Lilia2

Q: Parental controls/time restrictions on iPhone

I can safely say that my daughter's iPhone has ruined our lives.  We've had it for five days.  Yes, there are some built-in parental controls, but Apple has blocked anybody from offering a software program that will turn the dang thing off (I'm talking about texting and calling) at a certain time every night.  I have a daughter who is addicted to her phone and the battles are humongous to get her to do anything but text. 

 

There are plenty of good programs with good parental controls for the Android and Blackberry, but thanks Apple for not allowing us as parents to turn the phone off at night.  I know about Mobicip, which is a great company, but they can only turn the internet off, not texting or calling.  When you have a kid who can and will text 5,000 texts a month, we need something that eliminates the battles at home and can automatically turn the thing off when it's bedtime.  We're all losing sleep.  Most parents, when they get an iPhone for their kid, don't realize that Apple, unlike Android, has chosen to place more importance on children's privacy than parent's ability to place restrictions on their kids' phones.  I plan to take the iPhone back and get her an Android.

iPhone 4S, iOS 4.3.3, Time restrictions?

Posted on Mar 27, 2012 7:49 AM

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Q: Parental controls/time restrictions on iPhone

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  • by jorge290,

    jorge290 jorge290 Feb 12, 2013 7:19 AM in response to rkCanada
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Feb 12, 2013 7:19 AM in response to rkCanada

    Parental for iPhone/iPod/iPad

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4213

  • by BlonDee89,

    BlonDee89 BlonDee89 Feb 16, 2013 2:00 PM in response to Vakerue
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 16, 2013 2:00 PM in response to Vakerue

    My nephew texts his Mom on his way from school to let her know he is safe. She works in an office and can't be talking to him on the phone all the time. Texting isn't all bad for school age kids! Just saying! And he's 10! Are you always with you child that he doesn't need the texting option to keep in touch with you? Not all parents have that luxury or the option of actually speaking to their child so texting is A WONDERFUL OPTION!

  • by Anna1029384756,

    Anna1029384756 Anna1029384756 Feb 20, 2013 7:12 AM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 20, 2013 7:12 AM in response to Lilia2

    Unfortunately everyone is too trusting and too busy to read the disclamers, but if you do, you will find answers to most questions. Here is the part about wheather Verizon Usage Controls works or not and on which phone and services (straight from Verizon)

    "If you have Mobile IM version 3.0 or higher on a 4G service or if you are using third party messaging applications such as IMessage you will be able to use instant messaging or such third party applications, but such usage and applications will not be restricted or limited by Usage Controls. Usage Controls does not restrict usage over WiFi networks."

    So, you are right, the Usage Controls system DOES NOT work well enough to close all loopholes. So, unless you are really lucky and your kid is exceptionally honest, you better stop trusting those controls you put on their phones and check what they really are doing at night and at other off-limits times. Because you should assume that they are more savvy than you when it comes to using their phones! Plus, they have a network of kids sharing with each other all of the latest anti-dotes to your trying to get their Internet browsing, social net-working, and gaming under control.

    The way I figure if anything works or not, is by watching the kids: they really are much happier when they are doing well, and they get depressed and frustrated when they found a new way to beat my parenting, and opened a new window into Internet misbehaving territory. Then I know, I must re-check everything I have in place.

    It is really hard!!!!

  • by david204,

    david204 david204 Mar 11, 2013 8:50 AM in response to 14335533
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2013 8:50 AM in response to 14335533

    I love how these forums are so wonderful for spreading disinformation.

     

    14335533 - you said get another phone if you want to block messaging because on an iphone you can't block imessages.

     

    That's just ridiculous - just turn it off, then like Len said turn on "restrictions" and block it.

  • by david204,

    david204 david204 Mar 11, 2013 9:20 AM in response to Anna1029384756
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2013 9:20 AM in response to Anna1029384756

    Anna...

     

    Turn off Imessage

     

    Then go to restrictions > turn them on > set a passcode and go to "account: don't allow changes"

  • by Ginareda,

    Ginareda Ginareda Mar 11, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2013 3:20 PM in response to Lilia2

    I do AT&T cust srv and get this question all the time and the solution is not only simple but fun.  Go to your att.com account, log in with your username & pw.  The little white box to the left that says "I want to" from the drop down choose Suspend/Restore, you can suspend & restore as much as you want.  Problem solved

  • by etcet,

    etcet etcet Mar 19, 2013 11:55 PM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 11:55 PM in response to Lilia2

    My sister, a mother of a kid. She has problem taking her eyes away from the phone, lives like a caveman. This has greatly affected her daily routines and her social life. She is not into texting / messaging, but playing games i.e hay Day. I do not resist games, in moderate level. Most of the time when I see her, her eyes are on the phone and fingers swiping. When she talking to the son also in the same posture. It gets very annoyed when the person you talking to is not looking at you and I only hear mumbles. Is there anyway to disable the "game" function, so that she can be more concentrating in living.

  • by r bryan,

    r bryan r bryan Apr 4, 2013 4:13 PM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 4, 2013 4:13 PM in response to Lilia2

    Another parent who believes that caring for his or her children is the responsibility of someone - anyone - else, willing to waste any amount of time, money, energey, and social resources rather than say "no" and make it stick.

     

    Lock your daughter's tech a drawer for a week the next time she abuses it.  I doubt you'll have to do so more than 2-3 times before this problem (and no doubt many others) vanish forever.

  • by Paul McM,

    Paul McM Paul McM May 3, 2013 9:58 AM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 3, 2013 9:58 AM in response to KiltedTim

    Nope

  • by jayfour000,

    jayfour000 jayfour000 May 7, 2013 8:28 AM in response to Paul McM
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 7, 2013 8:28 AM in response to Paul McM

    A quote that I use to help in difficult parenting situations like this is "A child's job is to push the limits of set boundaries. A parent's job is to set and hold boundries." 

     

    As a parent I would like technology tools to help me set and hold to my boundries. It is clear to me now that if I choose an iPhone for my child my job of setting boundries is much harder then an Android (or no phone at all).  I bet if enough parents stoped using Apple products in protest to the poor parental controls on iOS devices Apple would invest in better controls.  Is anyone working on a support ticket to get more parental controls added?

     

    Thanks,

    --Jason

  • by Zacharias Beckman,

    Zacharias Beckman Zacharias Beckman May 11, 2013 11:24 PM in response to jayfour000
    Level 1 (100 points)
    May 11, 2013 11:24 PM in response to jayfour000

    Unfortunately, jayfour000, you are spot-on. Similar to a few other parents, my son has made a few bad choices in his online life, and we've had to place restrictions on his use of the phone. The best solution is to either get a non-smart phone (which is very easy to control and limit through Verizon or AT&T), or (second best option) go with Android, which offers very good parental controls. iPhone/iOS just doesn't have them.

     

    For those still looking for an iPhone solution, I did look into other options, such as Phone Sheriff (and half a dozen similar products). All of these require that you jailbreak the iPhone, and the solution is fragile -- a smart kid can restore the phone ("unjailbreak" it) and the parental software stops working... and, since Apple is always leapfrogging ahead of the hackers to stop them, jailbreaking is not a good solution.

  • by tswidler,

    tswidler tswidler May 16, 2013 10:40 AM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 16, 2013 10:40 AM in response to Lilia2

    I also use smart limits from AT&T and it works but guess what: When the iPhone uses your or any WIFI network it bypasses those mobile network restrictions and your kids can browse all they want. I put time restriction on my WIFI router but again when they go to school or public areas they can use the iPhone all the want on WIFI networks. I want to restrict the WIFI on the Apple phone under parent control but I can not!

  • by Gregg Fowler,

    Gregg Fowler Gregg Fowler Jul 13, 2013 9:52 AM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 13, 2013 9:52 AM in response to Lilia2

    Been looking at all options here, including the jailbreak options as well as the option of getting an android phone instead.

     

    First, what you see here with tons of people chiming in with "you are an incompetent parent" is one of the worst aspects of forum questions like this. Unfortunately it happens almost every time someone asks the question. I think the original poster was pretty clear about what they wanted, as are many others, we don't need holy wars of others telling us how to manage our kids -- if you want to read our messages and chime in saying its our problem, really, please don't. Just think inside your head how much better you are than us and move along to the next post.

     

    Short of jailbreaking or switching phones, there is no great option. You can completely turn off iMessage, as has been suggested, but personally I'd like to have it, just be able to limit it.  And I don't want to constantly nanny the phone.

     

    Personally what I'd like to see is more options from apple, since they are the only ones who can add these features :

     

    * restrictions should list all apps, not just selected ones

    * should be able to set up different sets of restrictions -- eg: very locked down ( for school, evenings), less restricted ( after school) , more permissive ( for weekends)

    * should be able to set time limits in which those apply

    * for iMessage and mail, should be able to limit the number of messages in specific time windows, and who they can be sent to

     

    Those plus some of the ios7 features for blocking website content would be perfect. 

     

    Otherwise, you have the options of jailbreaking and using something like phone sheriff, which I'd prefer to not do, or giving the kids a dumb phone, or giving them android with an app like phone sheriff.  Which for apple seems like a lost sale.

     

    I posted a suggestion to apple on their feedback site, personally I think that many people would like to have iPhones for kids at certain ages, which is a sales opportunity for apple.

     

    Personal

  • by NoReally,

    NoReally NoReally Jul 24, 2013 10:01 AM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2013 10:01 AM in response to Lilia2

    I agree with other parents looking for a constructive solution to managing the iPhone via an app or integrated feature rather than fighting with my child over the physical phone.  I can also see business uses for:

     

    • Restrict inbound and outbound numbers.  The iPhone has caller ID.  This seems to me to be a no-brainer.
    • Restrict the above by time of day.  In my case, my 12 year old daughter can call whomever she wants during the day because she pays for that (we are outside the USA and pay-as-you-go is VERY cheap, and inbound calls are always free), but after 20:30 when she is supposed to be in bed sleeping, she won't be disturbed and she won't be up all night "secretly" calling her friends.  However, she would still be able to call or be contacted by family when necessary.

     

    Give me (us) that and I can take care of the rest myself.  I don't want to and I don't think I should HAVE to take her phone away from her before she goes to bed every night.  The phone is also her alarm clock and I have no problem with her listening to her music or reading a book as she falls asleep.  I've blocked her phone's MAC address from the router in that part of the house already after catching her watching movies instead of learning.

     

    Just help us already responsible parents out a bit, Apple.  Please meet our needs.

  • by hcsmj,

    hcsmj hcsmj Aug 2, 2013 9:54 PM in response to Lilia2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2013 9:54 PM in response to Lilia2

    From looking at all these replies - I'm more aggravated.  For a while now, I didn't get a data plan, just allowed my daughter to use our wifi. But it is/was really irritating to make sure the phone is turned in at night.  I would forget.  I would expect her to do it - I'd forget to check.... Yes there were punishments on her forgetting to turn it in...Such a hassell.So her old phone had smart limits through AT&T.  I thought if I turned on the data plan, the Smart limits would be expanded.  I understand I can shut off her access to the data plan - but I guess I thought that I could set some kind of timer and shut off the wifi ability too.  This really *****.  I guess I can take her off the wifi and only make her use the data plan, since I have a little bit of control over that.  Really thought there would be an easy solution of just setting up a timer - like on the phone restrictions.  BTW - AT&T's smart limits are not so smart.  My kid may not be able to call out during the "restricted time", but she can sure receive a call from her friend at any time, as long as that number isn't on the block list.

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