Mobile devices & online safety -- monitoring access to content on phones/tablets

[mumOFtweens]

I have 3 kids under 10 and they love mobile gadgets and apps. I don't mind 45 minutes of play (per/day) either on my phone (fingers crossed no deleted emails!) or on a shared family tablet. But containing their device experience to specific safe apps is fast becoming a nightmare!

Does anyone have any tips on managing use? It seems out of our hands we hand over the unlocked device (giving them access to the ‘safe’ app plus access to the browser/app store etc...) I’m constantly concerned they'll stumble into inappropriate content AND that they aren’t using the many useful apps I’ve installed for them (maths games etc)

Some things I've tried:
-hiding the browser/app store/settings icons in multiple folders
-Plain sitting over them whilst they play (not very nice/trusting)

I'd love to hear if you’re experiencing the same. And all tips welcomed-- thank you!

Can you set up different profiles for different users?

We have 2 tablets (different brands), and both of those allow us to set up child profiles, which only allow the child to access pre-approved apps and books. Time limits can be set too.

Adult profiles are password protected, so provided you're careful not to give DC the password for those, they can't get unrestricted access to internet, app stores, etc.

I recommending sitting over them as they play.

Of course it's not trusting. I wouldn't trust them to be alone in any crowded place filled with strangers who want to take their money and interact with them at that age.

THere's lots you can do to lock down the iPad.

In settings go to general and then accessibility. Scroll down to guided access. Set up a pin that the kids don't know about. Open the app, triple click the home button, enter the password and they are locked to that app until you enter the pin after triple clicking.

Again in General go to restrictions - here you can hide the store. Hide those apps that you don't want them to access. Stop them adding random people on game centre.

Oops also in guided access you can set a screen time limit.

You can disable in app purchases. Also remove any bank details from the stores, they don't need bank details. They only need your address.

We had some issues with our son and Internet access and didn't know how to tackle it, he seemed to be addicted the the Internet and was also accessing some pretty unpleasant stuff. We eventually found an online safety product call Guardian Web. It's been really brilliant and because we have children of different ages we could choose differing filtering levels for each of their devices. It also let us allow websites that we knew were safe, but that fell into a genre that was blocked when we had other providers, basically we can pick and choose what sites we allowed or disallowed. We can now also switch the Internet off at different times on the different devices we have, which has been really great. I've got a couple of friends who use it too and one has quite an age difference in her kids so she set it up with the younger one's online access going off around 7pm and the older one goes off at 10ish, she said it's been great helping her kids get to bed on time. Another friend has apparently done a similar set up with the Internet going off on her boys mobile phone at a set time as she found out he was going to bed and the using his phone to access the Internet under the covers......how 'resourceful' our kids can be!! I really do think the Internet is so addictive for kids. As soon as they have a phone or device they suddenly have a private life - very frightening, but the filtering we use now is really working for us as a family. I wish you the best of luck.