Microsoft Widely Launches Family Safety App on Android and iOS
Jul. 29, 2020Microsoft first announcedFamily Safetyback in March and made itavailable in previewon Android and iOS this May. The Redmond giant is today rolling out the app to everyone.
Microsoft Family Safety is a digital safety tool that offers various digital safety features such as weekly activity reporting, screen time limits, web search filters, purchase request emails, and location sharing.
With weekly activity reports, parents canview the highlights of the child’s digital activity. Microsoft says these reports would serve as conversation starters towards building better digital habits.Image: Microsoft
Just like Google’s Digital Wellbeing, parents canset screen time limitson Family Safety. It works across Windows, Xbox, and Android apps and games. It will also let kids request their parents additional time when they exhaust the daily limit.Image: Microsoft
Another feature of the Family Safety is the ability to let parentsuse web and search filtersto block adult content and set browsing to kid-friendly websites. These filters work with the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, Xbox, and Android.Image: Microsoft
Parents can choose to receive purchase requests via email when their kids initiate in-app purchases with this feature. There have been instances wherechildren misused their parents’ bank detailsto make purchases and this approach should limit such incidents. However, it is worth noting that this feature is limited to the apps and games downloaded from Xbox and Microsoft stores.Image: Microsoft
With the location sharing feature, you can see the real-time location of your family members within the app, including the last seen location. The company says to have added location clustering that shows the number of family members at the same place.Image: Microsoft
Download Microsoft Family Safety (Android|iOS)
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
