Some Parental Control Options?

[tdb1]

I am getting a Nokia 820 for my daughter. I am a bit disappointed by the lack of parental controls on the Windows Phone, and lack of such tools in the Marketplace. My main concern is completely unrestricted access to the internet. I know I can install a filtered browser (AVG Family Safety). However, that is useless unless I can also remove or at least block or hide IE10. Is there any way to uninstall, block (e.g., behind a password) or hide IE10 on the phone? Alternatively, is there any way to disable the ability to delete history in IE10? Does anybody else have suggestions for some level of parental controls on the phone? If not now, is there any news of anything forthcoming? The browser in my kids' old Nintendo DS had parental controls. I have a hard time thinking it should be that hard for Microsoft to build in some tools, knowing that this could be a popular phone for teens (given the lower cost compared to iphone). By the way, please don't respond with platitudes. We can talk to our daughter about expectations, but I remember being a teenager and let's just say I think a technological backstop to "communication" seems like a good idea.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Andygoes]

Hi! Head on over to https://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/family and you can add your daughter's account as a child account. From there you can monitor some of her behavior. Another option would be to set her phone up as a kid's corner-only phone, but that would eliminate texting and phone calls which you probably want her to be able to do.

 

[Laura Knotek]

There is Kid's Corner, but that sounds more like something for really little children. Set up Kid's Corner | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

 

[tdb1]

Kids Corner is a nice feature, but not the solution in this situation. My daughter will use the phone for calls and texting, which Kids Corner can't do. I also don't want to limit her use of the phone that much - it is overkill. IE10 is the big concern, with the inability to filter access to the internet at all. I find it frustrating that I can't seem to uninstall IE10, but I suspect it is so ingrained in the software that it would break it somehow.

 

[GabrielStorm]

if you are on at&t, look in to setting up the parental controls - called Smart Limits by at&t- can limit many things.
data, text, who can be called.

link Smart Limits for Wireless Parental Controls phone service from AT&T

 

[tdb1]

Thanks. I am on AT&T, but their parental controls can't do the main thing I want to do, which is restrict access to inappropriate websites from the phone. I don't think there are any easy methods to filter access. At this point, my main hope is to find some way to uninstall, block, hide or otherwise restrict access to IE10 in Windows Phone 8.

 

[xFalk]

I think the best parental control is telling your daughter about expectations and responsibilty and do regular monitoring. A little parental responsibilty goes a lot further than rely on hardware, software and apps.


You can also change the SafeSearch settings on your phone to Strict.

 

[Andygoes]

If you can somehow have your daughter's phone join a domain and have access to group policy settings you may be able to restrict IE access in various ways. Kid's Corner might be a viable option if it's okay for your daughter to not have access to the phone/sms. That way you can also hold back on those phone bills if she's not on an unlimited plan, only able to receive phone calls instead of initiate them.

 

[tdb1]

xFalk, I knew someone would eventually decide to tell me how to be a better parent. As I mentioned earlier, I have spoken to my daughter about expectations and responsibility. I don't know anything about you, but I remember what it was to be a teenager, and good judgment is not always going to happen, even with the best of kids. Unfortunately, "regular monitoring" as you suggest is meaningless if she can browse the internet unrestricted and then instantly delete her history. No "monitoring" other than standing over her shoulder would accomplish anything. I also don't want to spy on her - I just want to have some limits to what she can access from the phone. I have more than a "little" parenting responsibility, but I think it is reasonable for a parent to want technology tools to help, especially for a phone with the features and price point to appeal to teenagers.

 

[palandri]

xFalk, I knew someone would eventually decide to tell me how to be a better parent. As I mentioned earlier, I have spoken to my daughter about expectations and responsibility. I don't know anything about you, but I remember what it was to be a teenager, and good judgment is not always going to happen, even with the best of kids. Unfortunately, "regular monitoring" as you suggest is meaningless if she can browse the internet unrestricted and then instantly delete her history. No "monitoring" other than standing over her shoulder would accomplish anything. I also don't want to spy on her - I just want to have some limits to what she can access from the phone. I have more than a "little" parenting responsibility, but I think it is reasonable for a parent to want technology tools to help, especially for a phone with the features and price point to appeal to teenagers.

People are giving you good suggestions here and all you're doing is shooting them down. This thread is going nowhere. Just get your daughter a flip phone with voice.

Closed,