Talks about the “screen diet” for children always begin with the recognition of a common fact: tablets and smartphones are an integral part of our life. With their help we communicate with our friends and relatives, work, learn something new, create and even relax. About 75% of US teenagers have a personal smartphone and 54% of them admit that they are constantly use it. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has conducted a study, which completely changed its position on the impact of tablets and smartphones on the development of children. Now, according to experts, mobile devices and the Internet may well be useful for them to: instantly find necessary information, download plenty of books in no time, communicate and build their own identity via social networks and so on. However, scientists insist that the main issue is not whether children will use the device, but how they will do it.
Nowadays, teenagers spend a lot of time using their gadgets and often their parents do not have a clue who they talk to or what type of information they look for on the Internet. Possible threats in the digital and real world make parents take actions. Some may resort to using parental control tools designed for phones and tablets monitoring. Here I will tell you about one such tool – Pumpic, a multi-featured parental control app.
Compatibility
For starters, the app supports most smartphones and tablets. Android devices are to be operated by Android 2.2-6.0.1, they should also have an inserted SIM-card for proper monitoring. iOS users have also nothing to worry about. Pumpic is compatible with all the iOS versions starting from iOS 6.0. Some features may require specific OS version. The list of Pumpic features is available on their website.
Monitoring platform and features
Pumpic developed two separate options for iOS and Android devices considering the fundamental differences of these two operating systems. Under the iCloud solution all the monitored information is uploaded together with the iCloud backup. Monitoring is invisible since you connect the subscription to the device only by entering your child’s Apple ID and password. Thus, you need to make sure that the target device is backed up regularly to receive updates. The scope of iCloud features is slightly limited with regard to the fact that not all of the information can be backed up. The Android solution, where the Pumpic app is directly installed on the device, has something more to offer.
Both solutions include: monitoring of call history (time, type, duration, name and number of the contact), SMS (as well as MMS, iMessages), location, photos, browser history, bookmarks, contacts, calendar (scheduled plans and events), KIK and Whatsapp.
Android solution users can also benefit from Videos, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype, Snapchat and Instagram monitoring. Keylogger (tracks all the keystokes typed on the target device), creating location geo-fences and alerts as well as some parental control features such as locking the device with a password, blocking unwanted websites, limiting the usage of apps and blocking incoming calls and SMS by number.
Root and jailbreak requirements
Plenty of parental control apps may require jailbreak on iOS and rooting on Android devices to get access to more monitoring features. In fact, Pumpic does require rooting to monitor Emails, IM chats and Social Media (Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Kik, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat), Browser history, Websites Blocking and Bookmarks (Android 6+) under the Android solution. Luckily for iOS users, the iCloud solution is non-jailbreak which makes Pumpic a simple and convenient app to monitor child’s iPhone.
Pricing
Pumpic offers two packages for Android users with regard to the included features (Premium plan costs $33.99 and Basic is at $23.99). In turn a 1-month iCloud plan costs $39.99.
How to monitor?
Control Panel is your personal account which becomes available immediately after registration. Here all the information will be stored in the relevant sections (Calls, SMS, Location, etc). You are free to set up parental controls of the children’s phone (limit the usage of apps or block unwanted websites), track its movement on the Google map and observe all the other activities: calls, SMS, photos and so on. Control Panel can be accessed via any device so each parent can monitor the child separately. It is available via any web-browser on your phone, PC or tablet. There is also an interactive Pumpic Demo of the account on the website for you to check what the monitoring will look like and form your own opinion about the app before purchasing.
To sum up this app will track your children’s whereabouts, monitor who they are talking to, what they are talking about, protect them from undesired websites and applications and so much more.
Photo Credits
Screen captures from the Pumpic App
Featured image – pixabay Creative Commons
Guest Author Bio
Jana Rooheart
Jana Rooheart works as a blogger to make this world a bit better for kids. She lives and works in Kansas City, a place where she grew up and started a family. She has a Technology degree from Kansas State University. Jana is interested in anything connected to modern technology and parenting. Currently, she is an e-safety consultant at Pumpic and an independent blogger. You may contact her via Google+ or Facebook.
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