Can smartphones ever be safe?

[BarqsHasBite]

I know there have been lots of smartphones for kids threads but this is fairly specific.

When my kids start secondary I would ideally like to give them a “dumb” smartphone, by which I mean a smartphone with robust parental controls. So has:

• no apps other than those which I have specifically allowed, eg google maps
• no web access other than to domains I have specifically allowed.
• definitely no means of accessing TikTok, Insta or Snap!!!
• If I allow WhatsApp, a way for me to monitor it remotely, and restrict it eg can’t be added to “all contacts” groups, maybe no “single view” photos? That may not be possible.
• the ability for me to set time limits, ie phone turns off at 8pm or no more than X hours of screentime a day.

Does such an app exist/can anyone share their experiences please?

I’m aware of the following parental control apps: bark, Qustodio, MM Guardian, Net Nanny, Norton Family, Mobicip.

But it’s hard to investigate then fully and see whether they actually do what I want without actually buying another smartphone to test them on.

From what I’ve heard, free parental controls like Google Family are ridiculously easy for teens to circumvent.

I may end up giving them a brick but I’d rather avoid this as a) they will be going to a school where they know no one and I don’t want them to be picked on and b) there are a few smartphone apps I’d like them to have.

thanks!

Bump? 🙏

I hope someone responds to you regarding this! This is exactly what I’m looking for for my 11 year old daughter. Due to start secondary school in sept...

Yes an iPhone can meet the criteria you describe, I suggest visit an Apple Store or make an appointment.
Even if you buy a used iPhone elsewhere.

I know my mother has whattsapp on her ipad as well as phone (so she can read it easier!) So that bit should be easy.

Yes, iPhone controls plus Qustudio do all but the WhatsApp ask. But the interaction is fiddly and took techy DH some time and googling to set up. That is almost exactly the set up I have for my DD.

Thanks Dbank - my friend's 12 year old managed to circumvent the iPhone parental controls that were meant to limit her screen time.

Her phone (or access to it) was supposed to turn off at 8pm each night, but she worked out if she switched the time zone to LA she could have access most of the night....

This seems like such a basic thing and if Apple can't get that right I have almost zero faith in their parental controls generally.

I've heard other examples without having done much digging. Someone else mentioned that teens buy a 'burner' sim card they can swap out but tbh I don't know if that would get round parental controls or if they're on the phone itself rather than connected with the sim/the phone number on that sim.

This is because it hasn't been set up properly by the parent, you may find the steps below helpful.

• The missing step to blocking the date and time changes is to turn the green time passcode off and on from the parent account after the steps everyone keeps doing. If screen time has been enabled then you need to disable them to start.
• Go to Settings>General>Date & Time > Toggle on ‘Set Automatically’
• Now, got back into screen time and enable it.
• Then tap “Content & Privacy Restrictions” and toggle it on
• Scroll down and tap ‘Location Services’
• Go down to ‘System Services’
• Make sure that ‘Setting Time Zone’ is toggled off and then tap ‘Back’
• At the top of the ‘Location Services’ screen, check ‘Don’t Allow Changes.’
• When you scroll down now you will notice that ‘Setting Time Zone’ is greyed out – meaning that changes can’t be made!

TURN SCREEN TIME PASSCODE OFF AND ON FROM THE OARENT ACCOUNT.

• Go back to Settings>General>Date & Time and you’ll see that this has been greyed out too.

Do you know how? I would like WhatsApp on my iPad but there is no app available for the iPad and I’ve never been able to work out how it’s possible to put it on my iPad as it seems to need to be on a device with its own mobile number.

There’s a quick way to do it - in Whatsapp on your phone go into settings, linked devices, click linked device and it’ll give you a QR code. Point your iPad camera at that and it should all link up.

It does need to be verified every so often, so you can’t use it to set up a child’s WhatsApp to show on your iPad forever, they would need to be on board with revalidating it every so often.

Thanks for the tip although unfortunately it doesn’t work with an iPad as there is no way to download the WhatsApp app onto an iPad in the first place to link a device. It would be possible to use a browser on the iPad to log in and check messages but that’s not really what I want as I wouldn’t receive the notifications. I tend to use my iPad over my phone when at home and so am forever missing Whatsapp messages from people who use it to contact me as I will go hours without looking at my phone, just thought if I could get a way to have whatsapp on my iPad in the ways it’s on my phone that might help!

Thank you for taking the time to explain all this @Dbank , though I still feel Apple could do more to make it easy/obvious/foolproof without needing kind strangers on the internet to explain it all!