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Parental Controls Needed For iPhone Using Kids?

Posted by on May 4, 2009 | 7 Comments

parental controlDoes the iPhone really need Parental Controls? Well, I guess a better question is whether or not kids really need access to a high end phone like the iPhone? But if the kids must have them rather than simply owning an iPod Touch, then you bet there had better be parental controls!

Think of it this way – the phone offers up everything kids should not be viewing with a great full color screen and access to Google with a well supported browser to do their searching with. So having a means of blocking potentially harmful content from young eyes is definitely a good thing in my honest opinion.

With its release in the 3.0 iPhone update, the question stands. Will it work? Frankly I think it work for most kids to keep them from wandering into content that is best left to the adult crowd. However it should be noted that most adults barely even know how to clear their browser cache much less using parental controls effectively. So will be effective then? Maybe, assuming the adults can get the kids to teach them how to update to the software…

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  • Hanna

    … I doubt it’ll work. I doubt many parents will be able to figure it out. And if they do manage, I’m sure the kids will figure out a way to get rid of it.

  • Justin

    “However it should be noted that most adults barely even know how to clear their browser cache much less using parental controls effectively.”

    I agree completely and this is why the responsibility of parental controls should be entirely the responsibility of AT@T. With ISPs being capable of blocking content from the server side as well as common network hardware being capable of the same it would be far easier to set something like this up when a trained agent activates the phone rather then after the phone leaves the store. With the account changes made directly with AT@T only the parent would be able to make changes to the account and this could be done over the phone.

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  • http://www.synology.com Heather

    I fully support parental controls in the iPhone and here’s why.

    I have a 2.5 year old and I always have my iPhone with me. Like other parents, I often find myself in the store or traveling with my child and he loves electronics and in particular playing educational games on my iPhone.

    I would love to be able to disable app’s and browsing and only allow him access to a few key features on the iPhone. He already knows how to send text messages, he can change basic settings and so giving him my phone to play games on also risks him getting into other apps.

    While he won’t be getting his own anytime soon, it would be nice to be able enable controls on my phone so I can have peace of mind when he picks it up.

  • http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324385183&mt=8 iPhone Developer

    There are applications that keep kids interested in learning. Apple has also come out the ratings for different applications.

    Check out Happy Baby iPhone application

    Version 1.0 Features:
    – English alphabets are displayed sequentially (like flash cards).
    – Alphabets are pronounced (Optional switch).
    – Pause button to stop at an alphabet
    – Reset button to start over
    – Timer can be adjusted to delay display of alphabets

    http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324385183&mt=8

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3RAU2YCBN6PVCW4CACQCDUMLXU Luke Sputum

    There are still folks without a hyperbaric chamber in which to wait out downtime when a broadband connection is temporarily unavailable?
    An SD card serves the same purpose as a zip file or file manager to tether one to the old ways and pollute the cloud and make it less “floaty.” Everything you need can be downfluffed from the cloud and nothing more than images and text should be upfluffed. Ever.