Posted on

Helping You Get Started with MamaBear 2.0

MamaBear 2.0You spoke and we listened. A new-and-improved version of the MamaBear Family Safety App inspired by suggestions from our users is now available.

MamaBear 2.0 features a number of enhancements that will be of interest to both children and parents:

  • Parents will love the larger map view with one-tap access to all information and more details on a child’s activities, such as their current and recent locations and any recent alerts received.
  • School and safe place alerts are now combined into a simpler feature with notifications letting parents know when their child has arrived or left places. The arrival alert to safe places provides additional comfort to parents.
  • The new view when a child’s logged in makes MamaBear more entertaining for kids and supports the app as a family communication tool. Enhancement to the check-in feature uses fun emoticons to share how they’re feeling.  And it’s customizable allowing children to choose their own wallpaper for the app background.

How to Get the Update

Visit the Apple App Store on your iOS devices and the Google Play Store on your Android devices to install or update the MamaBear App. Remember to update the app on your children’s phones for optimal use of the new features and be sure your children are appropriately logged in.

If it’s your first time installing MamaBear:

1. Download the app on the primary parent’s phone and create an account to add your family members.  Add the phone number and/or e-mail address you want to monitor as the child.

2. Install  the MamaBear App on the child’s phone. Log In with your child’s phone number and your password. The child’s view of the app is different than yours.

3. Be sure MamaBear App stays put. If your child closes MamaBear out of memory or deletes the app on their phone, you won’t receive location points. Check settings on your child’s phone to make sure location services is turned on and background refresh is on. Updated locations are controlled from MamaBear being active on your child’s phone.

Here’s a video to help set up parental restrictions on iPhone to prevent deleting apps.

Related: New Phones – Happy Kids – Anxious Parents

Helpful Tips

  •  Added guardians will have the same parental view as the main account holder. The main account holder and guardians will only be able to view children’s location and alerts, not each others.
  • You can monitor Facebook and Instagram activity without your child logging in to the app. You’ll simply need their login and password for each social site. Build a restricted words list to be alerted to inappropriate language, indications of hate or bullying.
  • Set Up location, driving and social media alerts. On the parent’s MamaBear version, tap “Settings” and select your child. You will see the easy-to-follow options for setting up alerts for location, social media and driving. When entering an address – keep it simple. In many cases, you don’t need to enter the full address.  We use Google to look up what we think you mean.  Sometimes just a place name works for the address to pop-up an accurate “did you mean” box.

Related: When Parents Monitor Kids’ Instagram

Tell Us More

We couldn’t have developed MamaBear 2.0 without the invaluable feedback of our friends and fans. But our work isn’t done – the team at MamaBear will continue to invite the suggestions of our users so that we can continually work to fill as many family safety needs as we can. The MamaBear Family Safety App provides parents with  ways to communicate with and protect their children in the age of digital parenting.

 Your feedback is important to us. Stay in touch and let us know what you think of MamaBear 2.0.  Email info@localhost with your questions, comments and ideas.

 

Posted on

Is the Introduction of Video from the Instagram App Dangerous for Children?

Justin-Bieber-Instagram-Video
The first Instagram video to receive 1 million likes was from Justin Bieber. http://instagram.com/p/ay3XaiAvhC/

Instagram went online in 2010 and rapidly exploded into the 130 million user social media juggernaut that it is today. The popular photo app works on both Android and iOS platforms. The allure of easy photo sharing, liking photos, tagging and the unique filters and editing options make the app an endless source of social entertainment.  The thought of our kids sharing/viewing photos and now videos with and from 130 million people could be source of anxiety for many parents. Other social video apps like Vine already have a following, and the switch can be a hassle  for established users. This leaves a large community of young users that may not migrate, until of course their friends aren’t there anymore.

Instagram video allows for uploads of a 15 second video and joins the same stream as photos.

This addition to the stream doesn’t introduce new risk, maybe just some surprise when anticipating a photo to instead see a video.  However, the explore tab of Instagram has been and continues to be unsettling.  Search anything you’d like and be presented with that category of photos and now videos.   Preying adults and curious kids can easily cross paths by exploring Instagram.

As recommended prior to the introduction of video, be sure your child’s account is set to private.

Talk to your kids about talking to strangers. Stranger danger rules apply online the same as in person. They should not follow anyone they don’t know. And if your kids are going to post videos, talk to them about what’s appropriate.  Keep in mind revealing location, school name and other personal information can be a lot easier in a video than in a photo so they need to be extra careful to avoid potentially very dangerous situations.

MamaBear Instagram notifications can inform parents when a child is tagged in a photo or video, as well as when they add a follower or are contacted by a restricted follower. In addition parents can build a restricted word list to be notified when those words are used on their child’s Instagram feed. We’ll do our part to continue to monitor Instagram video to ensure parents are up to date with new features. Parents, we rely on you to teach your kids proper use of social media.

Download the MamaBear app today to ensure your children are using Instagram appropriately.

 

Posted on

So You’re Searching For a Kid Tracker – Where Should You Look?

kid-tracker

When you’re looking for an option for kid tracker technology, it can often mean that you’re moving beyond what you feel is your normal range of monitoring. This can be because you’re giving your kid some added responsibility, like driving or an extended curfew. It can also mean that you’re worried about where your child is and if they’re safe. We developed the MamaBear kid tracker app to give parents an easy option, no matter what reason you need to track your kid.

So where should you look and what should you look for in a kid tracker device or app?

Searching online is usually the best tool for finding options in a kid tracker app or device. Child tracking devices and apps are still a relatively new concept and aren’t too commonly available. Search engines offer us several options for kid trackers, but a wide range of options doesn’t always mean a wide range of effective solutions when we’d like to track our children. The Google Play Store provides options like the MamaBear kid tracker app for Android powered phones. The Apple App Store provides options for iPhones and other iOS enabled devices.

For a new and growing technology like kid tracker devices and apps, the web seems like the obvious choice for both shopping and research. Popular search engines provide answers to all sorts of parenting questions, including options when it comes to tracking our kids. Search engines can provide a broad range of options for research sake, but often have so many items at such varied costs that it can be difficult to come to a decision. That’s why many parents opt to use a smartphone as a kid tracker. A smartphone is a simple solution that the child will be happy to carry on them at all times.

Smartphones work wonders for kid trackers, and that means finding apps.

The Google Play Store and the Apple App store are good places to find all sorts of parenting apps. Both app retailers offer approved apps parents can trust. MamaBear is available on both the Google Play Store and the App Store and offers several options for parents to track their kids online and in the real world. The MamaBear app is an effective solution to turn a smartphone into a parenting tool and is a great example of an app being used as a kid tracker.

No matter what your reason is for needing a kid tracker, MamaBear is there to help. Our child monitoring app has received extensive media coverage, and we’re glad to offer our app for free during our current public beta test.

Download the MamaBear kid tracker app for Android here

Download the MamaBear kid tracker app for Iphone here

Posted on

The Best Apps for Parents in 2013

apps for parents

The start of 2013 offers a wealth of apps for parents to help with day to day life. There are so many apps available for Android and iOS devices that just searching for the best in each category can be very time consuming for a busy parent. Here are a few apps that our MamaBear team have found can make parenting just a little bit easier. These should help with managing life around the kids, as well as monitoring and managing the kids themselves.

Best Note App for Parents

Parents on the go need a good note app just to keep track of day-to-day life. A note app needs to be fast and flexible, especially for parents with multiple children. Evernote works across multiple devices and allows parents to save audio, visual and text based notes and is extremely easy to use.

Best Grocery and List App for Parents

Specific lists may call for more than just a note app. Grocery list apps like OurGroceries can help parents save time from checking grocery stocks. It can synchronize multiple phones to let a family share a list.

For the lists that children hate the most, the ones with their chores, iRewardChart gives parents an easy way to offer incentives.

Best Activities App for Parents

In the same vein as chore apps, apps that make it easy for parents to promote schools and safe extracurricular activities are often very helpful. Overdrive lets kids tap into the local public and educational libraries.  TeamSnap helps parents schedule team and group events easily while making contact with the team and team parents easier.

Best Parental Restrictions App

Setting up parental restrictions for particular device features and age appropriate content is important. For restricting phone access for children using Android phones, we recommend Kids Place.  Kids Place allows the parent to choose what apps and features the child can access on the phone while disabling the rest of the phone’s functionality. This gives parents the flexibility to allow children to try different apps and options and ensures that other apps stay put. Kids place also works on a parents’ phone to allow smaller children to play games, but not accidentally dial or text out.

On an iPhone, go to settings, general and enable parental restrictions for the device features you prefer.

Best All-in-One Parenting App

We don’t mean to toot our own horn, but when it comes to child monitoring apps for parents, MamaBear is your best option. MamaBear offers child location tracking via GPS and alerts, driving alerts, and social media monitoring in one easy to understand interface. In 2013, we’re working on adding even more functionality and looking forward to GPS upgrades in many new Android phones and iPhones.

There are lots of apps to make parenting easier, some of them easier than others. These apps are all available on Android or iOS, just like MamaBear parenting app. Many of them work across multiple platforms and devices, making multi phone households more manageable.

Using these apps for parents should make 2013 a little easier with our biggest reward being happy, safe children.

 

The start of 2013 offers a wealth of apps for parents to help with day to day life. We review the top apps available for Android and iOS devices
Mobile Apps
Date Published: 01/24/2013
4 / 5 stars