FamilyTime Review: Good App But What’s the Catch?

I have mixed feelings about the features of the FamilyTime app. On the one hand, they have unique features such as a PickMeUp button and a Speed Limit Monitor (for iOS only) that I haven’t seen on any other parental control app. On the other hand, basic features such as a web filter and app monitoring are not that impressive.

Comprehensive Screen Time Addition Prevention Tools

I hate fighting with my son about how much time he spends on his phone and always telling him to stop looking at the screen and do something else. With FamilyTime, I no longer have to have these conversations.

The app has several different tools designed to limit how much time kids spend on their phones. First, there is a Schedule Screen Time and Internet Schedule:

These two tools are pretty similar, but allow me to let my son know that I don’t mind if he’s using the phone to call friends, use the camera, or play games that don’t require the internet to be connected

There is also a Daily App Limit feature. This gives me the control to choose certain apps and assign a time limit on them. For example, I can set a two-hour limit on Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. At the end of the two hours, these apps will be blocked, but my son can still access other apps. If he doesn’t use up all his allotted time, it can be stored in the TimeBank, which I’ll talk about in a little bit.

Lastly, there is a Pause Device button that I can activate whenever I want all devices to be completely locked. I found this helpful when I wanted my son to do the dishes, even though he hadn’t used up his screen time.

A Pretty Basic Web Filter

I’ve reviewed some parental control apps, such as Qustodio, with comprehensive web filters that can be customized for each child. So, I was a bit surprised to see that the FamilyTime filter has just three categories: Porn, Drugs/Abortion, and Dating/Gambling. It also enforces SafeSearch on Google, Bing, and YouTube to filter out inappropriate search results.

The filter does work. It blocked my son when he tried going to fantasy sports websites since it has a gambling aspect. However, I would like to see more flexibility and options. I don’t know why it combines drugs and abortions as one category and dating and gambling as another single category. These can all be separated, like Qustodio does, to give parents more flexibility in setting the rules for their house.

Know Where Your Kids are 24/7

When setting up the app on the child’s device, one of the permissions you have to agree to is giving it access to the phone’s GPS. This way, you can check in from the parental dashboard, on either your phone or computer and see exactly where your child is at any given moment.

FamilyTime also saves the location history for up to 30 days. This way, if you want to confirm that your child really went to school, the mall, or a friend’s house as they claimed, you’ll have proof. To that end, there is a geofence feature. You can set up multiple areas with a radius ranging from 150 meters to one kilometer. You will receive a notification when your child enters and leaves the area.

To set the geofence, click on the “Setting” button on the dashboard and scroll down to the Places (geofence) option. There is no limit to the number of geofences you can create. Just enter in the address or place a location pin, your preferred radius, and check the box if you want to receive notifications when your child comes and goes.

Unique Tools for Your Kids to Contact You

FamilyTime has two really smart buttons: PickMeUp and SOS Alert. These can literally be lifesavers if your child is in danger and can’t make a phone call but can access their phone. With both buttons, the parents receive an alert with a live location so that you can get to them as quickly as possible.

After the alert is sent, a reassuring message appears on the child’s device, telling them not to panic and what to do if they change locations. One thing I really liked is that these two buttons remain on the screen even if the device is locked.

Teaching Kids to Budget Their Time

FamilyTime has two features that are intended to teach kids the value of budgeting their time.

• The first is the TimeBank. The way it works is that if I give my son an hour to spend on YouTube and he only uses up 30 minutes, the remaining 30 minutes are added to his TimeBank and can be redeemed another day. Of course, the parent can set limits on the TimeBank as well. Otherwise, the kid can go a week without using the app and accumulate an extra 7 hours of app time.
• The FunTime feature can be used as a reward to give your kids free access to any app they want one day a week. It’s similar to the TimeBank because the unused time from their daily limit can be added to their FunTime. You can also manually set the time limit for FunTime if you want to reward the kids or need to keep them distracted for a specific time period on a given day.

You’re in Control of Your Child’s Phone

In addition to the monitoring and screen time feature, through the FamilyTime dashboard, I can remote control my child’s phone. The app blocker lets me prevent him from opening apps that I think are inappropriate. Not only that, but I can stop him from opening any new apps that he downloads until I approve them. One feature that I didn’t get a chance to test is the SpeedLimit feature. It’s geared for kids who have a license and an iPhone. The idea is that it will send an alert if your child is driving too fast. It sounds like a great feature, and hopefully, it will come to Android by the time my oldest son has his license.

The installation was a bit of a process. After I purchased my subscription package, I received an email with a password, links to the Google Play app, and installation instructions. I needed my son’s phone to download and install the app, which I did without any trouble. After creating a child profile, I had to enter a 4-digit PIN code. It’s important to keep this code a secret since the child can disable restrictions or delete the app with the PIN code.

Once the installation was complete, I sat with my son and tried out some of the features, such as the SOS and PickMeUp, but they didn’t work.

I reached out to the customer support team, and I was informed that there are certain restrictions when using the Google Play app. They suggested downloading the .apk file from the FamilyTime store instead. It would have been more convenient if the welcome email included a direct link to their store rather than the Play Store link.

To download the app from their store, you will need to adjust your Android settings to allow installation from unknown applications. Once the app installs on the child’s phone, you will have to accept all the different permissions for the monitoring features to work. For example, if you don’t allow the app to overlay over other apps, you can’t lock the child’s phone or enforce the web filter. Without access to the contact list or SMS, FamilyTime can’t warn you if someone on your watch list contacts your child. Lastly, you will need to give Device Admin Rights to the app. Otherwise, the child can easily uninstall the app without your knowledge.

The setup tutorial is highly comprehensible, and whenever adjustments to the settings are required, you can simply click on the “Take Me There” link. This link will promptly direct you to the appropriate section within your settings menu.

Installing the parental app is simple. You can download it directly from the Play or App Store without any issues.