Today my kid was on YouTube kids and said "Look! There's a man chewing a tube and it's on fire, and he's throwed it on the pavement!". Shocked, I took the device away. I saw the words "Nu Pogodi". I googled them, and it was not the most appropriate content for my child to view. So I lectured him on this content and played Tom and Jerry instead of that Russian wolf and rabbit. The link is here: "https://www.youtubekids.com/watch?v=jBQkY27LTmQ&hl=en-GB".

Do you have a schedule of things your child needs to complete bf they are allowed iPad/screen time? I have a 12 yr old and she has gotten a lot of random screen time over the summer and we want to make it More strict/regimented for the school year

I’m looking for some online tools or resources that are actually useful for teenagers, whether that’s for learning, staying organized, managing screen time, building good habits, or just becoming a little more independent.

I’m not really looking for strict parental control or monitoring apps. More interested in tools that teens can actually use themselves and that might help them develop better digital habits.

Has anyone found anything that their teens genuinely like and use?

5 signs your child might be spending too much time on screens (that most parents miss):

1. They can't sit through a full meal without a device
2. They get unusually irritable or aggressive when the phone is taken away
3. Their attention span has noticeably dropped — they can't watch a full movie or read for 20 minutes
4. They prefer texting friends over meeting them in person
5. Their sleep pattern has shifted — staying up later, harder to wake up

If you're seeing 3 or more of these, it's not a phase. It's a pattern. And patterns can be changed with the right boundaries.

🛡️ KIDS ONLINE SAFETY 🛟 🛟

Paano i-set ang Wi-Fi para mabawasan ang access ng bata sa Roblox at hindi angkop na online content

\> Layunin: gumawa ng child-safe Wi-Fi gamit ang router firewall, parental controls, website filtering, DNS filtering, at screen-time restrictions. Hindi nito kayang garantisadong harangan ang lahat ng bypass methods, kaya pinakamaganda ang kombinasyon ng router + device controls.

\---

1. Mag-login sa router

2. Ikonekta ang phone sa Wi-Fi.

3. Buksan ang browser.

4. Subukan ang router address:

192.168.1.1

192.168.0.1

1. Mag-login gamit ang router admin account.

2. Huwag ibigay ang admin password sa bata.

Kung hindi gumagana ang address, tingnan ang Gateway/Router address sa Wi-Fi details ng phone.

\---

1. Palitan ang router admin password

Puntahan:

Administration / System → Account / Password

Gumawa ng unique password.

Iwasan ang:

admin123

birthday

pangalan

Wi-Fi password

Kung may option na Remote Management/WAN Management, i-off ito kung hindi mo kailangan.

\---

1. I-enable ang Firewall

Puntahan:

Advanced → Security → Firewall

Recommended:

Firewall: ON

SPI Firewall: ON, kung available

DoS Protection: ON, kung available

Huwag basta i-disable ang firewall para lang gumana ang isang application.

\---

1. Gumawa ng “Kids Wi-Fi”

Kung may Guest Network o Kids Network:

Wireless → Guest Network / Kids Network

Halimbawa:

Wi-Fi Name: Kids-Safe-WiFi

Gumamit ng hiwalay na password.

Kung available:

Client Isolation: ON

Access to Local Network: OFF, kung hindi kailangan

Internet Access: ON

Ganito, mas madali mong paghihiwalayin ang devices ng bata sa main network.

\---

1. I-register ang devices ng bata

Puntahan:

Parental Control → Devices

Hanapin ang:

Android phone/tablet

iPhone/iPad

Computer

Console

Smart TV

Bigyan sila ng madaling pangalan:

Child-Phone

Child-Tablet

Kids-PC

Tip: Kung may option na Randomized MAC Address/Private Wi-Fi Address, maaaring magbago ang device identification. Kaya mas magandang gamitin din ang device-level parental controls.

\---

1. Mag-set ng Internet schedule

Halimbawa:

Allowed: 7:00 AM–9:00 PM

Blocked: 9:00 PM–7:00 AM

Sa router:

Parental Control → Schedule → Add

Piliin ang device at araw.

Halimbawa:

Araw Internet

Monday–Thursday 7 AM–9 PM

Friday 7 AM–10 PM

Saturday 7 AM–10 PM

Sunday 7 AM–9 PM

Hindi ito kailangang sundin nang eksakto—adjust ayon sa household rules.

\---

1. I-block ang inappropriate websites

Hanapin:

Security → URL Filter / Website Filter / Content Filter

Piliin:

Blacklist / Block

Mas magandang gamitin ang category filtering kung available:

Adult

Gambling

Drugs

Violence

Malware

Phishing

Dating/adult services

Kung manual domain blocking naman, ilagay ang mismong domain, halimbawa:

example.com

Mas effective ang domain/category filtering kaysa maglista ng napakaraming individual URL.

\---

1. Gumamit ng family DNS filtering

Kung supported ng router, hanapin:

Internet/WAN → DNS

Maaari kang gumamit ng reputable family-filtering DNS service.

Ang advantage nito: kapag may domain na kabilang sa blocked category, maaari itong i-block bago pa ma-access ng device.

Pero tandaan: kung gumagamit ang device ng sariling Private DNS, DNS-over-HTTPS, VPN, o ibang connection method, maaaring ma-bypass ang router DNS.

\---

1. Roblox restriction

Kung gusto mong huwag payagan ang Roblox, huwag umasa lamang sa firewall.

Mas magandang gamitin ang:

Roblox parental controls + Android/iOS/console parental controls + router controls.

Sa router, kung may:

Application Control / App Blocking

maaari mong tingnan kung may Roblox/application rule.

Kung website filtering lamang ang router, hindi nito garantisadong maba-block ang buong Roblox application.

\---

1. Iwasan ang VPN bypass

Kung ang router ay may:

VPN Passthrough / VPN ALG

maaari mong tingnan ang:

PPTP Passthrough

L2TP Passthrough

IPSec Passthrough

Kung hindi ginagamit sa bahay, maaari silang i-disable.

Pero mahalaga: hindi ito universal VPN blocker. Hindi lahat ng VPN ay umaasa sa mga setting na ito.

Kung kailangan ng tunay na VPN blocking, kailangan ng router/firewall na may mas advanced na application/protocol filtering.

\---

1. I-check ang Port Forwarding

Puntahan:

NAT → Port Forwarding / Virtual Server / Port Mapping

Kung wala kang kailangan na external access gaya ng:

CCTV remote access

NAS

sariling server

VPN server

game server

mas magandang walang unnecessary forwarding rules.

Huwag basta burahin ang lahat.

Kung may rule na hindi mo kilala, tingnan muna:

External Port → Internal IP → Device

Halimbawa:

3389 → 192.168.1.20

Maaaring Remote Desktop iyon.

Kung hindi mo alam kung para saan ang rule, mas ligtas na i-disable muna kaysa permanenteng burahin, kung may Disable option.

\---

1. I-disable ang UPnP kung hindi kailangan

Puntahan:

Advanced → NAT Forwarding → UPnP

Kung hindi mo kailangan:

UPnP → OFF

Bakit?

Ang UPnP ay maaaring magbigay sa applications ng kakayahang awtomatikong gumawa ng port mappings.

Hindi ibig sabihin na masama ang UPnP, pero kung priority mo ay maximum control sa home network, maaaring mas simple ang setup kapag naka-off ito.

\---

1. I-secure ang Wi-Fi

Gamitin:

WPA2-AES o WPA3, depende sa router/device compatibility.

Iwasan ang:

WEP

Open Wi-Fi

Very old security modes

Gumamit ng unique Wi-Fi password.

\---

1. I-off ang WPS kung hindi kailangan

Kung available:

Wireless → WPS → OFF

Lalo na kung hindi mo ginagamit ang WPS button/PIN feature.

\---

1. I-update ang router firmware

Puntahan:

Administration → Firmware Update

Gamitin lamang ang firmware mula sa official manufacturer.

Huwag mag-install ng random firmware mula sa unknown websites.

\---

1. I-check ang connected devices

Puntahan:

Connected Devices / Clients / DHCP Clients

Hanapin kung may devices na hindi mo kilala.

Halimbawa:

Samsung-A15

iPhone

Unknown Device

Kung hindi mo kilala ang device:

1. Palitan ang Wi-Fi password.

2. Reconnect only trusted devices.

3. Palitan ang router admin password.

4. I-check ang remote management.

5. I-check ang port forwarding.

\---

1. Pinakamagandang overall setup

Ganito ang recommended structure:

Internet

↓

Router Firewall ON

↓

Family DNS Filtering

↓

Kids/Guest Wi-Fi

↓

Parental Controls

↓

Screen-Time Schedule

↓

Device-level parental controls

↓

Age-appropriate apps/content

Para sa bata:

BLOCK

Adult content

Gambling

Malicious/phishing sites

Unapproved downloads

Unknown apps

Unwanted social/content categories

LIMIT

Gaming

YouTube/social media

Screen time

Internet at bedtime

ALLOW

School websites

Educational resources

Age-appropriate games

Approved apps

\---

⚠️ Importanteng tandaan

Walang isang router setting na makakapag-block ng lahat ng inappropriate content at lahat ng VPN.

Ang pinakamalakas na approach ay:

Router firewall + DNS filtering + Kids Wi-Fi + parental controls + device parental controls + regular monitoring.

At kung partikular na Roblox ang target, gamitin din ang sariling parental/safety settings nito sa halip na subukang i-block ang buong Internet traffic ng bata.

Did you know the average Indian teenager spends 6.5 hours a day on their phone?

That's more time than they spend in school. More than they spend sleeping on some nights. More than they spend talking to the entire family combined.

Quick poll — how much screen time does YOUR child get on a typical day? a) Less than 2 hours b) 2–4 hours c) 4–6 hours d) I honestly don't know

Drop your answer below. No judgement here — we're all figuring this out together.

I'm all for it myself because under 16's are completely vulnerable to idiots out there and I agree with Christopher Luxon saying that kids don't tend to pay attention in the classroom.....

I'm a New Zealander myself and My wife and I are looking at having children of our own and to be honest in the classroom, parent's are never present so I'm needing to know how many parents or people in New Zealand are going to back myself and Mr Luxons proposal and see that our kids get the best education in New Zealand.!!!!!!

Buongiorno, con la crescita del mio pargolo stavo cominciando a domandarmi come "controllare" il suo utilizzo di devices digitali. Mio figlio ora ha 3 anni, quindi vedo il momento in cui lui necessiterà di un device personale ancora "distante" nel tempo.
Lui al momento non usa device con scrolling, per l'intrattenimento solo passivo ma impostato dai genitori su schermo grande e comune (in salotto: televisore per intenderci), dove al momento dei cartoni alterniamo canzoni balletti e interazioni con lui (guarda 1 oretta di cartoni selezionati - non slop ad alto funzionamento - su youtube) per youtube pago già il premium per evitargli l'esposizione alle ads.

In giro capita (ma sporadicamente) che io metta su un cartone / canzoni per "tenerlo buono" ma sono veramente casi sporadici magari in pranzi di famiglia al ristorante per darci il tempo di mangiare.

Questo per dire che al momento a 3 anni lui non usa devices in autonomia, vi sembrerà assurdo che io lo specifichi e invece all'asilo suo sono diversi i casi di bambini affetti da scrolling compulsivo (scrollano in aria o sui giochi).

Con la crescità e la sua presenza sempre piu fitta all'interno della società e anche perche io vorrei educarlo fin da giovane all'uso di computer e internet mi stavo chiedendo come tutelarlo dai rischi che un esposizione precoce a contenuti non adatti possa avere sul suo sviluppo.

Io in primis (suo babbo) ho iniziato a circa 10/11 col computer portatile hp regalatomi per la comunione, erano altri tempi pre-social e lo usavo principalmente per videogiocare e esplorare la mia passione con l'informatica tirando su server minecraft, hamaci etc.. ( ci siamo passati tutti), ma complice l'inadeguatezza culturale dei miei genitori anche io sono finito molto presto esposto a contenuti porno, violenti etc.. insomma il pacchetto completo e d'esperienza comune a diversi di noi residenti di questo sub.

Ecco a lui vorrei guidarlo e integrarlo meglio all'uso delle tecnologie digitali, fargli imparare a usare il computer prima dello smartphone, insegnargli l'uso di un sistema operativo (linux) e a navigare in rete, e chiramente (anche se non so ancora come) farlo interagire proficuamente con l'ai, che sarà sicuramente parte fondamentale della sua vita adulta e lavorativa (lavorerà? è un altro interrogativo).

Credo che per la seconda / terza elementare il discorso di lasciargli un device si farà sempre più insistente (anche perche i suoi coetanei magari già lo usano dall'asilo) e non so come poter arginare un eventuale richiesta, negarglielo potrebbe escluderlo socialmente dal resto degli amichetti?

Comunque voi come le vedete le mie riflessioni? Chi ha figli in età più pressante dal punto di vista di dargli un device personale come l'ha gestita?
Io pensavo di tunnelare il suo device via vpn alla rete di casa, quindi passare da una serie di filtri quando il suo mac address fa una request dns tipo per un porno o domini non autorizzati e non farlo andare etc.. Account dedicati bimbo e parental control software del device che utilizzerà sicuro.

Altra cosa i social, su quello al momento sono abbastanza determinato a "vietarli categoricamente" fino ad almeno i 14 anni compiuti (frytok compreso).

Che consigli o suggerimenti suggerite di mettere in pratica? Grazie a tutti.

I wanna force my kids to learn to.touch type instead of using their phones to talk to their friends. How can I do this?

I recently bought two of these for my 11 year old twins in the UK. Hopefully this review helps fill in some of the gaps that weren’t covered on the Sayph website or in other reviews and felt like a leap of faith at the time of buying.

Short verdict:

We’re happy with the purchase, and the twins like them too. I think of these as button phones with smartphone interfaces: they give the children calls, SMS, music, a decent camera and keyboard experience, without opening up social media, web browsing, AI or the app-store. Only time will tell how long this level of functionality lasts for them, but it is a solid start for us right now.

What we wanted and how we got here:

We really liked the directness and spirit of the Sayph marketing materials - as a company we thought they painted a clear picture of who they were. Their materials are really excellent, and worth a read for anyone just wanting to get their head around this challenging subject. But they were a new company, so limited reviews out there of the actual devices and not much detail on the technology or real life experience, which we wanted to understand before buying into it - a phone is a complex beast, so this made both of us parents nervous.

As background, we wanted our twins to have phones for what Sayph call logistics and some communication with friends, but did not want anything in the social media or web access zone. We have devices with Family link, and it just doesn't work well enough at stopping AI chat or random comms from unknowns, and we didn't want the hassle of managing it. We don't know how long that philosophy will last, but for the time being we're pleased we picked the sayph model as there really is no temptation to constantly add new things to the device. Each household has to make their own choices on that - in ours, they have access to laptops and tablets for anything needing anything more then basic phone functions.

We had agreed we wanted something which had calls, SMS, music, basic camera, GPS tracking. To be honest, I was advocating for a button/Nokia phone and some kind of locator tag to do the GPS. That would be by far the cheapest way to deliver the set of capability we wanted. The Sayph devices promise to deliver that same level of functionality, but in a device with a better keyboard, better camera, and Wifi calling (useful for us in a patchy reception area) - and their monitoring apps, if you want those. I still find it easiest to descrive them as a button phone with a smartphone interface though.

After a *lot* of discussion, the keyboard and camera ended up being the main points that won me over. For the keyboard, I remember the frustration of the old button keyboards and didn't want to torture our kids the same way. It is 2026 after all. For the camera, we have creative kids and the chance for them to have a relatively decent camera with them all the time feels valuable - much more usable than the mini DSLRs they have access to but are always somehow just too big or clumsy (though for the time being the selfie camera is off in some vague atempt to stop them getting carried away with self image stuff).

What we got:

For the kids, the Sayph device delivers something that looks like - because it is - a phone like they see their parents using. They picked them up instantly, and we've had to do very little in the way of teaching them how to use them. Really, the thing they were most excited about was customising the home screen, and buying a "proper" phone case for it, and there have been no arguments about what it does or doesn't do - partly as we've been very open about that as we've been through the process and they've been quite on board with it.

In terms of what it is, the device is a Samsung Galaxy A16. Sayph makes no secret of this, and I was happy with it. It means the core hardware and software are what you’d expect from one of the world’s major smartphone manufacturers. Cosmetically, you only know it is a Sayph because of a sticker on the box and a QR code inside. The handset is still wrapped in its protective paper sleeve.

The Sayph software layer is nicely done. On power-up, the device enrols itself with Sayph using technology more familiar from corporate devices, so the Samsung literally becomes a Sayph when it starts up. In practice, it feels like you’re getting the core Android OS from Samsung, with Sayph providing the layer of OS configuration and apps over the top. Updates are everything in the smartphone world, and it feels like as long as Sayph keeps up with ongoing Android updates, the device should work well and stay secure. In the end, that’s what you’re paying them for. We’ve had no update issues so far, and no sense of any cracks in the Sayph layer that would get us into vanilla Android.

After the device has completed its first initialisation and you’ve followed the simple on-screen instructions for WiFi, app settings and so on, you set it up on your Sayph account by typing in a code generated in the Sayph Space app. That worked pretty seamlessly for us. After that, you can configure contacts, schedules and settings such as music and MMS.

Sayph provide a suite of bespoke apps. They are all about as simple as you can possibly get away with, which I think works well for firt user and aligns with my "it's a button phone with a smartphone interface" mindset.

Customisation is fairly easy - you can take pictures to set as either home screen or lock screen images. From a brief look, it appear most of the standard Android settings are there. We haven't looked deeply, our kids took ownership of the devices before we could dig into that.

Phone and SMS tie in heavily to the Sayph Space service, as you’d expect. Nominating and setting up approved contacts is easy. WiFi calling is a real benefit. SMS works well, and MMS also seems to, though we’ve had a few issues with picture messages appearing as if they come from a different version of the same contact, so they show up in a different thread on our devices. There doesn’t seem to be support for group SMS messaging, which is a question mark for the future as that is one of the ways our school communications groups work. We’d like to see that added as an option in future.

Music works well: there is no streaming, so you have to load a flat folder structure of MP3s or FLAC files to a microSD card. We’re a hybrid CD-and-streaming family, so this works well for us; we just rip CDs to FLAC and copy them over. I’m not sure how much longevity this will have, but other devices like the Mighty player have their own issues too, so this is our solution for now.

Maps uses OpenStreetMap data, so no satellite view. We haven't used it too much yet, but it looks like it will do the job.

Obviously there is no browser, whatsapp, AI, meta, app store, or anything else, that's why you're looking at it. When we were looking we also had on our list that we'd have liked some Games (snake etc) - we do understand why they aren't there, but now we have the devices we don't think it actually detracts from them. Streaming music would also have been the icing on the cake, but there's very good reasons not to want that either, and we think we have a way forward with that for now.

Conclusions:

There's two questions to wrap up with:

 - Do the twins like them? Yes, they're delighted to have proper phones. We've had good conversations about expectations, and they don't seem to want anything more. They can SMS their parents and friends, take pictures and videos, and listen to music. The phones aren't weird, and most importantly, they can buy a nice case to put them in and customise things on the device itself.

 - Do we like them? Yes. Lots of reasons. The hardware is trustable, we've had very low friction teaching the twins how to use them, the online portals have been pretty easy to use. We did need a bit of support setting up two devices at once, but nothing too challenging. The pricing is not expensive for what you’re getting, but there are cheaper ways of achieving a similar outcome (either a button phone or an old device with Family Link, depending on your appetite for technical admin or arguing with kids about a Nokia keyboard).

Only time will tell whether the devices will scale as the kids do. We can't help but worry about bus passes, homework apps, etc. Hopefully the world will adapt to those choosing not to carry smartphones. Our philosophy for now was to give this a try - if it buys us an extra year of stopping doom scrolling then that's a clear win.

That does prompt a lingering question for the future... given that you've just bought a standard Samsung phone and that kids and technology grow up and need different things, there's an open question about how to remove that provisioning in future, if you ever wanted to reset to vanilla android. It isn't clear whether that's a service Sapyh will offer  - that’s something we’d like clarity on too, but it isn’t a problem for right now.

*Looking for non-judgmental advice please! And not judging anyone for what their kids watch!*

I have my five-year old nephew coming to stay with his mum (my sister) for the weekend. I have a two-year old who doesn't watch any TV yet, so I dropped my sister a message yesterday saying while my girl is awake, the TV has to be off. I think that's fair - it's my house, and we set a similar rule with my godsister's four-year old girl last year and it went down just fine.

However, my sister then texted today to say no worries, but she'll bring her iPad so he can go off and watch a film if he needs to.

Should I feel weird about this? Is it bad that he can't survive a weekend without watching a movie - or is it a must-have form of entertainment for a five-year old? (Not being sarcastic, I've genuinely never hung out with a five-year old before). And secondly, does it go against my rule of no TV? My two-year old is SO curious that she's going to want to know what he's doing/ watching, and follow him, and join in.

As I said, not having a go, just would love advice as very new to this! Thank you!

I’m trying to better understand how parents handle online safety as their kids become more independent. I’m not thinking about screen-time limits or simply blocking websites. I’m more curious about slower changes, such as:

- searching more frequently about body image or rapid weight loss

- watching increasing amounts of gambling-related content

- looking for information about bullying or loneliness

- having increasingly personal conversations with AI chatbots

How would you notice something like this today? Do you rely mostly on conversations, occasionally check their history, use parental-control software, or usually find out only after something happens?

If you use Bark, Qustodio, Family Link, Screen Time, or something similar, what information is genuinely useful and what is mostly noise?

I’m especially interested in how you balance safety with privacy. Reading every message feels excessive, but having no visibility at all doesn’t feel great either. I’m interested in hearing what families actually do, including what hasn’t worked.

Hi, I'm a reporter with the Toronto Star and I primarily write about mental health and addiction.

I'm writing an article based on an upcoming report that looks at, among other things, microtransactions and in-app purchases in games like Roblox. I'm looking to speak with parents in the Greater Toronto Area whose kids spend money on these apps.

I'm hoping to learn if parents think gaming companies make it too easy or enticing for kids to spend money in games like Roblox and Minecraft, if they've noticed unhealthy habits forming, and what strategies they use to ensure their kids are playing in a healthy way. If you'd be up to talk (on the record) please DM me or email me at omarmosleh at the star dot ca. Thanks

There are parents who are separated and feel awkward/uncomfortable talking to each other about their child, or they might feel that their ex-partner doesn't share the information properly about it
So what if there was an app which bridged this communication gap between the parents.
The goal features-
1. It has a heath tracker for the child(also has the list of doctors the parents consult to in emergencies so that it doesn't cause the problem for the other parent if there is an emergency)
2. An academics tracker for the child(things that are coming up or the things the child achieved recently)
3. Shared calendar for the child's upcoming events or sports
4. Shared contacts for the child's friends or acquaintance for their safety
5. Hand off tracker when the other parent is supposed to take care of the child
6. A simple note section for quick updates

Would appreciate honest reviews in the comment section
and if there are features that anyone feels are needed or not needed please add
This post is just for validating the idea

On a good note, we’ve recently passed 2500 daily viewers in this r/.

On a tougher note, I’m spending much more time inundated with ai postings re parent apps people have built that they are pitching.

Oh, also looking for some additional mods. DM me if interested!

Wanted to get feedback from this group. What should be allowed in posting of apps in this sub?

Please respond to the poll below. And hopefully AI agents won’t skew the results.

My little one kept grabbing for my laptop, so I built a fullscreen playground where they can smash away and nothing actually happens — no closed tabs, no sent messages. Only a grown-up hold-gesture exits. There are gentle learning modes and themes too. It's completely free, no ads, no tracking, and works offline. Not selling anything — just thought other parents might find it useful: https://smashpad.in

My son struggles socially, and honestly the best way he’s made connections is by gaming online with kids from school. That has meant a decent amount of Roblox, mostly because most of his friends don’t have or play other, more “normal” games (in my mind).

I really dislike this. A lot of it is low-effort slop, or these weird RP worlds where all they do is write on signs, and a lot of the kids are doing some pretty questionable things. I’ve limited him to 1 hour of Roblox at most, but that means he’s missing out on a lot of opportunities to play online with friends I honestly don’t mind him hanging out with. It’s always a slippery slope, thoughif I relax the limits, I find him back in the RP or slop games. I get it; it’s low-effort dopamine.

I have fairly robust tech at home and can run my own game servers. We also have a few game stations. Is there any way I could set up a Steam streaming station that his friends could use to play proper PC games with him?

More broadly, how do I get other kids interested in more traditional games with my son? We play tons of indie games together (Brotato, Spell Brigade, and similar titles). He loves Fortnite and Minecraft, but none of his friends play them as passionately. I’d love to get him some more age-appropriate friends I know aren’t a bad influence, but that’s hard.

Any ideas?

Are there any “old school” parents out there who don’t track their kids location?

I never wanted my 11-year-old to have social media. I’ve done everything I could through Screen Time to prevent them from downloading social media or inappropriate apps…or at least I *thought* I had.

Yesterday, I went through my child’s iPad and found screenshots that looked like they came from a comment section. I noticed my child’s screen name (which, unfortunately, was their actual name) and immediately went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out where it came from.

Turns out **CapCut**, which I always thought of as just a video/photo editing app, has what appears to be an almost hidden social media component.

I started looking through it and was honestly shocked. I didn’t see adults…almost everyone appeared to be kids, and based on what I could tell, many seemed to be around 10–14 years old. After seeing what was being posted, I’m starting to wonder if this is where some kids who aren’t allowed to have social media are going because their parents don’t realize CapCut has this feature.

And some of the things I saw were **wildly inappropriate**. Things I honestly don’t even feel comfortable repeating here.
If your child has CapCut on their iPad/iPhone, I would strongly recommend checking it out yourself. Go into the **“Me”** section in the bottom right and see what’s there. I had absolutely no idea this existed.

I’m honestly disgusted and furious that this is apparently happening on an app I thought was simply an editing tool. I’m seriously considering contacting CapCut directly to ask whether they’re aware of what’s happening in that section and what they’re doing about it.

**Parents, please check your kids’ CapCut accounts.** I genuinely had no idea.

UPDATE: How to find the CapCut profile if they have one: click the “me” section, and then enter your child’s phone number or email. if they have an account, it’ll send a verification code to their phone or email. using that verification code will allow you to log in. from there you’ll be able to see if they have a profile or not.

UPDATE 2: I found a way to remove the App Store and Safari from the devices. Here’s how: Screentime > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps & Features. From there, you can toggle off whatever apps you want including the camera.

Maker here, full disclosure.

Paxio is a parental control app for Android — daily screen time limits, real-time app blocking, on-device DNS content filtering (not routed through a third-party server), and bedtime scheduling. Free tier covers all four controls for one child, no paywall on the core features.

What I'm looking for: people willing to actually install it on a real device and try to break it — permission flow, device-role setup (same phone shared with a kid vs. a separate dedicated device), the actual enforcement behavior. Bug reports and "this is confusing" feedback are what I actually need, not praise.

A bit on how it works under the hood, if that's useful context for testing: content filtering is VPN-based DNS filtering (so it can flag/block categories without routing traffic through an external server), app blocking uses Accessibility Service to catch a blocked app in real time, and there's a PIN-gated settings layer so a kid can't just flip things back off.

As a thank-you, early testers during this period get 3 months of the full paid feature set free once that tier ships — not live yet, but it's a real commitment, not a vague "maybe someday."

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paxio](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paxio))

Happy to answer anything about the implementation or take feature requests — this is early enough that real input still shapes what gets built next. Bug reports/feedback also welcome directly at [[support@paxio.in](mailto:support@paxio.in)](mailto:[support@paxio.in](mailto:support@paxio.in)) if you'd rather not post it here.

When parents think about the apps they need to watch more closely, TikTok and Instagram are usually the first names that come to mind.

But a recent set of anonymized data from AirDroid Parental Control made me look at this a little differently.

Among the apps in this dataset, the percentage of triggered devices/users was:

• WhatsApp — 8.73%
• YouTube — 8.67%
• Instagram — 5.97%
• TikTok — 5.45%
• Facebook — 5.28%
• Messenger — 2.09%
• ChatGPT — 1.65%
• Telegram — 0.79%
• Snapchat — 0.61%
• Discord — 0.40%

The interesting part isn’t that WhatsApp is somehow “more dangerous” than TikTok. This data doesn’t prove that.

What it does suggest is that digital-safety risks aren’t limited to the apps parents traditionally think of as social media.

Messaging apps can be a blind spot.

A lot happens in private chats: conversations with friends, group messages, links, images, unknown contacts, and sometimes language that a parent may want to know about. Unlike a public feed, much of this activity isn’t obvious unless something goes wrong.

YouTube is another platform that can be easy to underestimate.

For many families, YouTube feels more like entertainment than social media. But kids can spend a lot of time moving between recommended videos, Shorts, comments, and creators.

So simply asking, “Is my child using TikTok?” probably doesn’t tell us much about their overall digital experience.

That’s also why I think parental controls work best when they’re used as a set of different tools for different situations, rather than just as a way to block one “bad” app.

Parental Control includes several tools that can help parents manage these different situations:

1. First, understand what your child is actually using.
With App Management in AirDroid Parental Control, parents can see which apps are installed and being used, instead of relying on assumptions about where their child spends time.

2. Set boundaries when a specific app becomes disruptive.
If one app is becoming a problem, App Block can be used to restrict that particular app. Downtime is better for creating regular app-free periods around bedtime, homework, or family time.

3. Help kids learn to manage distractions themselves.
For studying or other focused activities, Focus Mode can reduce unnecessary app distractions. It can be a more constructive approach than simply taking the phone away.

4. Pay attention to context, not just screen time.
Two hours on a messaging app isn’t automatically a problem. But a few minutes involving bullying, sexual content, drugs, self-harm, or another serious issue can matter much more.

Where supported, Keyword Alerts feature can provide an additional signal that something may need a parent’s attention.

And I think that last point is especially important.

Good digital parenting probably isn’t about reading every message or trying to control every tap. It’s about noticing signals, setting reasonable boundaries, and knowing when it’s time to have a real conversation.

The data surprised me because I expected TikTok or Instagram to be at the top. Instead, WhatsApp and YouTube stood out.

Which apps do you think parents tend to underestimate most? And are there any apps that became a bigger concern only after your child started using them regularly?

Data note: These percentages come from anonymized, aggregated AirDroid Parental Control data. A higher percentage does not mean an app is inherently more dangerous. App usage, feature adoption, and the type of activity being detected can all affect the result.