Tag: mobile apps

Mobile apps for monitoring children reach high popularity in South Korea

These applications allow parents to see how their kids are using their devices, and can even remotely shut them off.

In South Korea, mobile apps that allow parents to be able to monitor their children have been growing in popularity and one in particular, “Smart Sheriff” has been standing out among the rest as it provides parents with the ability to watch their child’s smartphone activity, shut down applications, or turn off the entire device.

This app was created with funding from the South Korean government in order to let parents block pornography.

This app was meant to give parents control over the offensive content that their kids will be able to view online. That said, the features expand well beyond that and parents have taken notice. Smart Sheriff is one of at least 15 mobile apps that are available in that market to let parents monitor the smartphone use of their kids.

Mobile Apps - Child with SmartphoneThey reveal how long the mobile devices are being used, how often apps are being used, and which websites are accessed. Some of these applications will even tell parents where a child is located using the device GPS. In fact, some apps will send an alert to parents if certain specific keywords are searched for, such as “suicide”, “bully”, or “pregnancy”. An alert may also be sent if the child sends or receives a message that contain those terms.

So far, these mobile apps have been downloaded nearly half a million times (about 480,000) in South Korea.

These app download stats are only likely to rise. The Korea Communications Commission in the country decided, last month, that telecom companies and parents will be required to install Smart Sheriff or another one of these monitoring apps on the smartphones of anyone under the age of 18 years. The commission is the regulator for the entire telecommunications industry in the country.

This requirement will not apply to old smartphones that are already carried by people under the age of 18, but the majority of schools have sent out letters to parents, regardless, encouraging them to obtain and install this type of mobile apps to help to keep their kids safe.

Preregistration for mobile apps now available at Google Play

Android device users can now sign up to be among the first to download an upcoming application or game.

Users who hate to have to wait to be able to download the hot new mobile apps and games as they first appear on Google Play may not have to wait anymore, as the company has now announced that it has launched preregistration.

This way, users of Android based mobile devices can sign up to be able to download those hot new apps right away.

People can use either their smartphone or tablet based on the Android operating system to preregister for upcoming mobile apps and games. By doing this, these users will receive a notification on their device the moment that coveted application becomes available for download. The idea is to stop users from having to wait around for the app to become available because they will receive a notification the moment that it is.

The first among the hot mobile apps to be available for preregistration is “Terminator Genisys: Revolution”.

Mobile Apps - Google PlayAs of yet, there isn’t a set release date for that mobile game, nor has an official price been set, but the landing page for it features a preregistration feature. Users can view the details about the game, including screenshots, a description, and even a video, but they can opt to have be notified as soon as they can download it. Glu Mobile, the mobile game developer behind “Terminator Genisys: Revolution” has been given the ability to upload all of the information about the app in a kind of advertisement that says that it is coming soon, despite the fact that it is not yet ready to be played.

This option will give other mobile app developers the opportunity to signal that they are working on something great, but it will also provide them with the time that they need to complete it before the launch.

The current trend among mobile apps is to first create one for the Apple App Store and then follow that launch with an Android version later on. However, not all developers create the Android version, leaving device users to wonder whether or not they should get their hopes up. In this way, Android based mobile device users can know for certain what the developer’s intentions currently are.