The Right Way to Use the Parental Controls on a Smartphone
Digital devices are the lifelines of kids in our times. These devices are their entertainment portals where they are playing games, checking out the viral videos, and texting friends. With this ‘constantly connected’ attitude of the kids, parents are left with an unpleasant task of setting limits on their device used for the safety.
Parental controls are those measure that parents can exercise on the smartphones. They give parents the flexibility of looking after their kids’ smartphone activity. Through these controls, parents can limit screen time, control access to the content their child views, and monitor their online and social media activities. But sometimes the real challenge is to figure out how to activate and install these features.
Parental controls are available as free or paid in the form of Xnspy and other apps. Google has a free app that parents can download for managing Android devices while Apple just recently came up with their features after the concerns shared by their shareholders.
To help you understand and master the parental controls on your child’s smartphone, we have come up with a simple guide. Following are your options:
Limit Screen Time
Android users can use multiple options to control the smartphone of their kids. Google’s Family Link app is a freeware available on the Play Store. This app gives you an option to limit the screen time of your kids by setting a limit for daily usage. If you are looking for more authority on the Android, then you can go for a third-party app like Xnspy which gives you more liberty to limit the screen time of the device by locking the smartphone remotely.
iPhone Users have limited options when it comes to limiting screen time. Apple does not offer its own controls to limit the screen time of a smartphone. The only way to do so will be using a third-party app. Again here, Xnspy is one option which is compatible with both iPhone and Android devices.
Controlling Apps and Content
Android users will find them lucky here again because Android OS makes things a little convenient for the parents to control the apps. It permits the parents to set up multiple accounts on a smartphone. This allows them to share a phone with a child and this can permit them to limit the device use when it’s in kids hands. Even if your child has the phone, you can still create and operate an account on that phone and manage it from your own Android device.
Google’s Family Link app will give a walk-through for creating a Google account linked to your own for your child’s use. You can also decide the restrictions on this account. If this looks difficult, then a third-party app can give you an option to control all the apps on the target smartphone without linking it to anything. Xnspy gives you a list of all the apps installed on the Android phone and you can even uninstall or delete them if they seem not fit for your kid.
iPhone users, as was the case in previous option, do not have the liberty to create multiple accounts on their phone but they can place some restrictions on the phones owned by the kids.
This can be done by making changes in the Setting tab. In the Settings, select General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions. This will allow you to create a pass-code that can be used by only you to lock down certain features and content. This can allow you to restrict the phone’s access to the apps like Safari browser, FaceTime etc. Curbing the use would be something undesirable. If you want to view what your kids visit then, Xnspy can give you the browser history and the sites the kid visited. You have enough liberty to overlook all the content that the child explores on the internet.
Protecting Privacy
Keeping your kids’ personal information private is tough. Kids post every tiny detail of their lives on social media, therefore, both Apple and Google both have the parental controls that can help you protect their privacy.
Android users can sue the Family Link app to prevent the child from sharing Google Photos and its ability to save information about their online activity.
iPhone users can do the same in the Restrictions section of the Settings menu which also allows you to turn off the Location Services for each app on your child’s device.
In the end, it’s you who can decide which services are right for your child. Using free or paid apps all depends on you and your priorities. Be it Xnspy or Google Family Link app, parental controls must be used for protecting your kid.