Question for IPhone 3 users

[Jeri Lynn]

HI,
Hoping to get some info from you iphone users!

My son just got the older iphone, I'm assuming that would be the iphone3. My husband has put parental controls on his iphone due to excessive texting. With school starting I am worried about what other types of applications he might be able to use to communicate with his friends during school. I'm not sure if I can put parental controls on everything. He is a senior in high school and I shouldn't have to worry about this stuff but I do.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Ian]

There are definitely apps you can download that will allow you to IM and text/chat without using the AT&T text messaging, but I'm not sure how you can block those without putting some type of block on installing apps period.

[LauraF]

I have the iPhone 3GS (work cell) and my IT team told me there was a way to turn off texting if I didn't think I would use it. I'm told it's something on the service provider end (i.e AT&T).

There may be a fee to do it on the provider end however . . .

I recommend checking the itunes store. If there is an app for it, it should be there.

Good luck!

[Jeri Lynn]

Thanks for the replies.

We do have parental controls on the phone and he is allowed 750 texts per month (which he can go through in two days), but I am surprised he hasn't put up a fuss, and I am thinking it is probably because he is communicating in some other manner. School starts tomorrow and I want him concentrating on work not socializing.

[jillluvsdisney]

Twitter and Facebook.

[BrerGnat]

Here's a thought...why not make him leave the phone at home during school hours?

And, don't give me the "he needs a phone in case of an emergency" line.

Did YOU have a phone on you at all times in High School? I sure didn't (and I'm 32 years old, so it wasn't THAT long ago). I never needed a phone in school, and I was driving starting in Junior Year!

I talked to my friend...gasp...between classes!

If you are paying for the phone, service, etc., I see no reason why you can't make it a rule that the phone stays HOME during school hours.

Texting should be the least of your worries. Your son basically has a computer in his pocket. You Tube watching on the phone would be much more of a concern for me, as a parent...

[DizneyRox]

Yeah, there are all kinds of "apps" but he could use Google Voice (web based) if he wanted to, not much you can do about that.

I'd also check the phone every so often, if it's a 3G you can easily restore the firmware (3G will take any firmware, 3GS isn't so hacker friendly) which should gey by any controls put in place.

Just checked a 3G on 3.1.2 and you defintely want to turn off Installing apps, you may even want to turn off Safari. There is a section for Allowed Apps which I didn't go into, maybe you have some fine grain control in there.

And again, check that phone every so often. If it gets jailbroken (Look for apps called Cydia or Icy but they can be hidden from the springboard), I'm fairly certain he can do whatever he wants (I can on my 3GS), you don't have to install apps the "old" way (through iTunes) to get things on there. There are other browsers as well to get onto the Internet, but the Safari restriction may be enough as most of the others just skin the Safari browser.

The reality is, you're probably fighting a losing battle. Where there's a will, there's a way. Sony declared the PS3 unhackable and look how that turned out. Apple tries to thwart hackers as well, but that's going even worse for them. I thnk it took what, a week to jailbreak the iPhone 4?

[ElenitaB]

And, don't give me the "he needs a phone in case of an emergency" line.

Natalie, the world has changed a lot since I was in high school. My son is starting high school next week far from home (he has a 45 min. commute). In just the years since he started kindergarten, we've gone through 9/11, transportation strikes and a major blackout. You better believe I want him to have a phone in case of an emergency. And that emergency might just not be on his end... if I end up detained at an appointment, I sure would like the ability to let him know. There also aren't working public phones on every corner like there used to be, even in NYC.

I also know that my DS' school has very strict — and enforced — rules about using phones in school (as did his middle school). I can bet that he won't want to be doing "jug" because he had his phone out during school hours.

[PirateLover]

Have to Ellen on this one. We had a family cell phone in the 90s and 9 out of 10 times my parents would send me out with it solely to contact them about where I was. When I didn't have the phone, I called from one of two pay phones in the area... which aren't even there anymore. We got a family plan in 99/2000 when I started high school (Taking an hour or so bus ride to commute back and forth) and again it was mainly so I could have the means to contact my parents. This was a few years before texting really came around though, so I was never tempted to abuse my phone privileges.

My school also had strict cell phone rules. Honestly, to the OP, I think by getting him an iPhone you've opened up a door that you can't really close now. If you were worried about him using apps to communicate, then you should not have purchased a phone for him that had that capability. All I can suggest is to lay down some stern rules about phone usage, and if you find out that he broke them, enforce it. Good luck.

[DizneyRox]

Hehe, my buddy just told me his daughter texted 16,000 texts last month! It is a different world. No wonder people can't handle life anymore... If texting is how they maintain relationships, they are in for a world of hurt...

BTW - Without an unlimited texting plan, that would have been close to $1600 on top of your normal phone bill.