4 tips that will make your child's cell phone safer

Children and teenagers started watching movies, accessing various apps and social networks from an early age and, therefore, it is essential to make your child's cell phone more Safety. According to the ICT Kids Online Brazil 2019 survey, 15% of all children in the country have accessed the internet since before the age of six and 76% of all children and adolescents between 9 and 17 years old go online at least once a year. day. But how to bring more security to these devices?

Simple measures like changing basic privacy settings or chatting with your kids about conscientious and safe use from the cell phone can already bring several benefits. You will read below 4 tips to make these moments of accessing the internet more carefree:

Your child's cell phone safer

If you are an iPhone user, or any other device from Apple , the iOS operating system brings parental control options: from limiting the time to use the device and blocking access to adult websites to controlling downloads from the App Store and iTunes.

For Android users, download and set up on kids device under 13 years old or Family Link. This Google service makes it possible to manage email accounts and applications on devices used by children and teenagers. Family Link even makes it possible to restrict the download of apps to the appropriate age. With it, you can also configure You Tube Kids, so your child will have access to age-appropriate content, which makes your child's cell phone safer. See more details about How Google Family Link works.

We also pack any Google recently created Google Kids Space, which for now is only available for Lenovo tablets, but which promises, in the near future, to be a more functional way to bring together cybersecurity resources for children and teenagers and education incentive in a single platform.

Do not share location details

Both Android and iOS operating system allow you to remove geolocation of photos by going to device settings, thus making your kid's cell phone more secure. In addition, it is important to guide children and adolescents not to check in on social networks in the place where the images were taken, this is one of the privacy settings. most important to prevent them from being easy targets for kidnappings, for example. It is worth remembering that images with school uniform, in restaurants, cinemas, parks or in front of a sign with the name of a particular street where they always transit can also be a security risk.

Secure privacy settings

Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are basic social networks in the life of any child and teenager currently. These profiles, however, need to be manually configured to make your child's cell phone more secure. Access the privacy settings of each of your child's social networks or guide them step by step not to leave their publications in public mode. Take advantage of the access and also show him how to not allow unknown people to follow your profile.

On Instagram:

Step 1. Under settings, click on privacy

Step 2. Select the Account Privacy option:

Step 3. Activate the Private Account button

On Facebook:

Step 1. Access the account menu:

Step 2. Click on “Privacy Shortcuts”

Step 3. Select the option “who can see what you share”

Step 4. Access “future publications” and choose the Friends option. Then access the Stories option and do the same. Finally, click next.

On TikTok:

Step 1. Under settings, click on privacy

Step 2. Activate the “private account” option. In this area, you can also disable videos posted by your children from being used in advertising and prevent others from downloading them. In this way, you can make your child's cell phone more secure.

streaming apps

Applications for streaming video on demand, such as Netflix e Amazon Prime Video, for example, usually have a specific session for children and teenagers, with a simpler layout and curated content for each age group. Enable this option and enter the appropriate age. In these services, it is usually also possible to put a PIN on the device, which only the adult knows, so that the child does not access inappropriate content for their age and has more security. 

On Netflix:

Step 1. Click on “Manage Profiles”

Step 2. Then select the child account option by clicking on the avatar

Step 3. Click on “Account Settings”

Step 4. When you select this option, the application will take you to a page for entering a password. Enter yours and click continue.

Step 5. Click on children's profile

Step 6. Finally, select the desired age option. On this page, you can also restrict titles regardless of their age rating. That is, if there is a title rated for your child's age that you don't want them to see, this is where you can block it.

No Amazon Prime Video, you can also configure parental control restrictions. It is necessary to follow the step by step as indicated on the official website of the service to PC, Android e iOS.

With simple changes like these, it is possible to reinforce the security of the cell phone of children and adolescents, reducing the concern that these devices can bring to parents' lives.

Research source: Skeptic.