Smartphone and tablet
Windows is not the only OS that kids may use nowadays. With
the overgrowth of smartphones and tablets, children can enter most of contents
that you may have blocked in PC or laptop.
An easy way to restrict Internet access and any other
contact is to activate flight mode before handling the device to your kids.
However, knowledgeable kids will easily find ways disabling this.
With the
overgrowth of smartphones and tablets, children can enter most of contents that
you may have blocked in PC or laptop.
Windows Phone 8
Mobile operating systems are different in parental-controls.
Meanwhile, Windows Phone 8 is leading the group with Kid’s Corner. This is a
sandbox where kids can only enter apps, games, music and videos that you chose
for them.
Configuring Kid’s Corner is simple, and your kid can access
it by sliding leftward instead of sliding upward in the lock screen. If sliding
upward, they will see a common PIN input screen, and there will be no access to
main features of the phone. It’s ideal when you want to share the phone with
kids.
To enable Kid’s Corner, go to Settings, then Kid’s Corner.
You also can type each app, game, video and music that you want your kids to
play.
iOS
Apple added some parental controls for iOS, but they will
apply to anyone using iPhone, iPad or iPod touch – not only for children.
To configure iPhone, iPad or iPod touch for your kids to
use, type Settings, General, Restrictions. You will have to input PIN in order
to activate restriction, preventing kids from crossing over it.
You can also disable default apps such as Safari, but you
can restrict other apps by their age ratings (or not allow full access). Similarly,
you can restrict film according to age, TV shows and music by Caution ratings
and podcast with clear content.
You will surely want to disable location service for social
networks. There’re other privacy settings preventing apps from accessing data,
and you can disable multi-player games by adding new friends in Game Center.
Safari itself doesn’t have parental controls, but you can
disable it and install other browsers, such as AVG’s Family Safety. This is a
free app preventing websites that are unsuitable and harmful.
It’s smart to disable in-app purchases, as well as installation
possibility.
A new feature in iOS 6.0 is Guided Access. It, in fact, disables
all hardware buttons when an app is opened, stopping children from entering any
other things. You will find the setting in General, Accessibility.
When activated, press Home button 3 times after executing an
app in order to activate Guided Access. Then you can draw onto the screen to
disable specific areas. Click Options button to disable touch sensitivity
completely.
Android
Google Android OS doesn’t have much thing to do with
parental controls, though Google Play store offers content filter. This means
that you can restrict downloadable contents. To perform this, just execute
Google Play, then click on Menu and choose Setting, Content Filtering. You also
can categorize apps in class of low, medium or high maturity.
It partly prevents children from downloading unsuitable
apps, but there’re many other installable apps which enable you to perform a
more comprehensive work.
Consider Kid Mode. It offers something like Kid’s Corner of
Windows Phone 8. It allows kids to play favorite Android games, read newspapers
and draw, but there is no way to buy something by chance, such as erasing email
or entering other apps.
There’re also parental-control apps in Google Play. Most of
them are free. We suggest apps from well-known Kaspersky, Norton and Funamo.
Google Play store
offers something like Kid’s Corner of Windows Phone 8.
Use OpenDNS
A great method to activate website filtering for devices
connected to Internet via wide-bandwidth router is to use OpenDNS.
Instead of using DNS servers provided by ISP, you will use
OpenDNS's servers.
In fact, you just need to make a small change in settings of
router, and any device being connected to the Internet via you home network
will be routed via OpenDNS system which filters websites. It costs free, and
can configure low or high blocking level as well as control which sections of
the website will be blocked, including any fraudulent websites.
To use OpenDNS, you first have to register a free account.
Clearly, any settings you make will apply to all members of
the family, thus you can’t block some websites for your kids, but you yourself
are able to enter them via the similar router.
