Re:Taking away iPhone made daughter a better person
by turboat on Thursday June 13, 2024 @06:07PM
(#40675377)
Yes, the market exists and there are several competitors.
I've looked at https://sunbeamwireless.com, which runs their Android variant, BasicOS. Haven't purchased yet though. Light Phone is similar.
Gabb and Pinwheel sell phones oriented at kids, and both have OSes based on Android.
Unfortunately, as you say stock Android as well as iOS don't make effective locks. What they offer is passable for parents managing their kids' phones, although in practice kids often find ways to bypass.
It's very difficult for an adult who wants to self-regulate. There are some hacks you can do, like MDM, but it's not at all straightforward.
I'm looking to connect with people about this topic. In fact I want a business partner, although I'm also interested in people who just have input.
Obviously in theory stock Android can do that but they don't really take child locks seriously because they have the wrong threat model for it - they think "it only has to be securish because most children aren't going to be smart enough to circumvent it and it's not serious if they do anyway", instead of "it has to be actually secure because you only need one smart child out of thousands to figure out a bypass and it is serious because it affects peoples lives".
So maybe you could have an Android distro where it literally white-lists a few apps and servers at the OS level.