Ipad Mini: Parental Control Time Restrictions

The only way to make the whole device unavailable is still the simple, old-fashioned way: take it away from your daughter at times when you don't want her to use it.

And what I was trying to tell you is that the ONLY solution (which seems pretty simple to me) at this time is to take the iPad. I understand it's not the answer you want. But, right now, it's the way things. are.

Best of luck.

As Meg has said it's not currently possible - iOS is a sandboxed operating system so no third-party apps will be able to lock the iPad.

You can leave feedback for Apple via this page : http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Peakay

You are right. There is no way to set time limits for overall usage of the iPad.

If you do restrict Safari and setup an alternate Safe Browser like the one from Mobicip, it allows you to setup time limits for internet usage. It is not exactly what you wanted, but it is useful to some extent.

Disclosure: This response is posted by a Mobicip representative who may stand to gain indirectly from it.

Try this one for 99 cents.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timelock-time-limit-for-parents/id440218332?mt=8

It gets pretty bad reviews.

Another option would be specific to your wireless router. Many routers are able to deny internet access to certain devices' MAC addresses, at a set time for a set duration. Look for something within your router's setup menu called Access Restrictions (for internet access). I have this on my old Linksys WRT54G router. Depending on your router's make and settings, you may (or may not) have this feature available to you.

The app called ParentKit for iphone allows allows you to do exactly what you want. I found it on Facebook and its in the app store. The parent can schedule when the child will have access to safari (for ex: from 4pm to 8pm) and the child will not be able to use safari outside of the set times. You can do the same for all apps on the child's device as well. You can even instantly disable safari, apps, camera and a bunch of other things instantly. Best part as that this is all controlled from the parents device remotely... Like a remote control. I've been using it for a month now and I love it. It's the only app I have seen that does this. My one month free trial of the app just expired and I purchased the 1 year subscription for around $3/month which allows me to control all of my kids devices (iPads iPod and iPhone). It's cheaper then my Netflix :).

I also want to limit my child's iPad time. He uses in school for classroom work, then after school to play on. As a working parent I am not with him every waking hour. Apple should offer this in parental restrictions! No snarky comments about how I am THE only regulator,please. Real life here, trying to work technology into life skills for child. Kindle Fire has it,so it has to be possible on iPad. Help a parent out, Apple!

I hear ya and I sympathise with you Peakay.... greeting from Ireland... we too have been struggling with controlling time and access on our daughters iPad and I know the best way is to take it off her.... but that can lead to other issues also..... so it would be nice to have some "Plan B" options also...

I found this on the internet this morning....

http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/06/how-to-set-time-limits-on-your-wi-fi-network-using -airport-utility/

My daughter is 10... she's a complete Minecraft addict and I mean addict... we love that she's so passionate about it but worry it's overtaking her life and taing her anti-social.... I think most parents are struggling to fight this difficult dilema... the games are great.... immersive, creative experiences.... but they are tooo good... and are giveing our children a very one dimensional outlook on life.

Best of uck in the struggle to come to a solution on this issue.... I'm sure we are not alone in this struggle.

Regards,

Anthony

You guys have to look at the Parentkit app. I've been using it over 6 months now and it solved a lot of our families issues. It is a great parenting tool. It uses Apple's mobile device management system to allow parents to remotely turn on or off third party apps (Facebook, Youtube, Mindcraft), Safari and media like movies/tv shows. What I mean by turn off/on is that it hides the associated icons so the child can't use them. It does not delete or remove the app/movie from the child's device or account. Using the Parentkit control panel on their own apple device, the parent can schedule time periods when their child's app icons will appear so the child can use it. It also uses the child's age to setup default restriction settings which would hide apps/movie/tv content that may be too mature for them. The actual app is installed on the parents own device and only a profile is then installed on the child's device. Setup and schedule changes require both devices to be connected to the internet via a WiFi or cellular signal. This is the ideal setup and if done properly it works awesome.

Thre are some things it doesn't do, but from my support emails with them it's due to Apple's designer restrictions.

1. It does not have a daily use timer.

2. You can't pick and choose which third party apps are controlled. It's all apps or none.

3. There is no password protection that prevents the child from deleting the profile - although the profile is somewhat difficult to find and if it is deleted, the parent is made aware that the profile was deleted.

4. It also removes any folders that you may have created and reorganizes the icons in alphabetical order.

Parentkit is by far the best parental control app out there to help manage how much our kids use their iPads and iPhones. It's not for everyone and I think is best suited for managing devices of children.

ParentKit sounds interesting but based on your review it won't work for me...

1. It controls the child's device from a parent's device - at this time, my son is the only person in the family with an Apple device. We got it through a grant specifically for children with Autism.

2. I want to be able to restrict when he can use certain games such as minecraft but allow multiple educational or scheduling apps to be used at any time. You say that we can only allow 3rd party apps or not rather than choosing which ones can be used.