Kid Mode
Calling all iPhone developers….read all about it.
Just like the other millions or so people around the world we love our iPhones. The problem is, so do our kids. And whats wrong with that…why nothing of course. Who doesn’t want to play an endless array of free or inexpensive games to pass the time of a ride in the van, or listen to the discovery channel, or…well point made. The damned thing is brilliant (or at least many of the apps are), but I digress.
Our kids play on our phones a good bit. Mostly in the van or while visiting somewhere or shopping, anywhere they don’t want to be or anywhere that invites boredom. Other times and places we push the device on them like the local crack dealer so we can focus on a task at hand – try taking four to the dentist, all with back-to-back appointments and keep your sanity – like I mentioned – we love our iPhones.
The problem isn’t that our kids play on the phones, it is the lack of one key feature: Kid Mode. What, per se, is Kid Mode? It is the missing ability to lock portions of your phone before handing it over to your kids, or anyone for that matter. It is the ability to create a profile for each of the users of the device and the ability to manage or change those profile only with some super secret password. It is the ability to hide or disable applications. A way to prevent connections to the Internet. Ability to lock sensitive or private settings, features or applications. The prevention of text messages from either displaying upon receipt or from being sent. I really think I could make this list go on for a bit…however, there is one more that sits at the very top of my list – the ability to disable the Home key - that unmistakable indention that attracts your attention, your hand, and screams push me, you know you want to – which so happily turns off whatever the iPhone happens to be doing and transitions the screen to wherever the Home key happens to be mapped.
Some of my complaints…er suggestions assume younger kids, but I think they apply across the board and perhaps even in general – you can access a good bit of your life from that applications available. Our boys can certainly navigate around the phone quite well – to well maybe – and our girls are getting better at it. Should some of these ideas ever be implemented I envision being able to hand the iPhone to our two year old, setup to play a twenty minute episode of her favorite Disney character, and not hear requests to play it again shortly after – that big button that says “push me” wouldn’t do anything anyway because it had been disabled. I envision being able to setup a profile for each of our kids or a guest, and perhaps using iTunes, add applications, games, podcasts, music, and other features to their profiles that are appropriate for their age, intellect, and desires. Then when we offer our phone for them to play, we select a profile, enter a password and pass it happily.
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