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Security : How to Secure iPad

Happy Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, President's Day, Basant Panchami, Mardi Gras & Ash Wednesday! And that was just this last week alone. It's been a while since I posted - could be kids remote learning, could be covid, could be me making excuses.


Today we will:


🛡️ Explore the myriad of iPad security settings

🌐 Remember to secure browsers on iPad

📱 Use our phones to remotely manage iPad security


 

iPad Parental Controls

For most of the remote elementary school year, we have been using iPads for its simplicity, ease of parental controls, ease of use for kids and the fact that it just works.


But that said and besides being an Apple FanPerson, it still takes a bit of work to get it setup the first time. These articles best describe how to go about this process but if none of it makes sense don't hesitate to drop me a line for some help!



While I highly recommend you read the above article (old in tech years - 2018) which includes stories/examples of what kids can get into, if you know what you are doing check out these few steps:

  1. Setup ScreenTime (monitor & manage their screen time)

  2. Setup Find My Device (find device if it gets lost)

  3. Setup Parental Controls (keep them safe online!)

 

Secure Safari/Chrome on iPad

If you checked out the link in the 3rd step on Parental Controls, apple's support articles on the various settings, there are a few places you can manage web content


  1. Restrict Web Content : For elementary aged kids I like to choose the "Allowed Websites Only" which does require me adding in the permissible sites one by one. This setting should work on both Safari & Chrome browsers (and others possibly).

  2. When using Chrome, I make sure I have logged into only my kids chrome account with the necessary restrictions setup which you can find more about in this Chrome Safety article.

  3. I would also take a quick look at all the Privacy Settings under ScreenTime settings.

In general though, where this is a will there is a way and perhaps kids may find workarounds to just about anything we think of! This list is by no means exhaustive but its a start!


I heard of a kid who figured out that he could from his parents phone turn on screen recording even while locked, figure out the password for the iPhone and the privacy settings and basically modify all their Parental Controls, ScreenTime and everything basically!


 

Control ScreenTime with iPhone

If you have an iPad, it is likely someone owns an iPhone too in your home. Once you have gone through the steps above for Parental Controls & ScreenTime specifically, you can always simply go into your Settings --> ScreenTime --> <Child's name> Profile and edit things on the fly - from app limits, to specific screen time and down time, to just disabling all apps if it comes to it, its just a click or swipe away.


I most often use it to modify app limits and monitor the app/website usage. One day I forgot to turn back ON the app limits for Disney+ (which is another issue on its own, apparently once you have downloaded it even once, kids can download without passwords even with security on!) and found my kid basically spent 4 hours of her school day watching Lion King instead of working.


Once again, not fool proof but a start!

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