I found out about the 'Family Sharing' feature when I was conducting a recent interview with a father about how he kept his young children safe online. Prior to that I must admit I knew nothing about it. Being involved in designing interventions that combat youth crime I always get asked by practitioners and parents for ways they can help monitor and support young people more effectively. Let's be honest, technology is moving at an incredible pace. The internet is a space that is so unregulated and un-policed that there is rarely a day that goes by without me being informed of some image or video being circulated of a young person being chased or stabbed or some young girl being pushed into some equally horrendous act. You can't blame parents for being concerned about what their children are exposed to. How are they actually supposed to keep up with what is going on in their young children's lives when new apps are being launched almost every day.
Given that the Family Sharing feature promises so much I decided to take it for a bit of a test run. I have to be honest iPhones are not really my thing but supporting young people in the physical, mental and online spaces definitely is and in many ways the fact that I am not a huge fan of their product makes me the best guinea pig.
What it is and what the benefits are
The 'Family Sharing' feature was made available to the users of the iPhone 8 onwards. Once activated, essentially what it provides is an 'Admin approval level' to the phones in the same way that an employer would to a worker's mobile phone or laptop. With it you can set age restrictions barring certain sites, keywords, apps, content and purchases. Should the person with the sharing feature enabled try to download something deemed 'questionable' then the adult who activated the feature on the child's phone will be alerted for their approval for which they can choose to either accept or deny. The same thing applies to purchases for which adults can share their purchases with children. It is also possible for the adult to check a child's browsing history with the click of a button.
The new iOS (iphone operating system) upgrade was launched recently and with it screen time can also be monitored, giving parents a better understanding of how much time their kids spend using apps or visit websites or being on their devices overall. A parent can set time limits for specific apps and they can also nominate another family member as a parent/guardian, This enables parents or caregivers to always on the same page.
Using Family Sharing, locations can be shared with the rest of the family automatically. Want to know where your son or daughter is? Just check the app, Need them to know you are running late? Get them to check the app. Need to find your lost or stolen phone? Check the app and call the police. Plus, all of Apple products - the phone, the watch and even the Macbook are all interconnected through the app.
These are without a doubt unique features and in my opinion demonstrate how well Apple thought through what they were doing as they knew their gear would be highly desirable by young people and wanted to really remove concerns that parents might have.
But...there are some drawbacks...
Firstly, it has to be said that one of the biggest drawbacks is that this is an Apple only product. If your son wants the iPhone and your daughter say wants the Samsung S52 (or whatever the latest model is) and you have the Huawei Pro then you are screwed. There is no cross platform functionality. At all.
Secondly, I know this sounds obvious but the location functionality can be abused. Lets be honest, we were all kids once and...well,...lets just say we knew how to get around things. If you know your family member can monitor your location there is nothing to say that you couldn't leave your phone where you are expected to be and go off and do something else. Want to look like you are at school, give the phone to your friend while you disappear for a little bit, no biggie.
Another key thing is the apps and how much does the average parent know about the apps that their children enjoy? I had it set up with a couple of family members checking out apps for me. A few hours later a couple of apps flashed up on my phone for approval. I did a quick Google check on them and then typed in the name of the app followed by the words 'parental concern' just so that I could see what other parents had to say and low and behold the truth was in front of me. But I am IT literate, what average parent cooking dinner with a child screaming at them to accept the app because all their friends have it will really do that kind of digging? I honestly think many apps will be accepted by parents because they simply don't know enough about them.
Another thing I quickly realised is that I could not shield purchases from the rest of those in the Family Sharing group (tracks with questionable lyrics for example). In order to hide it from the 'Purchased tab' so they couldn't download it you actually have to do it through your computer through iTunes rather than your phone. There was at least a heart-stopping hour whilst I sought to get to a machine log in and made the changes, If they had already downloaded the app or song before I hid it, the song or app or movie stays on their device and can’t be hidden or undone.
Finally, the set up time does take a while, especially for newbies. Now I'm going to be straight with you, I'm pretty good when it comes to computers and apps and for me it was a little bit testing. The best way I would describe is it took about the same level of understanding as setting up a kids account on a Kindle Fire. That said, for the average parent or caregiver who knows nothing other than how to log into their work computer or do general surfing its better to call up Apple and get them to lead you through the process and what is needed otherwise you could end up in problems later on down the line.
Overall...
The Family Sharing feature can be an advantageous one providing parents and guardians with a whole host of features that they can use to limit and monitor their children's activity online. Whilst it may not be perfect the key thing I noted was it is a tool to keep young people safe but it can only be used as that; a tool. Even with the App, it does not replace good ol fashioned care and attention.
Given that the Family Sharing feature promises so much I decided to take it for a bit of a test run. I have to be honest iPhones are not really my thing but supporting young people in the physical, mental and online spaces definitely is and in many ways the fact that I am not a huge fan of their product makes me the best guinea pig.
What it is and what the benefits are
The 'Family Sharing' feature was made available to the users of the iPhone 8 onwards. Once activated, essentially what it provides is an 'Admin approval level' to the phones in the same way that an employer would to a worker's mobile phone or laptop. With it you can set age restrictions barring certain sites, keywords, apps, content and purchases. Should the person with the sharing feature enabled try to download something deemed 'questionable' then the adult who activated the feature on the child's phone will be alerted for their approval for which they can choose to either accept or deny. The same thing applies to purchases for which adults can share their purchases with children. It is also possible for the adult to check a child's browsing history with the click of a button.
The new iOS (iphone operating system) upgrade was launched recently and with it screen time can also be monitored, giving parents a better understanding of how much time their kids spend using apps or visit websites or being on their devices overall. A parent can set time limits for specific apps and they can also nominate another family member as a parent/guardian, This enables parents or caregivers to always on the same page.
Using Family Sharing, locations can be shared with the rest of the family automatically. Want to know where your son or daughter is? Just check the app, Need them to know you are running late? Get them to check the app. Need to find your lost or stolen phone? Check the app and call the police. Plus, all of Apple products - the phone, the watch and even the Macbook are all interconnected through the app.
These are without a doubt unique features and in my opinion demonstrate how well Apple thought through what they were doing as they knew their gear would be highly desirable by young people and wanted to really remove concerns that parents might have.
But...there are some drawbacks...
Firstly, it has to be said that one of the biggest drawbacks is that this is an Apple only product. If your son wants the iPhone and your daughter say wants the Samsung S52 (or whatever the latest model is) and you have the Huawei Pro then you are screwed. There is no cross platform functionality. At all.
Secondly, I know this sounds obvious but the location functionality can be abused. Lets be honest, we were all kids once and...well,...lets just say we knew how to get around things. If you know your family member can monitor your location there is nothing to say that you couldn't leave your phone where you are expected to be and go off and do something else. Want to look like you are at school, give the phone to your friend while you disappear for a little bit, no biggie.
Another key thing is the apps and how much does the average parent know about the apps that their children enjoy? I had it set up with a couple of family members checking out apps for me. A few hours later a couple of apps flashed up on my phone for approval. I did a quick Google check on them and then typed in the name of the app followed by the words 'parental concern' just so that I could see what other parents had to say and low and behold the truth was in front of me. But I am IT literate, what average parent cooking dinner with a child screaming at them to accept the app because all their friends have it will really do that kind of digging? I honestly think many apps will be accepted by parents because they simply don't know enough about them.
Another thing I quickly realised is that I could not shield purchases from the rest of those in the Family Sharing group (tracks with questionable lyrics for example). In order to hide it from the 'Purchased tab' so they couldn't download it you actually have to do it through your computer through iTunes rather than your phone. There was at least a heart-stopping hour whilst I sought to get to a machine log in and made the changes, If they had already downloaded the app or song before I hid it, the song or app or movie stays on their device and can’t be hidden or undone.
Finally, the set up time does take a while, especially for newbies. Now I'm going to be straight with you, I'm pretty good when it comes to computers and apps and for me it was a little bit testing. The best way I would describe is it took about the same level of understanding as setting up a kids account on a Kindle Fire. That said, for the average parent or caregiver who knows nothing other than how to log into their work computer or do general surfing its better to call up Apple and get them to lead you through the process and what is needed otherwise you could end up in problems later on down the line.
Overall...
The Family Sharing feature can be an advantageous one providing parents and guardians with a whole host of features that they can use to limit and monitor their children's activity online. Whilst it may not be perfect the key thing I noted was it is a tool to keep young people safe but it can only be used as that; a tool. Even with the App, it does not replace good ol fashioned care and attention.