Tech giant Microsoft announced that its new screen time and parental controls app, Microsoft Family Safety app will start rolling out on iOS and Android. It is supposed to create healthier habits for kids.
Microsoft talked about this new app earlier in the year when it unveiled its 365 Office package and also rolled it out to a limited audience in May 2020.
Withe the increase in online activities due to lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, parents have to be aware of the screen time for their wards or children. As these young ones can be easily influenced by what they see online.
With the Microsoft family safety app, parents can discuss with their kids about the time they are spending on their devices and type of content they are viewing. The app provides transparency on where everyone is spending time online and allows you create flexible schedules to carve out more time for things like online learning.
The app gives kids independence to learn and explore, while setting boundaries that help them make good choices. Kids can see the same activity reports their parents see, so everyone can be part of the conversation. Additionally, with Microsoft Family Safety, family members can manage their data and information and who it is shared with.
Here are some of the features that the app provides:
- When activated, a weekly report is created and can be used as a conversation starter between parents and their kids. Parents and kids can discuss about how much time their kids are spending on their devices and what websites and content they are viewing
- With the app, you can limit screen time for play and make more time for learning. These limits give my kids the flexibility to be on their devices more for learning but help keep them focused by limiting the amount of time they can spend on other apps and games
- You can also set healthy boundaries with web and search filters. With the Family Safety app, parents can use web and search filters to block adult content and set browsing to kid-friendly websites with either allowed or blocked websites list. This feature works in a tight concert with the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, Xbox, and Android.
- With the Microsoft Family Safety app, you get purchase request emails to avoid surprise spending. You as a parent, are alerted about purchase requests which allows you talk about purchases before they happen, instilling more responsible spending habits.
- The app also has a location feature which helps you know where your family is. Location sharing lets you see each of your family members’ last known location on a map and save favorite locations like “home” to see, at a glance, that everyone is safe and sound.
Announcing the launch, Liat Ben-Zur, Corporate Vice President, Modern Life, Search, and Devices concluded by saying;
“We are excited to launch Family Safety and we will continue to add new features to help you protect your family. In the coming months, we plan to introduce two premium features that will be part of Microsoft 365 Family subscription: (1) drive safety5 to help to build better habits behind the wheel with insights on driving behavior and (2) location alerts to notify you when a family member arrives or departs a specific location. We are also in the process of working to bring digital safety features to iOS to set screen time and content filters on iPhones.”
