Inclose a Parental Control App in Your Routine: Features, Applications, Benefits, Cost, Tech Stack

There was a time when the thing that children least looked forward to in life was their report cards. Yet it came every three months, with clockwise precision, presenting to the parents, in black and white and sometimes in red, their Key Performance Indicators or KPIs’. Of course, they may argue, but numbers are cruel in their infallibility. (TOI)

Numbers tell stories – of mastery of a subject or the lack of it, but also attests to the strength of a child’s character. The marks on the report card are proportional to the sacrifices they have made, the afternoons and evenings they had not played with their friends, and the shows they had not watched on the television. The ability to go against instinct indicates their success in the future. According to a famous Bengali saying, “Those who study ride the car”.

If mild controls can be applied in those ‘feary months’, the exam’s tempest may reduce to a trickle! What can the parents do? 

What is a Parental Control App?

Parental Control Apps like Family Link (by Google) monitor children’s app usage. It especially works wonders if your child is very young, or is about to enter their teenage.  Apps to monitor app usage implement digital ground rules from your device to help guide them as they learn, play or explore online. It is applicable for children under 13 (for India, or as applicable age of consent in your country). 

Parental Controls on Prime Video (by Amazon) enables parents to set restrictions for the video content that can be viewed or purchased by their children. It works by requiring entry of your PIN to bypass any purchase or viewing restrictions that parents have enabled. Parents need to enter their PIN to bypass any purchase or viewing restrictions that they have enabled:

(1) Amazon Fire TV devices (Fire TV and Fire TV Stick),

(2) Fire Tablets running FireOS 5.0 or older

How Does Parental Control App Work?

A parental control app can be downloaded to a parent/caregiver’s device (Phone, TV, Tablet) and to their child’s device to allow monitoring, tracking, blocking, and limiting activity on their child’s computer, laptop, phone, and/or tablet.

Sometimes such controls are already in-built into the device or an existing app. For example, Prime Video already has an in-built parental control feature. Alternatively, to monitor more than one apps, parenting control apps can be created and installed into the monitoring device’s hardware. 

• It supervises your child’s Google/Prime video Account
• Guides them to good content
• Manages the apps they can use
• See teacher-recommended apps
• Locks the device
• See their device location
• Set screen time limits

What is The Principle Behind the Parental Control App?

Parental control isn’t straightforward. It consists of a mix of techniques for blocking websites. It monitors API to observe web browser or internet chat application and match it with the database of banned words. Such software includes a password, or some form of authentication to prevent unauthorized users from disabling it. It also makes use of the proxy server, a web browser to send requests for web content to the proxy server instead of directly to the intended web server. The proxy server fetches the web pages from the server and passes the content to the browser. It inspects the data being sent and received and interrupt depending on various criteria according to the requested URL.

What Are The Features Of Parental Controls?

Parental Check Applications like Family Time are specially designed to include features that make an app truly useful and meet all parenting needs. It is a popular choice for parents, co-parents, and single parents. They can restrict adult content, and disallow rental, purchase, or playback.

In General, parental monitoring software is used to check on child’s social media progress, track their whereabouts, filter their content, set screen time limits, help kids with managing time, monitor app usage, and block access to threatening or inappropriate content.

• Limit Screen time for iOS – It is for the parents who are tired of nagging their children to put their phones down for studies or for a meal. This feature smartly limits screen time on their iOS devices.
• App Blocker – To block the unwanted apps installed on your children’s phones.
• SOS/Panic Button – To alert the parents if their children require their help.
• Internet Schedule for Android – To readjust the children’s spending on the internet.
• Watchlist Control – To block outsiders from contacting your children.
• FunTime – Minutes that children can save from their daily prescribed internet usage limit can be utilized in Funtime.
• FamilyPause – To lock your child’s mobile device by setting login credentials from a distance.
• Teen Safe Drive – To let parents define the speed limits and know when their teenagers are speeding up.
• TimeBank – To teach the children about the importance of time, save minutes, and enjoy it later.
• Location History – To keep a track of all the places your children visit.
• Family Locator – To instantly check where your family members are at the moment.
• Places – Mobile Geofence – To let parents know if their children are entering restricted areas.
• Call History – To keep a check on their children’s call log.
• Installed Apps – To check what their children are installing on their phones.
• Bookmarks – To keep an eye on what your children are bookmarking, and why are they visiting those pages
• App usage – To check exactly how many minutes children spend on a specific app.
• Monitor Text Messages – To remotely monitor what messages are being sent and received by your children on their mobile devices.
• PickMeUp Alerts – To receive notifications from your children when it is time to pick them up.
• Get Auto Check-In/Check-Out Alerts – To track your children’s whereabouts.
• Instant App Blocker Alerts – To check if your children are trying to access blocked apps on their phones.

Why is Parental Control App Beneficial?

• To protect child privacy
• One account for one family can be used for unlimited devices.
• To make changes to the child’s device remotely (internet is required)
• Prevent children from uninstalling the parental control app
• It is compatible with Apple, Android and amazon devices
• To secure data

How Parental Control Apps Can Be Categorized?

According to Wikipedia, parental control applications can be chopped into four broad categories:

Content Filters – These limit access to age-inappropriate content.

Usage Controls – These constrain the usage of these devices by placing time limits on usage, or restricting adult content.

Computer usage management Tools – To make parents regulate gaming.

Are there Any Negative Aspects of Using a Parental Control App?

Such apps might sell data to third parties and are not entirely open about how they secure the information they collect.

It can also damage your relationship with your child, particularly as they grow older. It barges into their freedom and privacy and makes them rebel, and makes them lose trust.

Which Parental Control App is the Best in the Market?

• Bark – It monitors social media besides blocking apps
• FamilyTime – It offers speed limit alerts, besides all basic features.
• Boomerang – It features a safe web browser, and does not offer social media or email monitoring.
• Google Family Link – Monitors social media usage, filters content, blocks access to specific apps, sets screen time limits, manages permissions to use devices, and tracks location.
• Microsoft Family Safety – Set screen time limits, filter content, check online activities of children, allows location tracking, and Set limits on app usage.

Others: Life360, Canopy, NetNanny, Qustodio, Google Family Link, haandle

Steps to Build an App for Parental Control

• Define the scope of the parental control project. It must include (1) Setting time limits, (2) Restricting device usage, (3) blocking apps, (4) Push notifications, (5) Integrate payment gateway
• The next step involves selecting the right technology, and project methodology with the Android and iOS approach to control environments. It will include a Mobile backend as a service (MBaaS) platform Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to implement the key features and save time.
• Get registered with an MBAAS provider like AWS Amplify which is the MBaaS platform from AWS. It helps manage cloud infrastructure and persistent storage. Integrate with 3rd party APIs to implement security, push notifications and scale the app easily.
• Use Allow 2 – Open source project that offers parental control solutions for Android App development.
• Procure an encryption SDK/API solution by using AWS Encryption SDK. It uses Advanced Encrypted Standard (AES) with 256-bit encryption.
• Sign up for a bulk SMS API Solution by making use of Twilio SMS Service – a messaging service
• Implement a payment gateway integration solution SDK/API solution
• Sign up for a test automation aid
• Design the user interface, code, test and publish the parental control app by using Android Studio (IDE), Java (programming language), Integrating Allow 2, AWS Encryption, Twilio, and Stripe SDK/APIs, using Espresso with Experitest mobile device lab to test the app, and publishing the app to Google Play, and App Store.

Further, Parental Supervision Software contains:

• Device management – Administrators authorize all connected devices with one master account.
• Rules management – Parents could set rules on all registered devices
• Filter management – Parents have to follow all restrictions and fine-tune categories of the websites that are allowed or restricted. They may re-configure custom filters to restrict certain websites/pages. Additionally, they may allow access to another parent, pause access, and grant children extra internet time.

How Much Do Parental Monitoring Apps For iOS/Android Cost?

The cost of app development depends upon the app and may offer different pricing plans with a bit more freedom and flexibility in choosing within a budget. It comes close to USD 20K – USD 35K.

Conclusive: How to Choose The Best Parental Control Tool?

To decide on one parental control software, check their pricing plan, feedback, reviews, real-time monitoring alerts, call-message tracking, emails and content blocking, location tracking and screen time management.

Application Development Companies create Parental Control Software to let parents set boundaries, and teach internet safety to their children early on. As a parent, nothing you do is ever enough. If one number looks to be improving, the other does worse, and just when you think you have done kind of “ok”, along comes another expert who takes a look and raises the alarm, and their solution is to get more exams done, generate more reports, and continue the inevitable spiralling – inducing further restrictions – making the child live more of the life by living less of it. Maybe, now that you think you did ‘ok’, the quarterly school reports weren’t all that bad in comparison.