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46 Comments

A quick look at Parental Control features on BlackBerry 10

By Adam Zeis on 17 Jan 2013 10:48 am
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Parental Controls Parental Controls

Just as RIM introduced some parental control features on BlackBerry 7 devices, they will be bringing the same plan over to BlackBerry 10 devices.  This time around however, the features are much more robust and customizable. While the OS 7 devices let you limit Twitter, SMS messages, browser use and a few other features, on BlackBerry 10 you'll be able to cut down many more apps to ensure your children (or spouse?) aren't going crazy on their device.

The parental controls in BB10 let you limit the browser, Twitter, camera, Facebook, App World use and much more. There are plenty of settings for you to tweak things exactly how you want them to be before handing over the device. A very cool feature that I'm sure many are looking forward to taking advantage of. We'll have plenty more on this in a few weeks.

Source: BBEmpire

Topics: BlackBerry 10 Parental Controls News & Rumors

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Adam Zeis Adam Zeis 3035 (articles) 2792 (forum posts)
46 comments

Wolf35Nine

Cool! Looks like nothing is being overlooked with bb10. These lock down options look pretty tight. I'd like to see features like this pushed heavily in their marketing strategy. I've heard horror stories where a kid would run up their parents bill by purchasing apps, going over data limits, etc. Jan 30 can't get here soon enough.

SuperionMaximus

Definitely! There needs to be a commercial or two targeted at parents. iOS is severely lacking in this department and I know I don't go a single day at my job without being asked about such features on the iPhone by a parent. Parental controls alone will sell phones to moms and dads looking to get a smart phone for their kids that isn't going to cause their bill to skyrocket.

NamelessStar

Loving how they are making sure they have every point covered nothing left behind nothing missed no loop holes to let people poke at them

SuperionMaximus

They are doing great in delivering an OS that is far more complete then iOS, WebOS, or Windows Phone was at launch, but they aren't there 100% yet.

The biggest gap right now is the cloud. There appears to be nothing to answer iCloud, Google Drive, or SkyDrive. Yes we know there will be OS level integration with 3rd party services like Dropbox. But I know I was hoping RIM would have something of their own. Maybe they do and it's one of the surprises their keeping under wraps until 01/30. We will see soon.

NamelessStar

Cloud based pics have leaked like drop box and what not its just not native to their own internal stuff maybe down the line with their own infastructure and what they got out of newbay might help them make one or help combine with one.

uc0823

love it but most kids know how to go in and change them also.

soaresr

It's password protected so unless your kids know the password they aren't getting very far :)

AngryEdmontonian

I would assume that in order to access these controls, it will require a password.

I Bleed Black & Berry

mphillips828

Hopefully RIM put a password protect on that setting...so if a kid who does know that he/she can go and change things, goes into that setting, it will ask for a password before allowing them to enter that specific setting...that way the kid wont know the password and cant change the settings!

pmccartney

If we thought of it (password) this quick I'm sure RIM thought of it too.

SuperionMaximus

Yeah, I can't imagine that it isn't password protected because otherwise it would be useless as most kids are better with smartphones then the parents who want to limit their activities.

pmccartney

Nice feature for parents or in the event you may lend your phone to a friend and don't want them messing around with more than they should, while eating into your data plan.

Esgetn2hoT

i thought of this within seconds of reading this so a kid might eventually but..... would this be bypassed if you do a factory reset on the device? Hopefully if this is enabled, a factory reset will require the perental control password as well as any other currently existing password it requires (which i believe is simply your bb-ID password? i could be wrong)

mrskycar

That is an interesting angle. I don't think RIM is making this feature as deep as you or I would like but at this point it is nothing but speculation.

BruvvaPete2

If I had a kid who did a factory reset on my phone he'd have bigger problems than me going upside his head.

Esgetn2hoT

yes but if i was a hormone filled raging teenager and my parents got me a bb10 phone or at least imposed these parental controls on me im pretty sure id be doing a factory reset...

but yea i guess it'd be good if youre lending your phone to someone.

bobaloo

What I would like is Kid Mode on my phone.

Specifically, I'd like to be able to hand my phone to my 18-month-old daughter and not worry about here deleting the videos I've taken of her that she likes to watch or calling people or anything like that.

I think that functionality would align with more people's needs than the number of people getting BB10 phones for their children who can't handle the responsibility of a fully functioning phone.

Think about it

mrskycar

I am right there with you on the level of control this function should provide. I am doubtful until I see it in my hands.

PJD642

And kid mode that prevents calls to 911! Wayyyy to much time spent locating and responding to 911 cell calls from phones that kids were playing with.

Rootbrian

I think you meant 1 and a half year old.

W Hoa

(or spouse?) Say what?

SuperionMaximus

Don't wantyour spouse or partner creeping on your facebook or twitter, parental controls make that possible without you having to remember to sign out every time.

Esgetn2hoT

or for controlling husbands (or wives)... the BEST types of relationships :P

matkas

Good idea..
but what about different session/user on one device could be VERY useful (especially on the playbook witch is often shared with family members) .

Also a factory reset would disable parental control. And NO it CAN NOT ask for the parental control password to do a wipe. If it does, you could easily be left with a "lock" phone if you actually forget the password (or if a crazy friend set it up on your phone).

Esgetn2hoT

so whats to stop a kid from just doing a factory reset

kids arent idiots lol

well...

not all of them...

...then again.... a kid who is smart enough to do a factory reset to get around perental controls probably doesnt NEED perental controls....

think i just answered my own question lol

matkas

Or you could ... just follow me here
.. you could Buy a BES server, register your device against it and control it directly from the BES.

Crazy?? think about it. Mobile fusion could very well do just that (with a consumer oriented version).
How does it sound now?

SuperionMaximus

Yeah, that kid is probably the family IT department anyway and he or she is the one giving mom and dad tips on how to manage their phones more efficiently and avoid buying crap in apps and wasting data lol

soaresr

A factory reset on a BB erases everything (apps, data, etc). Once it reboots and is back online the kid would need a BBID. Yes he can create his own BBID but without a credit card he isn't buying anything.

matkas

Sure.
But then he may answer the phone or browse inappropriate web site or use the camera or whatever...
So basically he IS bypassing parental control.

SCPanther13

It's one thing to bypass parental controls, but it's another to do it without being caught. If you have these controls turned on and you periodically check the phone, you will know readily enough whether it's been tampered with.

Then you take it away. Boom!

3Dee

WTF is wrong with you all? I use this feature all the time on my BB to stop my 2 year old making phone calls whilst watching 'In the Night Garden' - that's the sort of thing it's for, not for tech savy horny teenagers who want to get their groove on, come on!!! Think before commenting here!!!

Andrew4life

No parental control on skype? Or just no Skype?

AngryEdmontonian

What makes you assume that? Just because it's not seen in the photo? There is clearly a continuation of the list below "Remove Application", and the list is clearly not in alphabetical order, so save your assumptions.

I Bleed Black & Berry

Andrew4life

Considering Twitter and Facebook were grouped together, it'd make sense for Skype to be grouped together.

Rootbrian

MICROSOFT HAS TO MAKE THE SKYPE APPLICATION, Not RIM!

DanielLui1

I'm wondering if we'll ever see a feature like the Do Not Disturb function available within the settings menu similar to the one seen in Apple's iOS 6. That would be useful. I'd also like to see some native app from RIM that's similar to PassBook.

soaresr

It's called bedside mode (100,000x better than DND on iOS)

SEAWARRIOR

will deleting an app also remove it from on/off function list??? fb & tweeter are usually the 1st things i remove from any of my devices...

"THE GUY YOUR MOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT"

Fish Crackers

AWESOME! If I had a kid that wanted a cell I would by them a BB10 just for this feature alone. Well done RIM, make sure you market this well.

Jimcmf

This is very cool.
Will they add more items to block?

RIMM has thought of a lot of things. I hope that they mention all the stuff because for some, stuff like this is important.

Rootbrian

Parental controls + BES OR BESx = Total control. :D

jafrul

Lol.... Reading comments are much more entertaining than reading the article...
Maybe next time I'll just read the comments FIRST before I read what the article is all about..

BruvvaPete2

Kids will use other resources to find what they need rather than going through your phone. Besides, why have security features without password protection? Think about it. If your kid is smart enough to wipe your device just to have access to an app, that kid is pretty stupid to not know there should be repercussions.