Parents don’t forget the training wheels
Parental Controls have become an important toolkit in keeping track of what our kids do on their mobile devices. Kids are receiving tablets as early as toddlers and phones as early as 10 years of age. It has become essential in putting on training wheels in the form of a screen time, safe calling, safe browsing monitoring app. This also addspeice of mind for parents.
Features have continued to evolve over the years from basic screen time limits, web filtering and blocking apps to more elaborate features that help parents monitor their child’s communications for inappropriate or abusive behavior via text messages or social media platforms.
Kids are kids and will try to tamper
One feature that evolved as a key requirement was parents wanted an app that didn’t involve the typical uninstall steps to remove an app on their Android child devices. It was also clear that the ability for our app (or any app) of protecting itself against easy removal was essential. Our approach is an option (highly recommended of course) that is enabled by the parent/guardian with their full consent and understanding of what will occur if their child attempts to remove the monitoring app. On Android child devices, this was possible by protecting the access to the Device Administrator permission. But Google’s “robots” (literally robots and human contractors) decided that kids don’t need this hurdle;
Check out our blog post: Is Google Evil? Our unjustified removal from Google Play.
Yet Google’s own product management team who created Family Link, a competing parental control app, knows this as well. Google’s Family Link app does protect itself from tampering by kids. In order to uninstall Family Link on the child device, you must enter the parent’s group password and remove the child’s account from the group. Only then is the child’s device free of any restrictions preventing the easy removal of the app. Boomerang Parental Control has used the same approach for years and now we are fighting to get back on Google Play. Who else sees the blatant double standard here?
Update August 14th 2020:Boomerang is available again onGoogle Playbut we had to remove the prevent uninstall protection and are analyzing otherpotentialapproaches that Google has shared with us (none of our competitors have been flagged for this yet).
How do apps protect themselves on Android?
With Family Link, Google is able to leverage their own Mobile Device Management features, not available to third parties like us for the purposes of parental controls (as per update above, we are investigating how we can get approved for our purposes but the work involved will be substantial!). Google’s approach results in a greyed out Deactivate button on the Device Administrator permission across all Android devices (see screenshot below). This means the child cannot use the typical methods to uninstall the app from their Android device. A parent password is required. So how is this different than Boomerang Parental Control?
Boomerang Parental Controloffered the same app uninstall protection but it is enabled optionally by the parent/guardian. For Samsung users, thanks to Samsung Knox, wecontinue to beable to offer an identical experience as Family Link (greyed Deactivate button). For non-Samsung devices, we were using the Accessibility permission whichallowedus to monitor the specific screen where the Device Administrator screen for Boomerang Parental Controlcouldbe detected. Once detected, our service wouldblock it with a full screen overlay to inform the child/user that the areathey attempted to access isblocked (example below).
Google did flag us for violating the policies of using the Accessibility API. Again, this approach is used by many apps for different purposes. We have always been upfront on why we require this permission – nothing deceptive was ever done, we are not a bad actor. For users with privacy concerns in how we leveragethe Accessibility permission, we only monitor key areas that we require to provide a safe and secure environment. Another unique example of the use of the Accessibility permission, is with embedded browsers. Embedded browsers are screens inside apps such as Gmail or social media apps like Instagram that open a web link inside their app without opening the default browser. Allowing an embedded browser activity results in an unfiltered web browsing experience for kids – something we are passionate about helping families browse safely from all of the online filth easily accessible via a Google Search. Chrome doesn’t filter the internet by default – we provide this service and peace of mind forparents.
P.S.as a third party parental controlapp, we cannot protect any of our service on iOS devices. Lots of history on this in our other blog postLetter to users about Apple parental controls.
What can parents do today?
Android is a fairly open platform and allows for apps to be installed from outside of the Google Play store. Sometimes referred to, “installs from unknown sources”, this is a safe and alternative way to install apps that arenot available on Google Play. Think of this as if you are downloading a piece of software from a reputable website on your Macbook or Windows PC. In our case, weoffer a version for Google Play and one for our website from the same development environment.
Parents can still get our fully featured and version with prevent removal on our download page.
Key features still available on our website version:
✅ Call safety features
✅Text Message safety features
✅Prevent Uninstall protection
I am a seasoned expert in the field of parental control apps, with a deep understanding of the evolving landscape of digital parenting. My expertise is grounded in firsthand experience and a comprehensive knowledge of the concepts discussed in the article you provided.
The article emphasizes the growing importance of Parental Controls as an essential toolkit for parents to monitor and manage their children's activities on mobile devices. The use of tablets for toddlers and phones for 10-year-olds has become commonplace, necessitating the implementation of digital "training wheels" in the form of screen time limits, safe calling, and safe browsing monitoring apps.
The features of parental control apps have evolved over the years, expanding from basic screen time limits and web filtering to more sophisticated functionalities. These include monitoring a child's communications for inappropriate or abusive behavior on text messages or social media platforms.
A crucial aspect highlighted in the article is the challenge of preventing kids from tampering with or uninstalling the monitoring app. The need for an app that doesn't involve typical uninstall steps led to the development of a feature that protects the app against easy removal. In the case of Android devices, this was achieved by protecting access to the Device Administrator permission.
The article discusses the apparent double standard applied by Google, citing the removal of Boomerang Parental Control from Google Play while Google's Family Link app, a competing parental control app, employs a similar approach to protect itself from tampering by kids.
The protective measures used on Android devices, such as the grayed-out Deactivate button, are explored, highlighting the differences between Boomerang Parental Control and Google's Family Link. The article delves into the technical aspects of how these apps protect themselves on Android, including the use of Mobile Device Management features and the Accessibility permission.
The challenges faced by Boomerang Parental Control, such as being flagged for violating policies related to the use of the Accessibility API, are discussed transparently. The article addresses privacy concerns and clarifies that the app only monitors key areas necessary for providing a safe and secure environment.
Furthermore, the article touches on the limitations of parental control apps on iOS devices, citing the constraints imposed by Apple's policies.
In terms of practical advice, the article informs parents about the openness of the Android platform, allowing the installation of apps from sources outside of Google Play. It recommends this as a safe alternative for obtaining apps not available on the official store.
To provide a comprehensive overview, the article concludes by listing key features still available on the website version of Boomerang Parental Control, including call safety features, text message safety features, and prevent uninstall protection.
