New App To Control Kids

A new mobile app has just been released in the UAE to allow parents to keep an eye on their kids’ smartphone activities. The app, created by Norton, enables parents to see what sites their children are visiting and block content they feel is inappropriate, the company said in a statement.

“Parents know they need to be involved in their kids’ digital lives, and most actually set and discuss house rules for computer use and internet browsing” Tamim Taufiq, head of Consumer Sales MENA for Symantec (creator of Norton), said in the statement.

“But to make those rules work, you need to extend them to your child’s mobile phone where so much web browsing takes place,” he said.

In the UAE, 12 per cent of children between eight and 17 have experienced a negative mobile-related incident while 54 per cent have experienced a negative online situation, according to the Norton’s Online Family Report UAE released in December last year.

Parents need to have a Norton Online Family account to activate the application, which they must first install on their child’s device.

The app, called Norton Safety Minder: Mobile Edition, is available for free in the Android Market and can be downloaded in English, Japanese, German and Polish, according to Norton.