Help with Baby/Toddler-friendly Setup on S3

[SMD]

Okay so I have a 15 month old. My wife and I have done a fairly good job thus far keeping him away from TV and our two S3 phones so that he can enjoy toys and dirt and other things like we did years ago and not be hypnotized by technology just yet. BUT...when the little guy does by chance grab that phone, he now knows the little home button makes the screen light up which displays a pic of him and he gets the biggest smile every time. That's great and all, but then he swipes to unlock and has access to dialer, text, etc. Thankfully he usually loses interest after about a minute but I'd rather he didn't dial someone up or send a quick gibberish text like he's almost done a couple of times... so my two questions are:

1) If he does make it onto the phone and holds onto it with the "grip of death", what are some good apps for babies/little kids that basically lock the screen so that you our little guy can't "tap" his way out of it easily and get back to the home screen? Most little baby apps that I've tried are too easy to exit IMO.

2) Any ideas on the lock screen? I generally just use the basic swipe unlock but he's now figured that out and other lock screens have that "emergency call" option which is even worse giving him a one button access to the dialer. Any ideas? Also, can the notification bar be disabled while it's locked so he can't swipe down and unlock by tapping a notification, etc.?

That's it for now. Thanks!

 

[dpham00]

My suggestion would be to buy a low end android. I have seen androids go on sale for $20 no contract. That way, if he breaks it, no biggie, and no worries about accidentally dialing or anything, just set it to airplane mode.

Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S III

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

My suggestion would be to buy a low end android. I have seen androids go on sale for $20 no contract. That way, if he breaks it, no biggie, and no worries about accidentally dialing or anything, just set it to airplane mode.

Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S III

My sister and brother-in-law did that -- just gave my niece their old Droid Eris to mess around with. It doesn't have active service any more and they're certainly not using it any more, so they don't really care what she does with it. She mainly just pulls up Angry Birds and plays it.

To the OP, if you put a PIN or password on your lockscreen, the notification bar is disabled until the correct PIN/password is entered. May even work with pattern lock as well. Kids or no kids, it's a good idea to have a security on your lockscreen anyway so that if you ever lose your phone or have it stolen, there's less a chance your personal data will be compromised.

 

[papafrankm]

And when th 15 month old "accidentally" THROWS the phone across the room ....
Be serious.

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Android Central Forums

 

[SMD]

Yeah, there's always the "he may just chuck this" feeling when he handles it which is why I have a good case.
Any apps out there that people recommend that are fun/educational for kids/toddlers but not easy to exit out of?

 

[Trees]

Yeah, there's always the "he may just chuck this" feeling when he handles it which is why I have a good case.
Any apps out there that people recommend that are fun/educational for kids/toddlers but not easy to exit out of?

My old BB Tour ended up in a bowl of Salsa when my at the time Toddler got frustrated that a Disney Princess game wasn't loading fast enough. So a case that is shock and liquid proof is a good investment if you decide not to go the retired phone route. Lucky for me I was able to rescue the phone before it sank completely in the bowl. After the Salsa Dried up I was able to gently scrape and blow out the remnants that got behind the battery cover and all over the internals.

 

[tony477g]

Once they come out with this, LifeProof Case for the Samsung Galaxy S3 | LifeProof Or find something similiar and you'll probably be good.