAX took 460 hours of kids' time on Android in Gardion households, and Telegram took 97. A limit was set in 8 of the 63 households where a child opened MAX, and in one of 25 households with Telegram. The sample is small, so the numbers show scale. What they suggest: the messenger has dropped out of parents' view, even though it carries both schoolwork and evening chat. Closing a messenger completely rarely works. Many Russian schools run their class chats in MAX, and a child without it can miss homework. Below: what to leave open, what to limit and how to do it in Gardion.
Why you can't simply delete MAX
On March 11, 2026, Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said that all schools and more than 20 million teachers and students had moved to MAX. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, MAX has the Sferum education service built in: school chats, video calls, the electronic gradebook and a service for ordering a certificate for school. Teachers quoted in the article say they keep parent chats and class groups there.
So a reasonable goal is to leave open what school needs and cut evening hours of chatting and feeds.
What the dashboard shows
On days when a child opens the app, they spend on average 37 minutes in MAX and 35 in Telegram. If your report shows much more, check at what hours it happens: the reports in Gardion show when each app was running.
How to limit time in a messenger
In Gardion you set a limit in minutes per app. It works for both MAX and Telegram.
1. In the parent app, open the list of apps on your child's phone.
2. Find MAX and Telegram. Each shows how many minutes were spent today.
3. Set a limit, for example one hour a day. When the time is up, the app closes.
For quiet evenings, set a bedtime: during bedtime hours the phone locks on the schedule you chose. The guide to your child's phone at night explains how to set it up.
To keep messengers closed during lessons while school services stay open, use school mode. You set school days and hours and a list of apps needed for class, such as the electronic gradebook, Sferum and a calculator. During lessons only that list and contact with parents work. Everything else waits for the bell.
What to do about Telegram
Telegram is usually not needed for school. We think it's reasonable to set a stricter limit on Telegram than on MAX, or to close it during lessons.
A block closes an app completely until you lift it. We don't recommend blocking MAX, where the class chats are: your child will miss assignments, and the argument about it will be worse than the chatting.
What Gardion can't do
Gardion doesn't read messages and doesn't show who your child writes to. It sees that the app is running and for how many minutes. If you want to know who your child talks to, that is a conversation, not a report. The media plan template explains how to agree on such things in advance.
Where to start
1. Open the report and see how much time your child spends in MAX and Telegram.
2. Set a limit on both apps, plus a bedtime.
3. Turn on school mode for lesson hours.
4. Agree with your child on what goes into chats and at what times.
You can install Gardion on a phone with the install guide. The first 14 days include every feature, no card needed. A fix usually ships in an update within one or two days of your report.
Sources
Checked on November 7, 2026.
- Rossiyskaya Gazeta, March 11: teachers on schools moving to MAX
In short
The terms differ between services and change over time. Check the age in the app or in the service's terms before you allow it.
A limit applies to the whole MAX app, and Gardion doesn't single out individual chats. That is why limiting time makes more sense than blocking.
No. It shows time in the app. It doesn't read or record messages.
Set limits in 3 minutes
Limits, schedule and anti-bypass protection on Windows and Android. 14 days of full access, no card needed.
Try GardionOr install the parent app now.
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