Find out what MNers think of the new Sky Broadband Buddy app

[AbbiCMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnet users who tried and tested the Sky Broadband Buddy app. This product test was open to all UK MNers with a Sky Broadband account and at least one child between the ages of 6 and 12.

Here’s what Sky Broadband have to say: “In May we launched our brand new app, Sky Broadband Buddy*, which gives parents the ultimate level of control over their family’s internet usage. Buddy takes parental controls to the next level with its market leading features such as being able to pause your internet, filter sites and manage screen time on devices on WiFi and mobile data.”

Testers please answer the questions below:

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?
• Did you find the app easy to use?
• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?
• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?
• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

All testers will be required to leave their feedback on a thread on Mumsnet and fill in a short survey. Everyone who leaves the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where 3 MNers will win a £100 voucher each of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

*Requires Sky Broadband Essential or Superfast, Sky Broadband Boost and Sky Broadband Buddy app on each compatible device running iOS 10+ or Android 5+ (see sky.com/buddy for device and software requirements). Sky recommends that all devices connected to the internet are protected with anti-virus software at all times.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
we were very happy with sky broadband buddy

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

my favourite feature on there was the Pause internet button! Always works when you need them to do something & they won’t listen, I also liked the location app to show where the device was

• Did you find the app easy to use?

*found it very easy to use, everything is labelled straightforward and is easy to add pics to everyone’s profile and set up devices”

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I loved how it monitored my daughters usage, and I could turn off specific things like certain websites and apps. Sometimes it would block things I hadn’t blocked, and internet wouldn’t work for a few mins after her phone was connected. It also kept reactivating Tic toc after I disallowed it.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes definitely, now I’ve tried it and I’ve got the control I don’t think I’d be able to get rid of it! So much easier to monitor usage and keep kids safe.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes definatley the internet has changed so much and it’s very important to keep our kids as safe as possible online. Being able to use this and being able to filter out specific apps & webpages is fab! I’d recommend this to any family!

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
The app is good and the controls are great.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The time limits, age control and pause were all great functions.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

The app was very easy to use and was straightforward.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The vpn slowed the connection on my dd's iPad so much that I had to remove it as it was impossible to watch even the shortest thing on YouTube.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

I would like to be able to continue to use it but there are definitely problems that need ironing out first.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not? I wouldnt recommend sky broadband buddy to friends yet as i don't think it's ready. As soon as I removed my dd's iPad from the app and removed the vpn it all worked fine again.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
Very satisfied on the newer iso iPads but not working on the older versions

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I love that I can say ok x amount of homework, time to spend having dinner etc and then reward with screen time

• Did you find the app easy to use?

It was very easy to use even for my husband who is a bit of a technophobe

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I liked the outlay to be used easily and it actually working for out family

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes 100%

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes I would because it’s easy to slip into a go on then routine but the app helps to create clear guidelines

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

Reasonably satisfied, I would have given it a higher rating if I could have got hold of someone from sky to help me with the qr code issue that I had.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I love the reward button. The kids liked the incentive of trying to earn more screen time.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

No. I'm pretty tech savvy and trying to add qr codes wasn't easy when I wasn't even sure where to look. also, if my phone locked whilst I was creating a kids profile it deleted the lot and I had to start again.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Liked - rewards, personalising the kids profiles and the features that could allow and disallow whatever websites I wanted. Disliked - the lock screen issue, the hard to find qr codes for my amazon fire tablets meant that it was hard to set up and where to find the qr codes wasn't clear

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes, it's great especially for devices that don't have screen time restrictions

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes but I'd recommend they wait a few months for the app to improve.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
I was very pleased with the sky broadband buddy

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I really liked the button to pause the internet as a means of control when it was being over used!

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes I did and I liked the profile options

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I liked that it kept track of my daughters usage, and I could turn off things like apps which she was over using. There was nothing I disliked.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes I would, it has been a useful control over screen time and the monitoring feature is handy.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes I would. Online safety should be paramount for every family and it is such a help to be able to control usage.

I liked the broadband buddy - I like being able to pause the Internet for meals or to make sure homework will be done. I appreciated being able to turn off apps and monitor my sons usage. It was easy to use and I would recommend it to others as online safety is vital for our children. The broadband itself hasn't been great as the previous sky service we've used was much more reliable!

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

• I was quite satisfied, on the devices that the app works with it works very well, unfortunately we use kindles alot and you cannot download the app to the kindle.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

* being able to pause the internet, its the only way to get my daughters attention sometimes! I also like being able to monitor the sites shes been looking at, and the time online. Also the location will be handy when they are going out and also for lost phones.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

* Yes very easy

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Not combatable with kindles, and if the app is deleted from the other device (childs device) it wont work, which as they get older and savvier I suspect they may do.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

* yes.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

* yes, providing they have combatable devices.

Sky Broadband Buddy?

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Loved the pause button and the option to monitor sites used. Fantastic tool

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes the set up was fairly easy the QR code bit was slightly tricky but sorted In the end and was straightforward

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The internet became slower I thought since getting the app. I liked being able to monitor screen time and my younger ones liked the rewards

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time

Yes I will continue to use the app I’m finding it really helpful to keep track of the kids and has loads of great features the pause being my favourite l.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes I would highly recommend this app. So easy to use once set up and gives you peace of mind and helps teach the kids about not spending all their time online.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

At the moment, 5/10. We loved the idea, but our hub couldn't handle the broadband speed needed or updates, and our new hub won't be recognised on the app. When I initially set it up, it was great, then it blocked everything on my sons phone, including when he was on mobile data. The idea and for the couple of hours it worked was brilliant, and I'm determined to get it working properly with sky's help, as it is a great thing for the home

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The tracking of sites, and the pause button! Time limits

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The filters were difficult to get right at first, took a little time to get used to. No filter meant they couldn't do anything for instance!

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes. I would like to, really would like to get it to work properly!

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes, especially after their excellent customer service

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

It has lots of positives to it and will be really useful as my kids get older. However there were a few negatives too...

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The Pause button was handy and just knowing overall how much my son is spending on his tablet is interesting to know. He generally only uses apps that I allow him to at the moment but as he gets older, I think being able to filter which apps he has access to is really good.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes I found it pretty easy to set up and use.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Two of the tablets we use in our house weren't compatible with the app as they aren't up-to-date enough. That was slightly annoying! When I put the app onto my husband's phone, it used a huge percentage of his battery and he found that the battery drained way quicker than normal.

It may be possible to do this but I think it would be really useful to use it on our TV rather than just the tablet or phone...?

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

As it isn't compatible with the two tablets which are used most often in our home, I won't be continuing to use it..

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Hmmmm....yes I think it's a good app for some people. Possibly for when the kids are older and have an up-to-date device.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

I was fairly satisfied with it

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I liked being able to pause the internet, and theoretically being able to locate devices, though I didn't get that to work.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes, I found it very easy to set up and fairly easy to navigate.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

It's not something that can be fixed on the App, but we have various screens such as our family computer and games consoles which are used by different member of the family at different times. So the amount of time online recorded by the buddy app ended up being much less than was actually used.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

I will continue to use the app and try to work out how it can be useful to me, but because of the way screens are used in our house it does not help me manage screen time as much as I'd like. From what I can tell they can continue to use screens as long as they're not connected to the internet.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

I would recommend it, but I would explain that it would work better for some setups than others. So whether I would recommend would depend on the family in question.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

We have been very satisfied with the Sky Broadband Buddy app! It has not only given me the ultimate control over how much time my kids spend online and what they see online, but its also made us think as a family about how much time we actually spend using devices.

Its really helped to encouraged us to pause the internet more for good quality family time without devices pinging all the time! Plus with the broadband boost our internet seems quicker than ever!

What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

My favourite features including the "easy pause" button which allows me to pause the internet on all devices. Its great for tea time or when I need to get everyone's attention and away from devices as its just the click of a button!

My other favourite feature is the fact that I can set up profile for each person or device. As there is a 5 year app gap between my children I love being able to set suitable age limits, block specific sites and then be able to look back and see how each child has used their time and what sites they have visited. It certainly makes them using the internet feel much safer!

Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes the app is really easy to set up and then use. You simple follow step my step instructions to set up and once set up you can easily add/change or amend any of your chosen limits or filters with the click of a button.

I managed to set up a profile for two children with all the settings etc in under 10 minutes its that easy to do. Its great that there is also a easy to use screen for the kids via the app on their devices too which shows them their daily time limits and any rewards earnt etc which my 10 year old likes to check to see what he can use for the day.

What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I like how easy the app is to use, I love all of the settings and features which really make you feel in control. I love the age filter settings especially the PG setting which automatically blocks things like social media, youtube and gambling/malicious content which is perfect for my 5 year old.

I wouldn't say its a dislike but there are some features that I think could be improved. The location services is a great idea however it doesn't seem to be able to pick up the device location very well and we have tried on several devices.

The other improvement I would love to see on the app is a notification or count down timer when your child's daily limit is about to end. At the moment there isn't anything except for on the main screen. However this doesn't show once you are actually online so once the time limit is over, the internet just stops working, this has led to a few moments of upset with the kids. But I think if there was some sort of warning that the time limit was about to end it would really help kids understand this and prewarn parents too.

Now you've tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family's screen time?

Definitely! Its not only given me more control over the time kids spend online and the content they see but its actually made us really think about usage as a whole family and we have setting aside dedicated "device free" time on certain days thanks to the app so we will definitely continue to use it!

Its also made me feel a bit safer about what the kids can see and access now I have the filters in place and I am able to block specific websites.

Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

I definitely would recommend it, in fact I already have been!

I have recommended the app to several friends who have mentioned their children spending lots of time on devices over the summer as I really think the app does help. Its such a handy app and as it can be personalised to each user it works well for families with kids and teens of all ages so its a great all round app.

I was selected for this product test and was very excited. I think the premise of the Buddy App is great.
Unfortunately, having gone through the application with a Sky advisor, Sky Superfast broadband is not available in my area of London. On Sky Essential there is a considerable slow down of internet speed when using the Buddy App. so decided not to take up the offer.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

We're really happy with the Sky Broadband Buddy. It was easy to set up both on the parent account and adding children's accounts.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The content filtering was probably our favourite feature. Allowing us to give access to certain sites/content depending on the child's age and level of responsibility.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes, easy to navigate to allocate devices and change settings for profiles

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Not that I can think of

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

We will continue to utilise the content filters, screen time allowance and off times features

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

I'd recommend it to my family and friends, it's an easy way to track screen time usage, filter appropriate content as well as the all-important pause button

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

Very. Using Sky Broadband Buddy has really opened my eyes about my families level of internet use and screen time. Not only have I been able to dramatically reduce my own personal usage according to my iphone usage tracker (something which I absolutely wanted to do for my own mental health and wellbeing!) but I have been able to reduce the girls to a far more healthy level. I can now be confident that their screen time is both educational, age appropriate and at a reasonable level for their age.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I personally loved the ability to turn the internet off at key times of day such as mealtimes, as this allowed us to focus on each other, have conversations and not be distracted by our tech. I also gave myself a 'date night' during the week whereby the tech was off. This enforced break whilst it shouldn't be necessary, really made me switch off for a while and it was a very refreshing change.

I also love the reward element of Sky Broadband Buddy, where you can allocate rewards of additional screentime for good behaviour such as completing their homework, tidying their room or helping with chores. This was an important life lesson for my girls too!

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes, I found it very straightforward to set up the profiles for each family member, and allocated off times, screen time limits and filters.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I would sometimes forget that I had set myself an off time and need to get something done, and for a while I would be confused as to why my internet 'wasn't working' Once I'd remembered though this was easy to override in the app. On that note as well, it doesn't give you a heads up or warning when your allocated time limit is about to expire, which would be nice - although the main hub can see how much usage has been taken on each device, it would be nice if the person using it had a flag to say they were approaching their limit too.

The only feature I personally wouldn't use is the one that allows you to see which sites your children have visited, but my girls are much younger. I think for teens this could be seen as a little bit of an invasion of their privacy, particularly as on iOS I don't believe they can remove the app off their devices. I think if parents were going to use this feature they should ensure this is transparent for their children.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Absoutely. We have set meal times and bedtimes on the app, and allocated 2 nights during the week where myself and my partner are now offline. I think it will have a big impact on my level of internet use.

Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes I would, definitely if they feel that their internet use is becoming excessive. It goes far beyond what normal internet filters can offer.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

Very satisfied. I wasn’t expecting it to be that good as already have a hub that can control the Internet time and set limits for the kids devices.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Being able to pause the Internet is quite good but actually it’s the detail you can see. Because you can see exactly what they’ve been doing it on their phones, it gives me much more than my current hub with it’s set of limit controls. Knowing that gives me the info I need to make decisions on internet time.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes. It was a bit of a pain to set up and doesn’t work on some of our older devices as the ios isn’t the correct version.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

Probably only that it doesn’t work on everything.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes we will carry on.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes. I would.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
Very satisfied

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

The pause button was great I liked being able to pause the internet on all devices at once when needed.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

Yes very straight forward

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I liked being able to set a bedtime and monitor and restrict the apps and age appropriate content for the children

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes of course I won’t look back I think it’s so important to make healthy habits and keep them safe online.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes I definitely would as I’ve loved it. It gives me peace of mind knowing the kids are safe online.

I'm probably not the sort of mumsnet user who might have been expected to try this, I'm ancient and a complete technophobe, but I thought I'd give it a try on behalf of all dinosaurs. I have a young child who has rather taken over my old iPad and I'd like a bit more oversight without hovering to peer over her shoulder constantly.
Moving to the relevant package with Sky took longer than I expected and there were various issues with billing when I was apparently put on the wrong package, considerably more expensive than advertised. I made 3 calls to the customer services, on each occasion the call was answered promptly and the staff were polite and helpful.
When I was finally up and ready to go, I loaded the app to my phone with some difficulty. I am sure that this was my incompetence and others would manage easily. It was unclear to me what was a 'parent' and 'kid' device as we all use all devices. Seemed sensible to make the iPad the kid device as that was the one I most wanted to supervise. Unfortunately I was unable to load the app because the iPad won't update to IOS 10, a requirement for the Sky app.
So a lot of effort and I haven't been able to use it after all!
Having seen what I'm missing out on, I can say that Sky buddy looks like it would be very handy for more tech-savvy families with individual and more up-to-date devices. If our situation changes I would certainly give it a go again.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
NOT SATISFIED DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

CANT COMMENT

• Did you find the app easy to use?

NO

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

CANT COMMENT

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

NO

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

WITH RESERVATIONS

Thanks for letting me try. I'm obviously not the right person for this.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy? Very Satified

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app? Pausing the broadband - great for getting child out of the house or to stop to eat or do homework.
• Did you find the app easy to use? Yes very easy.
• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app? I liked being able to control broadband access from my phone.
• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time? Yes I will especially as I can control the sort of sites my son has access to.
• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Yes because it's so easy to use and works really well. I like the flexibility it provides - you can control overall access as well as make sure adult sites are excluded.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

Satisfied. 7/10

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

We liked being able to pause the internet with one tap, as well as being able to set off times, limits and bedtimes as then there are fewer battles when it's time to come off as the expectation has been set to begin with. I also liked being able to see which sites/apps have been used and how long for, though as my boys get older and for the purpose of honesty I will make sure the boys know that we are able to see what they are visiting.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

We did, we thought the interface was really simple and not complicated at all. We couldn't work out how to allow certain apps to work with it though, like Pokemon Go which my children like to go on.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

We haven't been able to work out how to allow certain apps to work with it but other than that we think it's great.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Yes and I think we'll use it a lot more as our boys get older and ask for more screen time to help us keep a healthy balance between being on tech and doing other things.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes we would especially to families with older children who are struggling to keep screen time in moderation.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to test the Sky Broadband Bubby App.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

Broadband Buddy is a great tool for parents to use, especially in a busy household. We love having it and being able to have more control over things.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I liked that you could group devices per person, for example my step daughter has a phone, tablet and laptop, and all of those were grouped under her profile and you could see all activity together. The pause feature is fantastic, as well as the bedtime.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

I was a little confused to begin with as I though each device would have to have the buddy app downloaded, but soon realised that it didn’t have to. It’s very easy to use and set up.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

There’s nothing not to like, you can gain control of what your children are doing, restrict and block is necessary.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

Absolutely, we will carry on using the Buddy app.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

We would definitely recommend this to friends and have already, it’s a fantastic tool and it can hopefully help some families too.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy the process to switch internet packages, and the Sky staff were great. I was really looking forward to trying the Sky Buddy app as tech time is a familiar battle in our house. My 7 year old has access to 3 devices: an ancient iPad, an Amazon Fire HD and an old Samsung S5 phone (without sim). Unfortunately the iPad software was not current enough to run the Buddy app, and it was not available for the Amazon Fire, which left us with only the Android phone to test.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?

I was not overly satisfied due to the fact that I could only get it to work on one device. Even on that device there were difficulties. The time limits worked well, and the internet was blocked at the right times, but the pause button did not work. There would be a notification on the child device that the internet had been paused, but access was not restricted and videos carried on playing. This was a real shame as I was looking forward to using this feature.

• What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

In theory the pause feature would have been great to stop internet access if it had worked. I liked that I could personalise a profile for each member of the family, and that I could set time restrictions on access.

• Did you find the app easy to use?

The app was easy to download on the parent and the child device, and easy to set up. It was very frustrating that it was not compatible with my iPad software and the Amazon Fire.

• What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?

I like the idea of the pause button. I liked the time restrictions. I did not like that the pause button didn’t work, and that it wasn’t available to use on all our devices. I also wasn’t overly impressed that it only limits internet access and not device access. This meant my son could still play on games on his device even when the restrictions were in place. We actually use a paid app across all our devices that does everything the Buddy app does, and more, including locking down the devices completely, and I will be reverting back to that pretty soon.

• Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?

No because not all the features worked and it only restricts internet access, not screen time.

• Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

For a free service with their Sky package, if they had up to date devices I would recommend friends give it a try, but I am not likely to recommend friends upgrade just to get to use it as we did not find it worked that well and doesn’t actually restrict screen time, only internet access.

Thank you for the opportunity to test drive this product.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy?
Very! It's been brilliant as a tool in helping me strike the perfect balance between real-time and screen time at home.

What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?
I really liked the pause internet function, great for all the family - not just the kids! I also appreciated the customisation available for each member of the family via individual profiles on the app.

Did you find the app easy to use?
Super easy - it now sits in a folder on my phone of the other Sky apps that I use.

What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?
The main feature that I liked was being able to set time limits for individual apps that my daughter uses, which is great as not at screen time is equal and this helps to recognise this.

Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?
Absolutely - it's something we've actively used every day.

Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family?
The Sky Broadband Buddy App Gets a thumbs up from me and I'll happily be telling everyone about it - it helps me with important parent digital admin keeping my daughter safe online all the while setting important and necessary boundaries for her.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with Sky Broadband Buddy? I absolutely love the app. It is useful to avoid battling and arguments between the internet usage boundaries in the home.

What were your favourite features on the new Sky Broadband Buddy app? Being able to set bedtimes and pause the internet.

Did you find the app easy to use?
Yes, once I had set up the individual profiles it is easy to use and make adjustments.

What did you like or dislike about the new Sky Broadband Buddy app?
I love that this gives parents more control over what children are viewing. I haven't found anything I dislike.

Now you’ve tried Sky Broadband Buddy, will you continue to use the app to help manage your family’s screen time?
Yes absolutely, this really is the future of controlling internet usage within the home.

Would you recommend Sky Broadband Buddy to friends or family?
Yes I will be recommending that all my friends download it.