Best of the Safety Apps: AVG Family Safety iPhone App

Best of the Safety Apps: AVG Family Safety iPhone App

For users who already have AVG on their desktop, the AVG Family Safety iPhone app is a completely free tool. Designed with families in mind, it hides any items that are not intended for little eyes. Essentially, this app prevents kids from accidentally opening an adult-only app while they are playing on their parent’s iPhone.

How it Works

In general, the AVG Family Safety iPhone app is intended to weed out any malware, porn, scams or phishing so that children do not see it. The parent gets to filter and monitor everything on the phone. Parents can set specific parental controls using their desktop or use the automatic setting for each age range.

Using a Different Browser

The main drawback for this app is the fact that it utilizes a different browser than parents may be used to. The new browser allows for the same type of bookmarking and search features as a normal browser, so the switch is not particularly uncomfortable. Once users have created the account and signed in, they have to go into the iPhone’s settings to make sure that the only accessible browser is AVG. Once this is done, the children are protected from any non-kid friendly content.

Advance Filtering Options

There are a total of sixty-one different categories available that parents can customize the filtering options on. This allows each household a greater level control in which content appears on the screen. Some of the available filters include freeware, politics, search engines, dating, nude images and gambling. If an individual URL slips past the filter, parents can add it to a blacklist. Likewise, non-threatening URLs that are unintentionally blocked can be moved to the white list.

If customizing the filter takes too much time, the AVG Family Safety iPhone app offers other alternatives. Parents can select from four different age ranges that come with standard filters. Individual URLs can still be blacklisted or whitelisted, but the parent does not have to customize the entire filter. For a greater level of convenience, parents can also create a schedule that limits the times of day that children are allowed to surfe the web or play iPhone games.

To make sure that the app is working properly, parents can always go through their child’s browsing history remotely. From a computer, the parent can open up the search and browsing history from the iPhone. They can then look through instant messages, search queries and social networking pages.