Not much experienced at Digital Parenting, Need Help!

[Alex Derek]

Hey A.C. community! I would really appreciate if anyone can help. I have a 4-year-old daughter who just learned to use my smartphone. Initially, I was fine that she keeps herself busy with surfing YouTube for Kinder Surprise videos, but now it’s different.

She doesn’t know what she has been looking at; sometimes it’s some filthy video and sometimes it’s a random advertisement. If I tell her to give me the phone back, she would whine and cry for hours. It’s also disturbing her sleep and I am extremely pissed off. I have an Android smartphone and it would be great if someone could suggest me some parental control app that could be used on any Android device. I have tried a few from Play store but they don't seem to do the job so I need some recommendation?

 

[LeoRex]

I haven't really researched many PC apps... but there is something you can do in the meantime...

Do you have a phone that has multi-user support? Some do... If you do, create a gmail sub account that you will use for your child. Add that account as a second user. There, you can limit access to installed apps, web sites, etc. Load up more trusted stuff like the Youtube Kids, or Disney, etc...

Then when you hand over the phone, you can switch users (which is pretty simple) and go from there. Its not an ideal long-term solution, but enough to get you something at least moderately effective.

 

[pkcable]

Another option, might be to get her, her own phone. You can find a cheap Android phone on the after market, a used older model, or maybe YOU have an old phone you can use for the purpose. (an iPod touch would also work) It can be used on WiFi, which is where she's gonna be mostly and in a pinch you can turn hotspot on YOUR phone if you have that feature. If you can find an old Samsung I believe they have a build in "kid" mode. (or Easy mode)

 

[LeoRex]

Also... We're coming up on Thanksgiving.. both my kids have phones a picked up on black Friday deals. A first gen Moto G for $20, and a Moto E for $10. Nether are activated, so they're mostly wifi devices.

But they a) were cheap enough to not freak out about their usage and b) heavily tweaked to control the content.

 

[Alex Derek]

Yes i think you're right it is a temporary solution indeed but can work Thank You!