iPhone and iPod Touch support parental controls where it is possible to disable access to many apps, including Internet browsing through Safari. You can access the article on how to set such restrictions here.
Once you restricted Internet browsing through Safari from your kid's iPhone or iPod Touch, you may still would like him/her to access kid friendly sites or reference sites, such as Wikipedia, for obtaining valuable information. Trying to fill in this need, there are several iPhone apps: Mobicip browser - a free app, iWonder Surf Web Browser available for $14.99 and Safe Eyes Mobile available for $19.99. All three browsers have mixed reviews, but looking at the iTunes reviews, Safe Eyes Mobile have better reviews than the other two. Here I review Mobicip browser, which is available for free.
First time you use the Mobicip browser, you need to setup an account at mobicip.com. When you are signing up, you select the level of filtering you like from one of three options: elementary school, middle school, and high school. The filtering levels are based on categories blocked and allowed for different age groups by schools. For example, gaming and entertainment related websites are blocked for elementary, but allowed for middle and high school kids. Dating, online shopping, and e-commerce sites are blocked for elementary and middle school, allowed for high school kids.
When you start the browser, you find shortcuts to many useful reference sites, such as Britannica, Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks, etc. Below is a video demonstration of how the browser works.
Even though Mobicip is a great start in addressing kid-safe Internet browsing, there is a lot of space for improvement. Some web sites are not rendered accurately. Wikipedia link on the front page is to the mobile version of Wikipedia, which provides a poor browsing experience compared to the full version. Nevertheless, user can go to the full version of the Wikipedia themselves and add this to the favorite links.
Do you have additional tips, concerns that you'd like to talk about? Drop us a note.
Access all iPhone Kids Application Reviews and Best Apps here
Related Articles:
- Buying iPod Touch for Kids? Pros and Cons
- Parental controls on iPhone and iPod Touch that every parent needs to know about
- 5 tips for making your iPhone/iTouch kid proof
- How to convert your own DVDs to iPhone and iPod Touch format in 5 easy steps
- Best iPod Touch and iPhone Cases with Stands
- How to connect your iPhone or iPod Touch to TV
- How To Move, Rearrange, and Delete iPhone and iPod Touch App Icons
- MacWorld 2009 News That iParents Should Know About
Have questions, suggestions for application reviews?
Please e-mail to: iPhoneAndKids@gmail.com
Would like to be notified as new reviews come out and subscribe to our feed by e-mail?
Thanks for the review.
You can find comments from the Mobicip team on the Mobicip blog, at
http://www.mobicip.com/content/mobicip-review-iphoneandkidscom
Posted by: Mobicip | 03/25/2009 at 10:12 PM
I tested this application for filtering porn, and it failed horribly. Your kids will have access to explicit pornography if you rely on this program to block it. It allows access to all image search engines, and it only blocks the most obvious terms. Sometimes it would block the HTML page, but not the images from that page. Just worthless.
Posted by: Concerned Parent | 03/30/2009 at 09:53 AM