Internet safety and smart phones

[motheroreily]

My child is 8. Her dad bought her a mobile phone. I think she is too young and doesn't need one. But we share parental responsibility and he made that decision.

He hasn't got any parental controls on it and she's just been downloading any apps. She has roblox which ive mixed opinions on and animal jam. Both of these have a chat feature which worries me.

In fact the whole phone worries me! Are there any apps or anything I can add to stop unknown numbers calling or messaging and block inappropriate apps. I've got an android and she's got an I phone.

I'd love to hear other people's experiences or advice. I've tried researching online and really need practical advice on how I can make it safer.

Google family link works on android phones. You need to download the app and link it to the email address on her phone.
It allows you to authorise every app and set time limits.
The one thing it ssslt doesn't do is have a cut off bedtime for individual apps, so it would be an 8pm (for example) cut off for the crappy games and nice educational ones. You can set a daily time limit for each app though.

Ah thanks that's brilliant I'll look at that now. The time on apps doesn't bother me so much as when she's here I can control how long she is on the phone etc. Its more unsuitable apps, website and strangers calling and texting

I'm not sure if you can stop certain calls. Might be something in there. My DD is 11 and so I mainly use it to stop her downloading crap and playing endless roblox .