Parental Control Software - Win / Android /iOS

[techno]

Can anyone recommend some decent parental control software for the following scenario :

- Kids are 11 & 8
- They share a Windows laptop (with their own user profiles)
- 8 year old has iPad Mini & iPod Touch
- 11 year old has Andriod phone & iPod Touch


In the past I've simply monitored what they do - checking browsing history, watching over their shoulder etc. and I know I still need to do that but with the 11 year old now moved up to secondary school I am sure the "innocence" of the web will disappear.

 

[northernladuk]

The best I have found so far is the K9 system. Automatically blocks certain content by type and allows you to block individual sites. We block Facebook and Youtube when they are studying for exams for example.

K9 Web Protection - Free Internet Filter and Parental Control Software | Free Internet Filtering and Parental Controls Software

We had Norton Parent control on the PC and it is available for Android but never got it working properly so can't give a recommendation. It didn't work with Apple and the Android support was lacking last time I tried but looking at the landing page they seem to have that licked now so maybe I should go back for a look sometime.

https://onlinefamily.norton.com/familysafety/loginStart.fs

None of this does away with the need to keep checking though. My teenagers are forever finding ways around it like using Google Translate to use facebook when I have blocked the URL during exam study times and using proxies to watch other sites that K9 would normally block.

 

[DirtyDog]

At home, just configure your router to use OpenDNS rather than whatever your ISP uses. You configure what they can access, and if they try to get somewhere that is blocked, they can automatically email you a request to give them access.

Once they are out in the wild, there's not much you can do - they will just borrow someone else's gadget whatever you put on theirs.

(You could always discuss things with your children, and see what they are being taught about e-safety at school, rather than just blocking it and hoping they won't find a way round the block)

 

[techno]

The best I have found so far is the K9 system.

Thanks I'll have a look at that.

Have you used Net Nanny before?

 

[techno]

At home, just configure your router to use OpenDNS rather than whatever your ISP uses.

Does this mean the whole household is blocked or can it be tailored to the kids laptop, tablet and phone?

 

[Platypus]

Thanks I'll have a look at that.

Have you used Net Nanny before?

I used Net Nanny many many years ago. With the advent of iPads and smartphones, the router method intuitively feels like a better solution to me.

 

[DirtyDog]

Does this mean the whole household is blocked or can it be tailored to the kids laptop, tablet and phone?

No idea - I configured it at home when Virgin's DNS was stuffed, so only use the DNS functionality rather than the filtering as well.

My router also allows you to filter content based on your IP address, but I've never bothered with that, either.

 

[DirtyDog]

The best I have found so far is the K9 system

K9 has a number of Android flaws(eg. open task manager and kill the process gets rid of it) according to the reviews on Google Play.

 

[DirtyDog]

For home use, you could go with the live parental filtering that a Ntegear router would offer - Live Parental Controls

(Disclaimer - other routers are available)

 

[DirtyDog]

No idea - I configured it at home when Virgin's DNS was stuffed, so only use the DNS functionality rather than the filtering as well.

My router also allows you to filter content based on your IP address, but I've never bothered with that, either.

For per-user limitations with OpenDNS, you would need a Netgear router with it enabled (see above).

Alternatively, you could set the DNS on each machine to 208.67.222.123 for openDNS's family friendly use. For Android devices, you need to use something like SetDNS to set it for wifi, and you'd need a rooted device to set it for mobile data as well.