so I have seen several complaints about the family app when it was 4.99 a month there was more control over our child’s device now that they took that away and are now charging 14.99 a month . The app is worthless and a rip off the only way this could be useful is if you want to track your teenagers driving other than that with the VPN being able to be turned off and on , on your child’s phone whenever they want allows them to override your settings not only is this app a rip off, but it’s Putting our children in danger of being exposed to things they do not need to be exposed to. as parents we are obviously taking the steps to protect them by purchasing this app at 14.99 a month . what’s even more aggravating is that when you call customer service nobody has any idea of how to resolve the problem. The one person I spoke to didn’t even know it was a problem. With a little bit of digging around I figured out that it was the VPN that was being turned off. My child is 11 years old and is too smart for her own good. And what they don’t know they will just google it, giving them all the answers on how to override parents restrictions. Reading several comments I have come to find, that there are no results I’ve been going back-and-forth probably a good six months wondering should I take the app off? If I do then my daughter will have full access to her phone. Almost scared that I will then not be protecting her.
so I’ve just been trying to monitor her phone as best as I can and tell her not to turn off the VPN but like children do they do not listen frustrated last night I wanted to see what was the difference between the parental controls in our Family settings versus the family app what I have found is you don’t need this 14.99 a month app to be able to see the location of your child and to be able to put restrictions on the phone.
what I have done is pretty much disabled her phone from allowing her to Google. Search to add apps to change settings. Protect from adult sites. I have control again. what you do if you go into your settings on your I phone . tap on the family icon then select your child’s profile when it opens select screen time, scroll down to content in privacy restrictions. Click on iTunes and App Store purchases. there are three selections, deleting apps purchasing apps and in app purchases for my preferences, I selected do not allow on all three of them. the next section scrolling down his require password .for my preference I put always require. Your child cannot download cannot delete cannot change any settings. You can’t without the password that you set. as soon as they try they will be prompted to enter the password, so make sure it’s a hard one that they cannot figure out. Next , back out of this section back to content, and privacy restrictions click on App Store media web and games here you will find an option to set what age you want to phone set to . I chose 4+ even though my child is 11. This disables the ability to google search , and apps you may not want them on . For me it’s YouTube , Roblox, TikTok and all other apps that are not filtered .
This is all you need and it is free . You can see their location and put restrictions on with out worrying about them pulling a fast one on you . There are many other options you can chose on different tabs . You just gotta take the time to go through them . And most importantly, do not allow your child access to your phone for anything. My daughter is very sneaky and quick I have found that she would go in and change the setting back so she can then go in on her phone on things that I have blocked . My phone now is locked with a password she does not know. Other mistake was letting her know tooo much. All she can do now is make calls and text. There is also settings to manage this. For now I left it as is.
Your app is doing nothing for parents who wish to protect their children. All it is doing, is putting them at risk and ripping people off.
Oh and you’re welcome . Your people need more training on this issue and should know about the products being sold and proper trouble shooting . I will be canceling this App.
FYI if you chose to keep the Family app for things that are helpful to your family . You can still use these setting in your iPhone Family profiles together with the Family App . For me I don’t need it .
