How to make an iPhone (or iPod Touch) safe

[Phil413]

An iPhone (or an iPod Touch) can be a wonderful tool. However, it can also be a serious danger to the recovering PA. Because of its built-in Internet access capability, the iPhone is an unlimited p0rn library, a little theater of depravity in your shirt pocket, available 24/7 with the tap of a finger.

Fortunately, the iPhone (and the iPod Touch) can be made safe. Here's how:

• First, go to the app store and download a filtered browser. K9 is free, but it has banner ads that take up some of the screen. Also, I don't think its settings can be customized. I recommend using the Mobicip (Mobile child internet protection) browser. It's not free, but it doesn't have ads, and it has a website where you can customize your settings.
  
  
• Next, tap on "Settings" -> "General" -> "Restrictions."
  
  
• Tap "Enable Restrictions." You'll be prompted to input a 4-digit passcode. Be sure to make it different from the code you use to lock the iPhone itself. Also, be sure not to memorize this number. Write it down and then hide that paper someplace difficult to reach. Or, even better, have your SO input a number for you.
  
  
• Next, under "Allow," turn off Safari, YouTube and the app store. Unfortunately, it's necessary to disable the app store because there are apps out there that have built-in web browsers. It won't do you any good to disable Safari if you can just download a different browser whenever you're feeling tempted. You can still buy apps through iTunes on your PC or Mac.
  
  
• Then, scroll down to "Allowed Content" and set whatever limits you want to impose for music, movies and TV shows.

That's it. Now you should be able to browse the Internet safely using Mobicip or K9.

Phil

[RichBlack]

Phil said "Next, under "Allow," turn off Safari, YouTube and the app store." I can understand turning off Youtube, but Safari? Don't you need that to check email, weather, and other normal, healthy web sites? Thanks again.

Rich

[Phil413]

Phil said "Next, under "Allow," turn off Safari, YouTube and the app store." I can understand turning off Youtube, but Safari? Don't you need that to check email, weather, and other normal, healthy web sites? Thanks again.

Safari is an Internet browser. If you're not going to block that, there's not much point in blocking anything else.

That said, if you have an iPod Touch (not an iPhone) there's an even simpler technique. The iPod Touch can only access the Internet over a WiFi network. So, if you get a wireless router that has web filtering (as some Netgear routers do), you can filter the web before it even gets to the iPod, and you don't need to worry about blocking Safari. You should still block YouTube, in my opinion.

Phil

[grasshopper]

Has anyone actually used Mobicip and found it effective? I went to buy it today. There is only one review on iTunes and it says, "Don't buy this, it makes everything else crash."

If you have used this, does it work okay?

If you have found another way to protect your iPhone, please share?

hopper

[Phil413]

Has anyone actually used Mobicip and found it effective? I went to buy it today. There is only one review on iTunes and it says, "Don't buy this, it makes everything else crash."

Are you sure you were looking at the right app? I'm at the app store right now, and Mobicip has 18 ratings with a 4-star average. The first review is a 5-star review, and the second review is from the Mobicip people responding to some other reviews.

There are a few negative reviews, but most of them are complaining about things Mobicip doesn't claim to do (like filter Safari), or else misunderstanding how to use it.

If you have used this, does it work okay?

I've used it for quite awhile, and I've found it to work very well. I don't use it anymore, though. See below:

If you have found another way to protect your iPhone, please share?

See my post above. I filter the web at the router. That way, whatever browser I use on the iPod, the web is already filtered. Mobicip works well, but it's basically a Safari clone, and Safari is a bare-bones browser. I use "Perfect Browser," which has tabs and lots of other "desktop" features.

Now, if you have an iPhone, and not an iPod, you'll probably want to use Mobicip because when you're away from your filtered WiFi network you'll be accessing the Internet through the cellular data stream, which is unfiltered.

Phil

[grasshopper]

Thanks Phil

I have now downloaded it and will have to figure out how to use it. Thanks for guidance.