[Electronics-talk] Blind Friendly Parental control Apps

[Jim Barbour]

Hello Phillip,

The short answer here is that what parental controls you can get on the iPhone are accessible, but far from a strong parent controlled environment.

As you say, the iPhone has "restrictions" which can turn off access to certain applications.  You can also turn on parental controls in the iTunes store.

These restrictions are protected by a 4-digit pin so others can't turn them off.

There are also alternative browsers that you can download that will try and filter out inappropriate content.  However, unless you turn off safari in restrictions, clicking on a link from an outside source -- say an email message -- will open up the standard safari browser. If you do turn off safari in restrictions, then no browser at all will open if you click a link from an email message.  So, browsers designed to filter out content are of very limited use. 

Another inconvenient thing about restrictions is that you, the parent, won't be able to use the restricted applications either until you turn off the restriction.  This leads to the very real possibility that you'll turn off the restriction to surf the web and forget to turn it back on before handing your iPhone to your kid.

What I'm saying is that you should be very careful how much protection you expect to get from any parental control software, especially what's on the iPhone.

To get to restrictions, go into your iPhone settings, then general, then restrictions.  You'll immediately be asked to create a 4-digit pin.  Then, you can turn off the items you don't your child to have access to. Note that you'll almost certainly want to turn them all off.  If you turn off youtube, but leave on safari, then your child can watch videos online.  If you turn off safari, but leave on the iTunes store, then your child can download and install a different browser.

Here's an article that talks more about parental controls.  Doing a google search for "iphone parental controls" brought up a lot of information.

<http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/how-set-parental-controls-iphone>

I recommend reading through at least the first 5 comments.

I hope this is helpful,

Jim

On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 10:27:52PM -0700, Philip Blackmer wrote:
> I'm sure this search will raise a few eyebrows and result in a major
> goose-egg, but I am looking for a blind friendly parental control app for
> either the Iphone or Android phone.  It can be a few apps working together ,
> but I want to have a filter on the web browser that blocks things like porn,
> and something that prevents apps from being installed.  I believe that the
> Iphone has some parental controls including the ability to lock the itunes
> market, and lock the browser.  My concern is that it might be too easy to
> get around these settings, and that they might not be sufficient.  As for
> the Android system I really don't know if there is anything blind friendly
> at all.  Any help in this search would be appreciated.  Oh, and if you want
> to take this off-list you can email me at: pblackmer27 at gmail.com.  Thanks -
> Philip
> 
>  
> 
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