Features / Family & security
Family & security
The controls stay yours.
A PIN only you know, protection your child can't switch off, and room for the whole family. And when they've grown into it, you hand the phone over for good.
Your PIN
Four to eight digits between your child and the controls.
- You choose the PIN on your child's phone right after pairing. It locks the Parent Portal, the controls on their phone.
- After a fourth wrong PIN in a row the controls lock for a few minutes, and each lockout sends you "Wrong PIN on your child's phone".
- Forgot it? The main parent can reset the PIN from their own phone.
Protection
It can't be switched off on the phone.
- Paired Parent can't be uninstalled, force-stopped or have its data cleared, and the phone can't be reset from Settings or started in safe mode. The usual workarounds don't work here.
- Your child's phone tells them plainly: it can't be turned off from the phone, or uninstalled.
- Need to remove another app? Maintenance mode opens the phone to that for up to an hour, and anything installed while it's open is allowed straight away, without waiting for your approval. Paired Parent itself always stays.
The Parent Portal
Your controls, on their phone.
- There's no icon for it. Tap the "Messages is active" notification on your child's phone ("Paired Parent is active" on a tablet without texting) and enter your PIN.
- It locks again the moment you leave.
More than one child
Siblings, in one app.
- Tap Add a child device to pair a brother's or sister's phone.
- Each child has their own settings, alerts and history. Tap the name at the top, or swipe, to switch.
- With more than one child, alerts start with the child's name, so you know whose phone it is.
Two parents
Share the load.
- Each parent gets their own alerts and chooses their own place notifications. Approved contacts, stars, quiet hours and places are shared, and either parent can approve a request.
- The first parent to pair is the main parent. Only they can reset the PIN, remove another parent or release the phone from their own app.
Staying in touch
You'll know if their phone goes quiet.
- If your child's phone isn't heard from for 20 minutes, your app's top line turns red and you get one notification.
- A Wi-Fi-only tablet shows Device Offline after five minutes without Wi-Fi.
- Updates to your child's app download on their own and install when you tap Install update on child's phone.
- When Android offers your child's phone a system update, it waits up to 30 days so it can be checked with Paired Parent first. You'll get "Android update waiting".
When they're ready
Ready for the real thing? Release the phone.
- Release ends supervision, and the phone becomes an ordinary phone again. No new phone to buy.
- It takes both of you, within ten minutes of each other: the main parent on their phone, and someone at your child’s phone. Or a parent at your child’s phone can do it with the PIN and a code we email to you.
- If your subscription ends, supervision stops and nothing on the phone is deleted. Ten days after the unpaid date you can factory reset the phone yourself. If the phone hears nothing from our servers for 10 days, a parent can release it there with the PIN alone.
Good to know
- Set the PIN as soon as you pair. If that step is skipped, the next person to open the Parent Portal chooses it.
- Your child can still turn the phone off or switch on airplane mode. Alerts and changes wait until it's back.
- A phone can still be wiped completely from its recovery menu, like any Android phone.
- Security-only Android updates aren't meant to wait, though that depends on the phone's maker.
- Removing a child from your app doesn't release their phone. Release is how supervision ends.
Questions about family & security
Does my child know the phone is supervised?
Yes. Nothing is hidden. Their phone says it's supervised. More about this: Does my child know the phone is supervised?
What's the PIN for?
It stops your child getting into the controls on their own phone. If someone keeps entering the wrong PIN, you get an alert.
What if I forget the PIN?
The main parent can reset the PIN on your child's phone from their own phone.
Can my child delete Paired Parent?
No. Setup makes Paired Parent part of how the phone is managed, not an app in the list your child can uninstall. It can't be force-stopped or have its data cleared either, and the phone can't be reset from Settings. More about this: Can my child delete Paired Parent?
Can my child turn the phone off?
Yes. Turning the phone off or switching on airplane mode isn't blocked. Alerts and changes wait until it's back on. If the phone isn't heard from for 20 minutes, your app tells you. More about this: Can my child turn the phone off?
Can I use it for more than one child?
Yes. Add a brother or sister in the same app and swipe between them. Each phone or tablet needs its own subscription.
Can two parents use it?
With two parents, each gets their own alerts, and approved contacts, quiet hours and places are shared.
What happens when my child is ready for their own phone?
You can release the phone, and it becomes an ordinary phone again. No new phone to buy. More about this: What happens when my child is ready for their own phone?