Kids corner: design flaws?

[markaskey]

Kids Corner - Sending Bug to MS.

I am sending this to MS. I support them in retail and have noticed this happening on some of the developer phones we use in training. That's isn't how it is supposed to work.

I will have my phone on Monday and will test it out to see if I run into same thing

 

[Reflexx]

WP8 is in Beta. I'm sorry to say that but it's the truth. Syncing music/podcast doesn't work really well, people related needing use WMP (WHAT?!). Desktop sync app for Windows is in Beta. Skype isn't released. Kid's Corner looks broken to me (PW/IE). They didn't fix many flaws in WP7.

:

Software is NEVER really complete.

If you look at things that way, then all software is in beta.

 

[scumdogmillionaire]

I tweeted joe b.

 

[wpoblation]

They can just adopt the Windows desktop approach, where you have an Admin (Phone owner) account that is protected and a non-Admin account or guest account (Kid's corner) that doesn't require a password. I really thought that was how they did it.when Joe B demoed it.

I can see not having IE there now. Maybe a future update will let you add IE that contains Family Control settings/filters (even as a paid feature).

 

[chrgeorgeson]

Funny thing is..... .this video shows how I think it should work (and apparently it works like that for him).

Windows Phone 8 and Kids Corner - YouTube

But for me, it doesn't work like that. Here's a little video of my Kids corner:

KidsCorner - YouTube

Strange?

That's probably because he logged into his phone first which has a timeout period. The timeout period is the period of shutting your screen off (logging out) and turning it on again before having to enter a pin again.
So when he logged in then shut the phone off then swiped over to the right and went into kids corner the time out period hadn't expired.

 

[Dark_Templar]

That's probably because he logged into his phone first which has a timeout period. The timeout period is the period of shutting your screen off (logging out) and turning it on again before having to enter a pin again.
So when he logged in then shut the phone off then swiped over to the right and went into kids corner the time out period hadn't expired.

My lumia 920, unbranded works like in joes video. No password to the right but a password up. OS version 8.0.9903.10

 

[Coolknight1968]

.Net 4.5

My 8X does not display this problem, all normal. Install .Net 4.5 first on Windows 7. Then the WP Sync app (Beta). After .Net you get file access.

 

[zonoskar]

My lumia 920, unbranded works like in joes video. No password to the right but a password up. OS version 8.0.9903.10

I have the same OS version and phone. Do you have no timeout on the lockscreen password?

Could it be a provider issue? Because I also cannot sync the time automatically from the network, I have to manually enter the date and time (no switch to enable automatic detection).

My date+time setting screen:

 

[markaskey]

Kid's Corner - Fix is in the Works

Contact MS. They are aware and working on a fix.

 

[MNPSaint]

I have time out set but if I go in to kid's corner and slide up before time out has enabled the password, the only way to get out of kid's corner is to hit the power/sleep button. Once that's done, going back to my main phone activates the password automatically regardless of timeout. Going back to kid's corner does not.

If I let the phone reach the timeout, both main screen and kids corner will require a password. Isn't that how it was intended? I thought it was kinda cool that you can't go back to the main phone as long as you slide up to activate kid's corner before handing it over.

 

[Kevin Kuebler]

I agree with the sentiments that this feature is broken. The scenario I want is to be able to just hand the phone to my son and allow him to swipe to the left to get to his Kid's Corner and start using it, either without a passcode or with his own passcode which is different from mine.

By requiring the same passcode for both I can't just let him know what it is or it defeats the whole purpose because he'll be able to get into the main part of the phone too. The whole point of Kid's Corner is to put apps there that are "safe" for him to use. So what's the point of requiring a passcode to access those? I love the overall idea, but this implementation detail makes it annoying to use in practice.

 

[Joshua Jackson]

One big problem that I've found is that Wordament continues to use my xbox live account.
I'd rather my kids (or any guest) would automatically use the guest mode.
I'm not sure if other apps work the same way, but I'm assuming they do.
JJ

 

[Joshua Jackson]

One big problem that I've found is that Wordament continues to use my xbox live account.
I'd rather my kids (or any guest) would automatically use the guest mode.
I'm not sure if other apps work the same way, but I'm assuming they do.
JJ

 

[inteller]

That's not happening. The point is to protect important settings from kids, not run the phone as a multiuser device.

 

[Derek Curtis]

Here is what I've been able to discover while playing with the phone:

The password for the lock screen (as well as the timeout policy) applies to both the Kid's Corner and the regular lock screen (which is why this thread was started because it is a little annoying). Once entering the password while in the Kid's Corner, you will not need to reenter the pin for the Kid's Corner until the timeout policy has been reached--if a kid turns the screen off for a few minutes and then tries to get into the Kids' Corner again, they will be able to do so as long as the password timeout has not expired.

If you enter the password on the regular lock screen, turn off the screen, turn the screen back on again and then go to the Kid's Corner, you will not have to reenter your password because the phone assumes you are a "parent" who is now going into the Kid's Corner; however, when going from the Kid's Corner to the regular lock screen, you always have to enter your password because the system assumes it is a "kid" trying to get into the regular portion of the phone.

I think Microsoft's thought is that you really wouldn't want ANYONE to be able to pick up your phone and play around with it without your permission--thus requiring the password on the Kid's Corner. In a way, I agree with that; however, I think the best solution would be to have a separate password for the Kid's Corner so that you can give that password to your kids, but not worry about leaving that portion of your phone totally unprotected.

 

[Slai]

I think the system works quite allright?

If you set 30 minutes on the timer, and unlock the phone for your kid to play with it, it can play with the phone for 30 minutes without worry that it will access your phone.

Once you enter Kids Corner, and try to get back to the normal phone, it asks for a password even if its just 4 seconds since you typed it in last time, because its been in Kids Corner mode.

Id like to make the timeout choice anywhere from 30 seconds to 24 hours. Cause why not.

But then again having separate passwords should also be an option. Totally agree there. AND they should remove restrictions on what you can add to Kids Corner.

As many have said allready, Im sure, I dont have kids nor would I EVER hand them my phone. However, if someone wants to borrow it to make a call, or just check it out, or check something online, etc, Id like to be able to just let them grab it off of the table and swipe right to get to "Guest Mode" where they can do whatever I want them to be able to do.

 

[examitas]

One thing about Kid's Corner that seems dumb to me is that there's no way to add IE.

What should happen is that it should bring up an IE guest session, with no trace of my history or cookies from actually using it. Instead, you just can't add IE. As I don't have any kids, the feature would be more useful for me as a guest account when someone wants to check their email or something, and that's not possible with the way it works now.

I found a nice way around that: download the free UC Browser for WP8. not a bad browser on its own and will solve the no IE option in kids corner

 

[ManicMeat]

You don't need to enter the password to get into kids corner. On your lock screen swipe left. It takes you to kids corner, then just swipe up. I just set up everything like you had mentioned and it worked fine for me

 

[inteller]

if you have a lockscreen password that will not work.

 

[kevinn206]

I agree with the sentiments that this feature is broken. The scenario I want is to be able to just hand the phone to my son and allow him to swipe to the left to get to his Kid's Corner and start using it, either without a passcode or with his own passcode which is different from mine.

By requiring the same passcode for both I can't just let him know what it is or it defeats the whole purpose because he'll be able to get into the main part of the phone too. The whole point of Kid's Corner is to put apps there that are "safe" for him to use. So what's the point of requiring a passcode to access those? I love the overall idea, but this implementation detail makes it annoying to use in practice.

I think the default behavior of kid's corner serves two purposes:

1. The parent must explicitly moderate what the child can use.
2. The parent must explicitly moderate when the child can use.

The idea is that your child SHOULDN'T be able to grab your phone and use it as s/he pleases. I think the idea is that should ask first, so that you can unlock the phone thus forming an explicit permission. To please both sides, they should offer three choices 1) use same passcode as yours 2) use another passcode 3) no passcode. I think they just ran out of time to implement all these options, so they implemented what they thought was best. Maybe future revisions can have more options, but I think this is sufficient for most people. In fact, I have used the kid's corner for people who want to borrow my phone for web browsing (UC Browser or Next Browser).