These days, the challenge is understanding how to protect children while still offering them the benefits of the digital world.

A good way to support your child in this area would be having ongoing discussions about issues and potential threats.

In the following several possibilities are presented how to make the Internet a safer place for children. There are a few ways to achieve this, depending on the kids’ age and skills.

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Change to a safer Domain Name Service (DNS)  

You want to prevent that the child visits websites with inappropriate content. One easy solution to achieve this, is to use safer Domain Name Service that will block many dangerous web sites and sites with inappropriate content.

This will block harmful websites or those with inappropriate content for children.

In the Internet every website is identified by a unique IP address. Because it would be very difficult to remember the IP address of a website, we are using names instead. Therefore, a mechanism for assigning names to IP addresses is needed. In principle this works in the same way than an old telephone book.

The DNS does this automatically when a name for a website is given. This service is included with your Internet Service Provider (ISP). To simplify and speed up the procedure, the naming service will store the fetched IP addresses with their corresponding names locally on your computer.

                                 Principle how the DNS works

You will find more information about the DNS on Wikipedia: Domain_Name_System

Some DNS provide more protection by blocking automatically malicious web sites or sites with inappropriate content.

Following categories of protections are available:

1. Automatically blocks malware and phishing sites.

2. Functionality of 1 and blocks sites with violence and adult related content.

A few DNS with enhanced protection are free to use, and some are free for private use only.

Services are available on Windows, Android, Linux, iOS and MAC OS devices.

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Get a child friendly web browser

Some help offer the use of a child friendly browser.  

 SPIN Safe Browser

SPIN Safe Browser blocks pornography, inappropriate content, and keeps Bing.com, Google.com and Yahoo.com web and image searches safe.

SPIN also makes the most popular video platform safer by invoking its restricted mode.

Unfortunately is the browser only available in the English language for Android devices.

You can download it from the Google Play store.

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 Parental control software to block unwanted websites and control the child’s activities

Parental control software can help keep your children safe when they use the computer, smartphone, or tablet.  

It is possible to restrict which programs the children can run and which websites they can visit. Limit how much time they can spend on the device each day, and also get reports on their activities.

The software works on devices where it is installed and manages the accessing of apps that it is given access to.

Most probably the child will not like this because the use of the device is limited. Also some friends might wonder about the restrictions. Before using this kind of software, perhaps it might be a good idea to discuss with the child about the use of the computer, smartphone, or tablet. When agreed solutions are not working, then there is good reason to use parental control software.

For example, Qustodio is designed to supervise, manage and protect your child's device use on the go. It runs on Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, and Kindle.

Qustodio has a free version with basic protection including a web filtering engine, time limits and reporting features. It is covering one device at a time. Use your own smartphone to supervise them.

  • Powerful filtering technology is automatically enabled to protect your child from harmful content

  • Easily set limits to manage your child’s online experience

  • With the online dashboard and Parents' app you are able to see how your child uses devices, apps and the web

 

More information at: qustodio.com

For using all features and in several devices at the same time, different premium versions are available.

There are more Parental control apps for Android devices available on the Google Play store.

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Prevent Execution of Applications (Apps) 

With help of a specific application, you can restrict your child from accessing certain programs on a Windows computer or Android phone.
You can simply block the use of chosen applications, files, and folder contents. To further prevent access to blocked items, you can protect the used program with an optional password.


Services are provided on Windows computers and Android devices.

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Enable safe search in certain search engines

Several search engines allow to change the settings to enable a safer search for children.

Swisscows   

By default, this family-friendly search engine protects your privacy while searching and from inappropriate content in the results.

 

 Google Search and Google Images  

SafeSearch is a feature of Google Search and Google Images that acts as an automated filter of websites with inappropriate content for children.

However, the SafeSearch filter isn’t 100% accurate, but it helps to avoid the most violent and adult content.

To enable the SafeSearch, click on Settings on the right bottom of the search page.

Then select the “Search settings” option from the list.

To activate the SafeSearch, click on the box in front of   “Turn on SafeSearch”.

Finally press theSave button on the bottom of the page.

In case you have several user accounts defined on the computer, this needs to be activated in every user account separately.

 

Duckduckgo search engine (duckduckgo.com)    

Click on the Settings sign in the upper right corner.

Choose “Other settings.

For the Safe Search, select the “Strict option from the list.

Finally, click onSave and Exit” at the bottom of the page.

 

StartPage search engine  

Click on the Settings sign in the upper right corner.

Choose “Settings”.

Scroll down to thePrivacy and Safety” section.

There, enable the “Family filter”.

Finally, click on the “Save your settings” button.

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Change to a search engine with child-friendly results

For kids, are special search engines available, that offers search results in a more suitable form for children and without inappropriate material.

Safe Search Kids safesearchkids.com powered by Google SafeSearch

Safe Search Kids is a customized search engine using Google's SafeSearch features with additional filtering added to block potentially harmful material.

The Safe Search Kids is possible to use for searching the web, images, wiki, and videos.  

Additionally the site offers informative articles for kids and parents about Internet related safety topics.

Safe Search Kids uses the kidzsearch.com website for performing the searching.

The website is only in English provided.

 

Qwant Junior search engine

qwantjunior.com 

It is recommended for 6-12 years old kids.  

Qwant Junior is a search engine that comes from France and it respects your privacy. The site is available in the languages English, French, German, and Italian.

JavaScript should be enabled to run this application.

 

Kiddle search engine – by Google

kiddle.co

Kiddle is a visual search engine for kids, offering a safe web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.

The website is only in English.

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Disable in-app purchases in Android phones or iPhones

In-app purchases are purchases made from within a mobile application. Typically an in-app purchase is made in order to access special content or features in an app such as power-ups, restricted levels, virtual money, special characters, boosts, etc.

The purchasing process is completed directly within the app and is seamless to the user in most cases with the mobile phone provider.

 

On Android systems, you can set a password protection for in-app purchases. 

     1. Select the Play Store app, then tap the Menu icon (the three lines on the left side of the search).

     2. Scroll down and tap on "Settings".

     3. Select the "Authentication required for purchases" option.

     4. Make sure the first option, indicating all purchases, is selected.

     5. Done.

 Disable in-app purchases on iPhone and iPad:        

     1. Go to "Settings," scroll down and tap on “Screen Time”.

     2. There, select "Turn on Screen Time" option.

     3. Next, tap on “Continue” and select This is My iPhone or This is My Child’s iPhone.

          If you selected “This is My Child’s iPhone” – follow the prompts until you are prompted to enter and confirm “Parent Passcode”.
          In case you have chosen “This is My iPhone” – Scroll down and tap on the “Use Screen Time Passcode” option..

     4. You will be prompted to enter and confirm a four digit ”Screen Time Passcode”.
         Tip: Make sure you remember this passcode. You won’t be able manage Screen Time Settings, without this passcode.

     5. Next, go back to ”Screen Time” and tap on ”Content & Privacy Restrictions”. If prompted, enter your Screen Time Passcode.

     6. On the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, toggle ”ON” the option for ”Content & Privacy Restrictions” and tap on ”iTunes & App Store Purchases”.

     7. On the iTunes & App Store Purchases screen, tap on ”In-App Purchases”.

     8. Then, tap on the ”Don’t Allow” option to disable In-App purchases on your device.

     9. Done.

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