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Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

wired.com

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Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#131

Post by walrus01 »

hans_castorp wrote: post #128

> Maps and satnav require a web connection. No they don't require a network at all. The only drawback if there is no network is that the initial finding of the position takes longer. And maps can be downloaded so that they are available offline. GPS receiver have been working without a "web connection" for ages (e.g. Garmins outdoor devices). I use my smartphone in "airplane" mode but GPS enabled when hiking. No prob…

At least on Android there's a fair number of apps like "osmand" which can download an entire state, province or country vector/map data, in their own semi-proprietary data format derived from public openstreetmap, for truly offline use anywhere you have a GPS signal. It'll even work on a phone that has no SIM card in it.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#134

Post by Aurornis »

Marsymars wrote: post #123
Aurornis wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Applying stiff financial penalties for allowing kids to sign up for social media sites is another way of saying that you want to have to provide your ID to log in to social sites. Reddit, YouTube, Discord, and even Hacker News qualify as social sites. I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to start providing ID to log in to everything. If you think these imaginary laws would only apply to Facebook and TikTo…

> If you think these imaginary laws would only apply to Facebook and TikTok We can literally write "these laws apply only apply to Facebook and TikTok" into the laws. Or base it on sites that have advertising. Products/services that are targeted to minors shouldn't be permitted to have advertisements anyway. I don't find "We've done a bad job with X so we should abandon X rather than attempting to do X better" to be…

> We can literally write "these laws apply only apply to Facebook and TikTok" into the laws.

I don’t find it useful to imagine laws like this. This isn’t what happens in real law making.

I’m talking about real, actual laws that are getting passed.

It’s not going to be perfectly targeted at websites you don’t use while leaving everything you like free, open, and privacy preserving.

It’s really important that we’re being realistic and honest about this. Inviting bad laws into the internet with fantasies about how they’ll be carefully scoped and limited to other websites is not realistic.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#135

Post by 650REDHAIR »

whycome wrote: post #132

There are so many features under “accessibility” that have wider usages.

I use the back tap feature for shortcuts and have my iPad auto-answer FaceTime calls when I’m out so I can check in on the dogs.

Lots of neat features hiding beneath the surface!

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#136

Post by jerlam »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #68
xnx wrote: post #38

Summary: Simplify the iPhone home screen with large icons for kids or seniors: Settings > Accessibility > General section at the very bottom > Assistive Access

it is not just simplified, it lets you chose which apps to show in that "simplified" view. For the elderly, that removes a lot of clutter and ways to shot yourself in the foot.

The article doesn't emphasize it, but Assisted Access also adds back the home/back button, like older iPhones and Androids. There is no more swipe-up motion that I see my parents struggle with because they did it too slow or started from slightly too high on the screen.

I completely understand why Apple and Google removed the buttons (gotta maximize that screen real estate), but the affordance for an obvious home/reset button is great for some people.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#137

Post by MoonWalk »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #110
Aurornis wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia was one of the first countries to institute social media bans under a certain age. Reading the reports and commentary from parents there has been fascinating, but not really surprising if you remember what it's like to be a kid. The most positive thing I read was that the kids are spending less time on social media in front of adults (like at the dinner table) because they're not supposed to be on social me…

I was definitely that kid. I remember discovering that my district's web filter had a default password (something like "changethis123"), by watching one substitute with exceptionally poor typing skills. Problem was, substitutes' accounts were disabled frequently, and any one account only really had a lifetime of a week or two, before someone in the IT department realized that 300 devices were connecting to the networ…

This demonstrates why forcing people to use E-mail addresses as user IDs is a stupid, stupid policy.

Re: Buried Apple feature turns an iPhone into the perfect kids' dumb phone

#140

Post by jkestner »

odo1242 wrote: post #113
jkestner wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think you can profile this as American. Are they conservative suburbanites? My kid walks to/from school longer than that. Many kids take public transit in big cities. Rural kids may ride a motorbike much further.

Well, it is a pretty American thing for this to be the case. Americans have been arrested for letting kids walk 500 meters on their own before (in certain neighborhoods)

Like Europe, the US has a pastiche of laws across states and municipalities, and varying levels of enforcement. My state has laws protecting free-range children.

You’re probably right that only in the US do people freak out over unaccompanied kids, but I wouldn’t say that’s true of most of the country.

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