Preteens
Parental Controls on Mobile Phone
Hotplaces · 04/02/2020 16:39
I'm trying to put parental controls on my 12 year old daughter's phone. She has an iPhone and I have an android (Samsung) and here lies the problem. Apple are making it more and more difficult to use other company's software and have introduced their own parental controls. I used to use Qustodio which was ok but there were a couple of glitches on the IOS side. I've now read that it doesn't work well on a cross platform. I then used Kaspersky which I didn't like as much but it did seem to work. However, recently I have read that this doesn't work well now between the two. We have recently both bought new phones and I did think about switching to iPhone for this reason but just couldn't justify the extra money when I wasn't getting a better phone. I basically want to be able to set a time limit for my daughter to use her phone each day, also be able to override this and block her using it as a consequence. What I didn't like about Qustodio is that you couldn't choose what you wanted to block when time run out. For example, I want her to be able to still use her camera, make calls, see her homework app etc. It seemed to be all or nothing with them. Kaspersky allowed this. I want to be informed if they look at/download anything unsuitable for their age which I think they all do. None of them you can control/monitor social media apps which is exactly what you want to be able to do. Any advice gratefully received. I've endless reviews.
LouMumsnet · 06/02/2020 15:22
We're just bumping this for you, @Hotplaces and hope you get some useful advice soon. 
belay · 06/02/2020 20:01
Hi the App called Safe Lagoon is excellent . It even shows text message and social media message content and all photos taken on the child's phone
Mary8076 · 09/02/2020 22:08
I'm sorry but we have all android devices so we use the google parental control Family Link (totally free). Before I used Qustodio but as you wrote, at some point android too was updated and Qstodio stopped working properly. Family Link is not perfect but with some simple trick you can make it very good and safe, so I was thinking, is there a possibility to give your DD an android phone?
For what I know iphone has a built-in parental control and a remote one called Family Sharing, but I don't know if you can manage that by android or windows, or better by your icloud account by the web. A colleague of mine had the same problem with her daughter, I could ask her if she found a solution.
I read kidslox or bark were good parental control apps for apple devices too, but I haven't tested these personally on iphone (only on android years ago, very good but qustodio was better).
You are right, I would like to be informed about what they look at and block any inappropriate stuff, and in some way you can do it on android/FamilyLink, but above all I would have something that cannot be bypassed in any way or history deleted. About screen time, for us the main block is enough, 2 hours a day is the maximum recommended for teens 12-18yo on every screen, TV included, even 1 hour a day could be enough on phone and for what I've seen if they can access to the phone home or the phone setting, or even just an app... probably they will find a way to let any possible app still working despite the parental control's active restrictions.
bonbonours · 16/02/2020 08:25
We use Screen Time which works on android and apple. It's great, set limits, give extra time for chores, block apps, see which apps they spend time on. Think you can see Internet history too but we don't have that feature activated.
bonbonours · 16/02/2020 08:28
Oh and you can block and allow specific apps when time is up so mine can always access kindle, phone calls and Spotify as I don't mind how much they listen to music or read, and I want them to be able to call me any time.
annagale · 14/05/2020 07:13
This reply has been deleted
Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.