Need help "child proofing" or "senior proofing" an A14

[scottfish]

Hello folks. Looking for some semi-urgent help here.

My elderly father is prone to being scammed w/ the whole gift card thing. It's really sad at this point.

He had an iPhone that I confiscated that was riddled with crap and the scammers had literally locked him out of his apple account.

He has been using a feature flip phone for a bit, but this is actually proving to be more of a hindrance to me than a help.

Today, I realized his phone # had been compromised again, so I picked up a Galaxy a14 with a fresh # and sim.

What measures can I use to lock this thing down as if it was parental locked? Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[gomezz]

Have a look a Samsung Kids which is a built in feature of Samsung Phones to limit access to apps etc.

 

[B. Diddy]

If you hadn't already gotten him a new phone, I would've recommended a Pixel, since its spam prevention features for the Phone and Messages apps are great, and not available to the same degree on other phones.

First, make sure nothing is allowed to install from Unknown Sources. This is probably already the case, but go to Settings>Security & Privacy>Install Unknown Apps, and make sure the toggles are off for everything. This will ensure that only legitimate app sources like the Play Store and the Galaxy Store can install apps.

Second, consider a launcher like Kids Place. It's intended for kids, but can also be useful in this situation (and it doesn't have to look kid-like). This can lock down certain features, and present only the apps you want him to use. (EDIT: gomezz beat me to the punch by recommending Samsung Kids!)

Third, check with his carrier to see what kinds of scam protection they offer on the carrier level. T-Mobile has some features like Account Takeover Protection.

 

[scottfish]

Thank you!

As I walked through setting it up, it turned out to be pretty simple to add all these controls. I think I need to lock down the Samsung portion a bit more this week as I neglected to set up a Samsung account. Seems like I need to setup a dummy account for his phone.

Google's Family Link is pretty solid.

So sad that I need to do this, but so happy I can.

 

[B. Diddy]

Thank you!

As I walked through setting it up, it turned out to be pretty simple to add all these controls. I think I need to lock down the Samsung portion a bit more this week as I neglected to set up a Samsung account. Seems like I need to setup a dummy account for his phone.

Google's Family Link is pretty solid.

So sad that I need to do this, but so happy I can.

Great! Was it Samsung Kids that you ended up using, or Kids Space, or something else?

 

[mustang7757]

Hello folks. Looking for some semi-urgent help here.

My elderly father is prone to being scammed w/ the whole gift card thing. It's really sad at this point.

He had an iPhone that I confiscated that was riddled with crap and the scammers had literally locked him out of his apple account.

He has been using a feature flip phone for a bit, but this is actually proving to be more of a hindrance to me than a help.

Today, I realized his phone # had been compromised again, so I picked up a Galaxy a14 with a fresh # and sim.

What measures can I use to lock this thing down as if it was parental locked? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Curious what was problematic on a flip phone? I would think that would be the better option just use for calls and maybe text

 

[Laura Knotek]

Curious what was problematic on a flip phone? I would think that would be the better option just use for calls and maybe text

Maybe he got those scam texts like the ones that said they were from Amazon. https://www.tomsguide.com/news/this...ccount-dont-fall-for-this-nasty-phishing-scam

 

[scottfish]

For starters, I broke the flip phone in half out of frustration . And a no name phone OS offers zero control for me. Also, the ability to text him sometimes actually helps.

I haven't enabled any Samsung tools YET. Just using Family Link from Google and it is pretty solid. Going to check out Samsung's offerings too.