16, 2019 to reflect addition of App Details feature. This review was originally published Feb. 14, 2019.OurPact is a relatively recent entrant into the parental-control-app market.
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It launched in 2015 and had a significant focus on the iPad.When I originally tested the app in the late summer of 2018, it notably offered virtual feature parity between the iOS and Android versions of the app, which was remarkable.Unfortunately, on Oct. 6, Apple removed the OurPact child app from the App Store, due to changes in policy enforcement that coincided with the release of iOS 12 and Apple's rival Screen Time functions.On Feb. 19, 2019, soon after this review was first published, Apple removed the OurPact parent app from the App Store as well. OurPact detailing its side of the story on Medium.In June 2019, Apple seemed to, and in July, OurPact was reinstated in the App Store.OurPact never offered call or text monitoring on either Android or iOS, although it does still let you block messaging apps entirely on Android. It offers Android users a solid feature set and better overall design than you'd typically get on that platform.The fully featured version of OurPact, which is the one most people will want, is definitely pricey at $6.99 per month.
But that covers up to 20 devices, so it's not the most expensive option by device; that honor would go to.MORE: Costs and What's CoveredUnlike most other parental-control apps, OurPact breaks its features into three pricing tiers. Free users can control a single child device with up to five manual blocks per month and a single automated block schedule. Upgrading to OurPact Plus for $1.99 a month bumps you up to 10 child devices, unlimited manual blocks and unlimited automated block schedules.Finally, OurPact Premium, at $6.99 a month, delivers everything the service has to offer for up to 20 child devices, including unlimited manual blocks, unlimited automated block schedules and the rest of the features that will be covered later in the article.Unless you want to only limit the window of time during which your child can use his or her device, the Premium tier is the only option that really matters. There's no discount for paying for an entire year; you'll be paying the full $23.88 or $83.88 regardless.
Apple Fall 2018 App Store Policy EnforcementIn the fall of 2018, Apple began to enforce previously neglected policies surrounding the usage of Mobile Device Management (MDM) by consumer-facing apps. A number of parental-control apps, including OurPact, used MDM to grant parents a lot of control over their children's iPhones.(MDM is a level of software control, often provided by third-party apps or utilities, that's supposed to be used only by enterprise IT departments when managing company-owned iPhones.)Apple's change in policy enforcement disabled several features found in the OurPact Premium tier, including location tracking, geofencing, app organizing and usage allowance.
The OurPact Jr. App intended for children's iPhones was removed from the App Store.Parents still had control of a child's iPhone using the parental OurPact app, but the child was no longer able to view anything related to the restrictions the parent imposed, including remaining usage-allowance time.Existing or previous OurPact users could still install the OurPact Jr. App via their OurPact parent apps, but new subscribers are unable to do so.
InstallationWe installed OurPact on a running Android 9.0 (Pie), an and an. We used a 15-inch 2017 Macbook Pro running MacOS 10.13.6 to access the OurPact web portal.As with most parental-control apps, the first step toward using OurPact is to create an account on the website, in this case OurPact.com. You next add your child(ren) to the account, and OurPact immediately asked which type of device (Android or iOS) your child uses and guides you through the installation of the software on that device. With other services, this is typically the final step.It's a fairly minor complaint about OurPact, but the other method of setting up the account and rules first, and then installing the apps on the child's device as the final step, simply feels like a better interaction.OurPact was also unique in that the process for setting up the child's iOS device, for those interested in the Premium tier, was considerably more involved than it is for setting up a child's Android device.In Android, you just download the app from Google Play and agree to its requests for permissions.
On the child's device, you install OurPact Jr. And you put OurPact on the parent device.
Aug 16, 2019 OurPact Parental-Control App Review: Gets Kids Involved OurPact is one of the best parental-control apps for iOS users By Sean Riley 16 August 2019. OurPact is the only app that gives parents the ability to block iMessage on iOS. Using OurPact’s App Rules feature, parents can set blocks, schedule or always allow access to iMessage and other messaging apps across iPhone, iPads, and iTouch.
Parents and children can use different platforms.But on iOS, the OurPact Premium tier required you to download a separate installer utility to a Mac or Windows computer. You then plugged the child's iOS device into your computer, turned off 'Find My iPhone,' backed up the device and finally restored the device.With the iPhone 7 Plus that I used for testing, the restore process alone took approximately 45 minutes, making the initial setup about an hour in total.
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Then you sign into your OurPact account from Safari on the child's iOS device.At that point you are finally done and can create the profile for your child, a quick and easy process that identifies the child's name, date of birth and, optionally, gender. App ManagementThe app-management screen in OurPact is simple to understand and operate. By default, every app is set to adhere to the schedule or manual blocks that you input elsewhere in the app.However, you can go through on an app-by-app basis and set each to 'Always Blocked' or 'Always Allowed.'
Toggling 'Always Blocked' will make the app seem to disappear from the child's device; 'Always Allowed' will leave the app available even during scheduled or manual blocks.At the time of this review, OurPact was the only service among those we tested that offered full app-management functionality on iOS as well as Android — even after the MDM policy change.In August 2019, after this review was first published, OurPact added 'App Details,' which ports information such as age rating, functionality and average user rating about each installed app from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. It will also let parents know when new apps are installed on the child's phone. FilteringWeb filtering is pretty rudimentary in OurPact. If you tap on the icon in the lower left corner of the child's avatar in the parental app, you get the option to 'Block Adult Content' on your child's device. This is simply an on/off toggle with no other options.The feature works across the major browsers. Thanks to the App Management features referenced above, you have control over whether the child can use an unsupported browser. Time ManagementAlthough it isn't the most robust time-management system we tested, OurPact does a solid job of giving you what you need without being overwhelming.
Two separate sections pertain to time management in OurPact: Schedule and Allowance.Schedule lets you set up as many blocks of time as you like during which your child will not able to use his or her device. By default, a 'Bedtime' schedule from Sunday to Thursday is set up, but you can tweak that and also add as many other schedules as you like.These scheduled blocks are easy to toggle on and off, which is great as you may have a recurring schedule that isn't always relevant, and you won't have to re-create a block each time you re-enable it.The other piece to this section is the Allowance, which is simply the total amount of time each day that your child is allowed to use the device. There's a simple drop-down menu for each day, with options to set zero minutes to 3 hours in 30-minute increments, 4 hours to 8 hours in hourly increments, and finally one for all day.The only problem with how OurPact handles timing is that it requires your child to go into the OurPact Jr. App to toggle the allowance clock off and on. Other apps stop the clock when a device is put in standby mode.
(OurPact representatives said their tests indicated manual allowance toggling was more accurate.)It would be easy to see how older children who may just check an app quickly and then jump back out might forget to turn the allowance clock off and lose all their time for the day. This happened to my own kids several times. However, a child can't just leave the countdown clock turned off, as all apps would be blocked except the OurPact Jr. App.I did discover one loophole in the time management system: Content, such as a movie or a music service, playing in a picture-in-picture window on the child's device when the time allowance runs out can keep playing indefinitely. Texting ManagementOurPact doesn't offer any specific SMS text-message management, so if you want to monitor the content of your child's text messages or block specific contacts, then OurPact isn't for you.But OurPact can block messaging apps, whether or not they handle SMS, completely.
It claimed to be the only parental-control app that can block iMessage on iOS, and sure enough, it was the only app I tested that could.So while OurPact lacks granular control over or monitoring of text messages, you can at least limit the windows of time or the apps that your child can use for messaging.MORE: Location TrackingOurPact ticks almost all the desirable boxes with its location tracking on Android. The location pane allows you to quickly view a child's current location, but the geofencing available through the Places functionality is a more interesting aspect.Places lets you specify a location (school, home, park, etc.) and then opt to receive a notification whenever the child's device either enters or leaves that location. You simply enter an address for the location, then click-and-drag or pinch-and-zoom on the map to create the boundary that will trigger your notification.Obviously, this feature is most useful for devices with cellular-data connections, but it also works with Wi-Fi-only tablets when they connect to a Wi-Fi network. Grant/BlockThere's nothing complicated about this feature, but front and center on the primary management page are two tabs marked 'Grant' and 'Block.' In two clicks, you can either grant your child additional time for the day or block the device for a specified amount of time. It's a quick solution that doesn't mess with any of the rest of your settings.
Bottom LineOurPact is not without its problems. The lack of texting management and the quirks regarding the timer might both be significant issues, depending on your needs.However, OurPact is one of the easiest apps to navigate and control that I tested, and is also one of the best-looking. It should be on the short list for Android users, and, once again now, for iOS users as well, although the latter should also take a look at.Credit: Tom's Guide.
Unhappyemojiplayer, So far so good!We tried for almost a year to get our teen to regulate her own phone usage to no avail. After many fights and having to remove the actual phone at bedtime we heard of this app. I am in no way thinking the fights are over but at least now we don’t have to watch the clock and ask her to turn it off and then argue with her. It will simply stop working. We are only using the basic version for now, but will definitely consider the paid version if needed so we can turn the phone off during school. Our teen’s school does not seem to fight phone use in class and instead sets aside class time for “tech time” so sadly any regulation will need to be done by us.My only complaint so far is that the app you put on your kids phone will rearrange their home screen and all their apps every time their phone is blocked and unblocked. Not a crisis but if this didn’t happen that would be great.
One less thing for the kids to complain about ?Oh and if you are a parent go read the reviews for the kid version of the app Our Pact Jr? The reviewers are almost all the kids and reading them made me even more confident that this was the way to go! I laughed until I cried at the kids arguments against this app and how it ruined their lives. Their advice to other kids was to not “allow” your parents to install this on your phone? Such an entitled bunch of kids these days!
Developer Response,We are so happy to hear that OurPact has helped your family achieve balanced use of technology, and has reduced conflict around devices! Just so you are aware, we have a solution to prevent the app scrambling issue on our Premium tier of management. We have a free 7 day trial if you want to try it out! Reach out to [email protected] to learn more, or to get assistance with setting your child device up with Premium!PS - We also get a kick out of reading through the OurPact Jr reviews. If those doesn't convince users that our software works, I'm not sure what would!
Thank you for the positive review!!:). Mrfilmmkr, Almost Perfect!I went ahead and gave it 5 stars anyway. I am an iOS developer myself, and I know the incredible amount of thought and work that goes into creating something like this. I have read some of the other reviews and I have to say that most of the negative reviews are just silly. Of course you need an internet connection. How else is the device going to receive commands.
Of course the installation is involved.Honestly though, the installation took me less than 5 minutes - and wasn’t difficult at all. I can understand that some people may get confused - but honestly - you must realize what the developers at Our Pact have created is no easy feat. We have tried just about every parental control app available all to our dissatisfaction.
Our Pact accomplishes 95% of what we were looking for.Having said that, the reason this review is entitled “Almost Perfect” is because there is one thing this app is missing. That is the monitoring of which web sites the child goes to as well as the monitoring of text messages and whatnot. However, the reason I gave this app 5 stars is due to the fact that this app’s purpose isn’t to monitor, but rather to teach children good device habits and accountability as well as personal responsibility. Thank you for all of your effort and hard work! Developer Response,What an amazing review. We just circulated this around the office for the whole team to see, it's feedback like this that keeps our team working hard day in and day out. Thank you so much for your honest take on OurPact, and genuine appreciation!
This certainly is a challenging space, but we do our best to keep the app as simple and user-friendly as possible. We're so, so happy that we have helped you and your family balance tech. Thank YOU for your support, and for joining us in our mission to keep screens in their place.;) (Also - PS - We have your mentioned features in our request log already, but we will add these notes as tallies!). SHubbard385, Works great!I absolutely love this app! I have been using it since 2016. Some apps never add new features but the developers keep coming up with more things that make my life easier and give me peace of mind. I love the new geofencing feature.
My daughter tends to become a bit obsessed with her electronics and it’s helpful to eliminate the distracting apps during times that she needs to do homework or access to apps that can help her in daily activities. Maybe you can develop an adult version that I can use so I won’t get distracted by my phone too.:) I suppose I could add my own phone to the managed devices.My daughter has some complaints though. You may not be able to do anything about this.
She was was wondering if you could make an exception for apps that use time for the time allowance. She loves to listen to music but it uses her allowance. She also gets very upset when she forgets to pause her time for her allowance and she runs out of time. I’m just passing these on. She has other options for music when she’s at home.
The rest just involves being willing to communicate her needs and wants in an appropriate way to me to get more time. She’s still figuring this one out.Thanks for developing a great app!
I look forward to seeing all of the features you will come up with in the future.
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