iPod Touch parental controls

[luckyme]

Hey! I bought my 8.5 year old DD an iPod Touch for Xmas. She's going to looooove it.

I'm setting it up with pretty heavy restrictions (and a serious restrictions password, haha!) because she's still young. So no adding/deleting apps, no Siri, no Facetime, no multi-player games, no in-app purchases, etc.

I do want her to have wifi enabled though because I'm okay with her watching Netflix on it and for doing homework.

I'm looking at a few parental control options. I like that Net Nanny has a special browser to block specific web sites. I'm also looking at ParentKit, which lets me decide the times when certain components (apps, internet) are available to her. (That appeals to me so that all apps can be blocked out during in the before school rush, for example.)

(BTW, I use Norton Family for our laptop and that works great for limiting her to age-appropriate content and time limits, but they don't have an iPod Touch version.)

How do you guys control your kids mobile devices?

 

[JennNtheBoys]

Honestly I don't do anything.... (yes I know, that's not a great thing), but I do check daily on what they have been doing and what pages they've been on and they've never come across anything bad....or gone looking (*knock on wood*), they are 7, 9 and 12. The little one just likes his apps and youtube, and always asks for help when getting new apps. The others like the face time to talk to their friends (we don't have a phone so it's their only way to contact outside of school). Really they don't have much interest outside of gaming on their ipods or their laptops so not very often are they doing anything else.

 

[Lyd]

We keep our iPad pretty locked down, similar to what you do. We don't use anything beyond the built in controls, but we don't even let our kids use an Internet browser on the iPad. They can use the installed apps, watch Netflix and Amazon, and that's about it.

 

[mariewilcox]

Honestly I don't do anything.... (yes I know, that's not a great thing), but I do check daily on what they have been doing and what pages they've been on and they've never come across anything bad....or gone looking (*knock on wood*), they are 7, 9 and 12. The little one just likes his apps and youtube, and always asks for help when getting new apps. The others like the face time to talk to their friends (we don't have a phone so it's their only way to contact outside of school). Really they don't have much interest outside of gaming on their ipods or their laptops so not very often are they doing anything else.

Same with me Jenn - Cheyanne got an iPod when she was 7 or 8 and I never put blocks or anything on it or her laptop when she got one. She knew/knows the rules and consequences and has always been responsible about not downloading things without permission and knowing what is inappropriate. At 14 she still asks me if she can watch certain things on You Tube, etc. Honestly she censors herself way more than I would!

 

[Gemma]

I've got in app turned off (ended up with a £150 bill a few years ago, luckily they refunded it!) I've also got safari turned off but I leave his facetime on as he used to FT his brother and he hasn't got anyone else added to the account to ever talk to someone he didn't know.

It's all blocked with the pin code so he can't get them on even if he tried, once it's been entered wrong so many times it has a wait time to try again and he learned not to do that after we had to reset it on the laptop as it said he had to wait 2 years because he had messed with the date and time lol.

 

[luckyme]

We keep our iPad pretty locked down, similar to what you do. We don't use anything beyond the built in controls, but we don't even let our kids use an Internet browser on the iPad. They can use the installed apps, watch Netflix and Amazon, and that's about it.

I like this approach a lot. Our DD already has a laptop that lives in the dining room/living room that she can use for homework and it has parental controls on it for web surfing. So, she can just use that for homework and the iPod Touch can be just for games, photos, and Netflix.

I set her up with a bunch of picture editing apps (she loves taking pictures) and the Project Life app, which she is rocking right now. She also has a bunch of math game apps she enjoys and some just-for-fun game apps too of course.

 

[scrappurple]

we use teensafe. it allows us to see pretty much everything that she does. We tell her we can see everything though. Good for you for being in control before she gets it!! **mom pat on the back**

 

[rach3975]

We use the built in controls on our mobile devices plus Norton on our computer. All 3 kids have Kindle Fires, or will once we give DD her birthday present. For my 6 and 8 year olds we use Kindle Free Time Unlimited, which means they have access to child - friendly apps, books, and videos (chosen by Amazon) plus any apps or books I give them access to, like Netflix. I can't remember whether in app purchases are turned off or password protected, but the end result is that they can't make any. We haven't enabled an Internet browser for them. My 11 year old's device isn't as locked down. He can't download apps, even free ones, without my password. But he does have a web browser (that he never uses, though he could) and knows our rules for Internet usage. He's a cautious kid who I can trust to follow those rules, plus most of his Fire usage is done with me nearby and able to see or hear what he's doing. At some point I'll probably want to restrict his Internet usage more than I need to now, but I don't know what we'll use when that time comes.

 

[lingovise]

so my oldest is turning 9 and is getting an iPod Touch... am curious if most of you set them up with their own iTunes/Apple ID accounts or just use your own? I've got all/most of the restrictions set up, but know that he'll mostly be using it for music, photos & texting family members.