Apps
Smartphones can be double-edged swords. Yes, they allow us to stay in touch 24/7 but for some teens, they can also be a gateway to inappropriate activity. The good news is while smartphones are evolving with each new upgrade and version, so are the apps that help us keep tabs on our teens and give us some much needed peace-of-mind parenting. Here are a few worth the download.
TEEN SAFE FOR IPHONE
Life 360 for Android & iOS
If you’re always wondering where your teen is, this app tracks your child’s location. It also allows users to create customizable circles made of family members, friends or colleagues, and then share their location to other circle members, viewable on a map. Also included in this app: In-app messaging, a check-in notification system, and even a panic button that immediately sends a phone call, email and text message with your GPS location.
More than 350,000 parents have downloaded TeenSafe, which allows you to see into your teen’s digital world by offering discrete and convenient access to all their mobile phone activities, including their current location, text messages, deleted text messages, web browsing history, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Kik activity. According to its news release, “The app also allows you “to more easily detect issues such as truancy, drug abuse or bullying.” Rawdon Messenger, CEO of TeenSafe says in the release that the company wants parents to know about such potential issues early on: “We all worry about what our children are facing through social media and mobile devices.”
IGNORE NO MORE
MY MOBILE WATCHDOG for Android & iphone
You can view your teen’s phone call logs and read their text messages using this app. My Mobile Watchdog also allows you to find out where your child is through the device’s GPS. Worried your teen might be using his smartphone too much? With this app, parents can also set web and time use blocking, as well as remotely block and grant access to apps.
22 inbetween
for iphone & IOS
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Ever get the feeling that your teen is screening her calls? Well, now she can Ignore No More with this app that helps re-establish an open line of communication with your teen. If your teen ignores calls and text messages from you, you can simply “lock their phones until they call you back.” And when the app is enabled, teens cannot call friends, send text messages or play games until they communicate with you.