“Circle With Disney” Is A New Device That Helps Families Manage Online Usage And Apps
Parents looking to manage their children’s internet usage and screen time have a new option with today’s launch of Circle with Disney, a hardware device that works in conjunction with an iOS application that allows moms and dads to filter web content, set “bedtimes,” block ads, view insights and usage history, and even pause the internet entirely.
While there are numerous parental control solutions on the market, ..., the problem with many of these options is that they’re confusing for non-technical parents, poorly designed, or only work to manage and monitor usage on a single device or platform.
Unlike some other apps I’ve tested in recent days, including a hardware and app combo called KoalaSafe and a kid-safe browser from Mobicip, Circle comes with age-specific filters you can enable without having to monkey around much with its settings. These filters include: pre-K (ages 0-5), kid (6-12), teen (13-17), and adult (18 and up).
Another key feature to Circle’s software is its “insights,” which displays how each family member spends their time online by platform, category, and website and by day, week and month. The idea is to not only give parents an idea of what kids are doing, but also help spark conversations about that activity and the child’s interests.
And because the negative content is blocked, those discussions aren’t disciplinary in nature, but can actually be positive.
The Circle with Disney hardware device is $99 and is the first product in what Circle Media hopes will be a suite of hardware and software products for connected families in the future.
The company, based in Portland, is backed by $1.5 million in angel funding.
See the full story here: http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/04/circle-with-disney-is-a-new-device-that-helps-families-manage-online-usage-and-apps/