There’s nothing wrong with letting your children use a mobile device however, you should bear in mind their online safety. The application of parental controls can vary from device and restrictiveness but ultimately, they allow a parent to control a child’s activity. To make things easy, we’ve answered some frequently asked questions surrounding parental controls.
What are parental controls?
Parental controls are features that allow parents to restrict the access of content to their children. These controls are often present on mobile devices, tablets, digital television services, computers and video games.
How do you put on parental controls?
The application of parental controls vary dependent on your device and the level of restriction you wish to impose. You can apply parental controls via your home networking, through your browser, on your device, or through an application. There is no particular method that is more or less effective than another method however, all have benefits and drawbacks.
Benefits:
Going directly to the internet router allows you to fully control the settings of your internet in your home regardless of device or browser. This makes it much more difficult for your child to access restricted websites.Drawbacks:
Although this may block certain sites such as pornography, this will not protect against everything so a child could still make micro-transactions on phone applications.
Dependent on the age groups of your children, older children could use mobile data to still access harmful sites.
Benefits:
These are free to use and apply to everything that device uses. Some controls also allow you to set parent and child users with unique passwords so your child can’t easily turn off the controls.
Drawbacks:
These are only device specific so your child can still access unwanted sites on other devices.Benefits:
Some parental control apps allow users to block websites, set screen time limits and monitor your child’s activity on the internet.Drawbacks:
These can be costly and often require a paid subscription.
Can you put parental controls on iPhones?
There are pre-existing parental controls on iPhones. The most basic of these is known as “Restrictions.” Restrictions allow you to control what your child can download, the browser they can access and the stores and games they can use. Restrictions also allow to you to prevent in-app purchases, adding friends to games and installing apps. These can be accessed via “Settings” where you can choose a password, choose which features and content you want to restrict and apply safe-search settings.
“Guided Access” is a form of parental control that allows you to lock your phone on an app so your child can’t click out of it. Again you can find this under the “Settings” tab. Simply apply a password and launch your app. Your child won’t be able to click out and can’t turn off Guided Access without the password.
iTunes preferences won’t apply to everyone, but if you download content to your computer and share it to iCloud, it can be accessed via your iPhone. Using the “Parental” setting, you can control what your child can download as well as setting restrictions for specific ratings for television and films.
How do you set parental controls on Android?
Devices using an Android operating system have parental controls known as “Restricted Profiles.” In the “Settings” tab is the “Users” option. From there you can create a ‘Restricted Profile’ where you can control what apps and features your child can access from your device. You can also control whether you want your child to be able to access Google Play.
If you don’t mind your child accessing Google Play but are concerned about the media your child may download, you can set up parental controls that specifically apply to Google Play. Simply go into the “Settings” tab from the menu, toggle on parental controls and set a pin. Once done, you can choose the maximum rating your child is allowed to visit. You can also turn on “Require Authentication” from the “Settings” tab which means your child will not be able to make in-app purchases without your email password.
How do you remove parental controls?
This depends on the type of parental controls that you have chosen to apply. For applications and software, simply cancel the subscription and uninstall the application. You can turn off parental controls in the settings of your devices and your browsers. For home networks, check your router manual or contact your internet service provider.
