Bipper launches MobileKids app, lets parents keep tabs on kids’ phone usage

Bipper has launched a new app for Android and iPhone called MobileKids designed to allow parents to monitor their childrens’ phone usage and provide parental controls. The app is similar to other offerings in terms of controlling what apps and services children can access. The main difference is the ability to alter those controls remotely in real time without compromising privacy.

The app is installed on both the parent’s phone and the child’s, and keeps parents updated on newly downloaded apps, new contacts, and more. The child can view the specific restrictions that are applied. We guess the idea is to let kids feel like they still have their freedom while parents get to feel secure with their kids phone usage.

While it’s questionable at what age a child should receive their first mobile, MobileKids should help ease concerned parents’ woes. Check out the full press release below.

MobileKids App Provides Snapshot of Child’s Mobile Phone Use

Safety Solution for Children Offers Parental Controls and GPS-tracking Capabilities

PALO ALTO, CALIF. (January 24, 2013) – Mobile personal safety product developer Bipper’s newest app for iPhone and Android devices, MobileKids, enables parents to monitor activity and set limits on a child’s mobile phone use without eavesdropping on private conversations or combing through text messages. The app includes filters to block inappropriate downloads and contacts and GPS-tracking capabilities, features accessible from the parent’s phone that aim to alleviate worries about a child’s safety.

The mobile app, downloaded and installed on both the parent’s and child’s mobile phones, reports new downloads and contacts and compiles daily and weekly reports on when and how frequently the child uses the mobile phone. A child knows when the app is installed and can view settings established by parents.

Customizable features on the MobileKids app include the following:
· App Controls that show apps downloaded and used by the child and allow parents to block unsuitable ones

· Contact Controls that display the child’s new phone contacts and enable parents to permit or block selected phone numbers

· Time Controls that let parents set restrictions for the child’s mobile phone use such as during nighttime or study time

· Usage Controls that help parents manage phone bill costs by placing consumption limits on minutes, texts, Wi-Fi, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and other data

· Safety Alarm, a GPS-powered package that includes a one-click SOS button and guardian alert children can activate when they feel lost or unsafe and real-time tracking capabilities that allow parents to immediately locate their child according to schedule or need

MobileKids is the latest mobile product offering for Bipper, whose bSafe mobile personal safety alarm for adults and children was one of the top three iPhone app downloads in Norway prior to its U.S. debut. Entrepreneur and mother Silje Vallestad launched the company in partnership with European phone carriers to offer custom mobile solutions that addressed her concerns as a parent of children eager to own smartphones.

“Our mobile solutions provide parents with a greater degree of assurance about a child’s safety while using mobile phones,” Vallestad said. “We aim to help parents define limits for a mobile generation much like parents did in previous generations when the only phone in the household was a landline attached to a wall.”

For more information about the MobileKids app, please visit www.mobilekids.com and our pressroom, www.press.bipper.com.

About Bipper
Bipper was founded in 2007 by Silje Vallestad, a mother of three, after her six-year-old daughter’s friends began using cell phones and she was unable to find custom mobile solutions that covered her needs as a parent concerned about her children’s safety.

Bipper developed and launched MobileKids in Norway and Bulgaria in partnership with two operators in the fall of 2010 and brought the mobile application for smartphones to the international market in 2013. The company launched bSafe in 2011 prompted by requests from mothers who wanted access to the same SOS feature available on their children’s MobileKids app.

Headquartered in Norway with offices in Silicon Valley and Kiev, Bipper has received awards that include Red Herring Global, Rookie of the Year, Bully Award, Mobile Premier Award and SIMagine. In 2011, founder Silje Vallestad was named Norway’s Entrepreneur of the Year.