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On Mobile Devices, Narrowing Choices for Your Child

On Mobile Devices, Narrowing Choices for Your Child

Review: Ways to Keep Your Devices Safe for Children

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Making Devices Child-Friendly

Molly Wood offers tips for parents to make their tablets and smartphones more child-friendly before handing them over.
TABLETS and phones are increasingly the new television and entertainment devices for our children. But they don’t have to be a free-for-all of screen time, app downloading or inappropriate content discovery.
It is not that difficult to lock down your tablet or phone. Both Apple and Google have gotten in trouble over it being too easy for children to buy songs, videos and apps, and now there are new restrictions built into iOS and Android.
Simply requiring a password for downloading new apps will thwart most younger children, and this is easily enabled in the App Store on Apple or the Google Play store on Android.
If your child knows your password, iOS 7 lets you establish parental restrictions with a new code. Go to General > Settings > Restrictions. Enable restrictions, set up a passcode, and you can turn off specific options that include app purchases and in-app purchases as separate categories.
This is also where you can enable content restrictions, like disabling Safari, the camera, the iTunes Store, the ability to use Siri, AirDrop and so on. You can also set ratings for music and podcasts and specify ratings for iTunes-downloaded content, ranging from G to NC-17. Under Settings > General > Accessibility, you can turn on Guided Access, which limits usage to a single app. This is good if you want to make sure a child is using only an educational app, or for young children who often quit apps accidentally.
The Disney Infinity: Action app for tablets and mobile phones lets younger children make movies with their favorite Disney and Pixar characters, but in-app purchase prompts abound.
Android has far fewer built-in options. To restrict app downloads, go to the Google Play store and click Settings. Here, you can check the box next to Password, to require a password for purchases. You’ll also be able to restrict apps by rating, from “everyone” to “high maturity.”
For more specific controls, you’ll have to turn to third-party apps, but there are many more of those for Android than there are for Apple’s products. I particularly like Kids Place, which prevents app-buying, stops calling and messaging, shows custom home screens and has a timeout function to lock the device after a certain amount of time.
There’s no timer built into Apple’s restrictions, but the best one I’ve found is Parental TimeLock, for $2 — it’s easy to set up and simply locks the device when screen time is over.
Once you have that figured out, think about the best apps for children.
The Nick app  shows clips, short original videos and games, and Viacom recently announced a Nick Jr. app.
TOP PICK FOR TV: NETFLIX Netflix (free for iOS and Android) is an obvious pick for most ages, but it’s so much better for parents since the introduction of multiple user profiles last August. You can specify whether the profile is for someone under 12, and then whenever the child logs in, the Netflix “kids” area is shown.
RUNNER-UP: NICK Nickelodeon introduced its app (rated age 4 and up) last year, with clips, short original videos and games. Full episodes are available, but you have to authenticate with your cable network (the same is true with Watch Cartoon Network, another good option). And Viacom just announced a long-overdue Nick Jr. app that will offer similar short original content and cable-authenticated full episodes of shows like “Dora the Explorer” for the even younger set.
TOP GAME: MINECRAFT POCKET EDITION Children can get started on Minecraft as early as 4 or 5 years old, especially if they’re using the mobile version (rated age 4 and up). The touch screen is easier to manipulate than a computer mouse, and it’s cheaper than the computer version as well — just $7. It has fewer features than the PC edition, but that’s almost better for younger children. They won’t get overwhelmed and they can simply build and explore to their hearts’ content.
RUNNER-UP: DISNEY INFINITY TOY BOX Forget the figurines, hex cards and base stations of the full Disney Infinity game universe. Just download the free Disney Infinity Toy Box app for iPad or Windows 8 tablets (rated age 9 and up) or Disney Infinity: Action for tablets or mobile phones. This is plenty for younger children, who can create miniature virtual worlds in Toy Box or make movies with their favorite Disney and Pixar characters in Action. But beware: In-app purchase prompts abound.
Other favorites include Despicable Me: Minion Rush (4 and up), Subway Surfers (9 and up), The Simpsons: Tapped Out (for iOS and Android, 12 and up), FIFA 14 (4 and up), the entire Angry Birds pantheon (4 and up), Cut the Rope (4 and up), and for the youngest, Endless Alphabet (age 5 and under).
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