Item: SimpleSentinel
Rating: 5
Author: Jeff & Samantha P.

Question 1

Every parental control on your child's iPhone, brought into one dashboard. New apps, websites, and contacts wait for your approval, each with a plain-language risk report. We check every app update and alert you when something changes that you'd care about. You set the rules once; we keep watch; you always decide.

Accepted Answer

Every parental control on your child's iPhone, brought into one dashboard. New apps, websites, and contacts wait for your approval, each with a plain-language risk report. We check every app update and alert you when something changes that you'd care about. You set the rules once; we keep watch; you always decide.

Question 2

No: Apple doesn't let any app read another app's content. Instead of watching what happens inside apps, SimpleSentinel controls what reaches your child in the first place, and tells you the facts about every app before you say yes. Prevention at the door, not surveillance inside.

Accepted Answer

No: Apple doesn't let any app read another app's content. Instead of watching what happens inside apps, SimpleSentinel controls what reaches your child in the first place, and tells you the facts about every app before you say yes. Prevention at the door, not surveillance inside.

Question 3

Every iPhone has two levels of control built in. "Screen Time" is the familiar one, and it's the level that any app-only tool can use. The deeper level, "supervision," is what schools use to manage their devices, and it unlocks what others can't offer: blocking new apps until you approve them, holding updates for review, and protection your child can't delete. SimpleSentinel is built to use both levels.

Accepted Answer

Every iPhone has two levels of control built in. "Screen Time" is the familiar one, and it's the level that any app-only tool can use. The deeper level, "supervision," is what schools use to manage their devices, and it unlocks what others can't offer: blocking new apps until you approve them, holding updates for review, and protection your child can't delete. SimpleSentinel is built to use both levels.

Question 4

Apple requires a one-time, wired connection to enable supervision, so no one can ever impose it on a phone remotely. That's a security feature, and it's also the dividing line: no app that skips the wire can do these things. You do it once, on any Windows PC or Mac, about 20 to 30 minutes hands-on, and never again. You can also start without it: the phone-only level sets up in about ten minutes and you can upgrade it whenever you're ready.

Accepted Answer

Apple requires a one-time, wired connection to enable supervision, so no one can ever impose it on a phone remotely. That's a security feature, and it's also the dividing line: no app that skips the wire can do these things. You do it once, on any Windows PC or Mac, about 20 to 30 minutes hands-on, and never again. You can also start without it: the phone-only level sets up in about ten minutes and you can upgrade it whenever you're ready.

Question 5

No. Setup backs up the entire phone to your own computer first. Photos, messages, contacts, and app data all come back. Apps return through your informed review: ones that fit your rules restore automatically, and anything questionable is held with a risk report so you decide. It's the same phone, minus the things you never would have approved.

Accepted Answer

No. Setup backs up the entire phone to your own computer first. Photos, messages, contacts, and app data all come back. Apps return through your informed review: ones that fit your rules restore automatically, and anything questionable is held with a risk report so you decide. It's the same phone, minus the things you never would have approved.

Question 6

With Full Control, protection is attached to the phone: it survives restarts and updates, can't be deleted, and can't be switched off in Settings. A full factory erase does remove it, but it can't happen quietly: you're alerted immediately, and your child is left with an empty phone that needs you to set it up again. Erasing doesn't defeat SimpleSentinel; it announces itself.

Accepted Answer

With Full Control, protection is attached to the phone: it survives restarts and updates, can't be deleted, and can't be switched off in Settings. A full factory erase does remove it, but it can't happen quietly: you're alerted immediately, and your child is left with an empty phone that needs you to set it up again. Erasing doesn't defeat SimpleSentinel; it announces itself.

Question 7

The backup stays on your computer, never our servers. Inappropriate-image detection runs on the phone itself using Apple's own technology, so photos never leave the device. Our servers hold your family's rules and approval requests, never the contents of the phone. We don't sell data and we don't run ads. We can't lose what we never hold.

Accepted Answer

The backup stays on your computer, never our servers. Inappropriate-image detection runs on the phone itself using Apple's own technology, so photos never leave the device. Our servers hold your family's rules and approval requests, never the contents of the phone. We don't sell data and we don't run ads. We can't lose what we never hold.

Question 8

Screen time limits, downtime and bedtime schedules, web filtering with your choice of strictness, location with "made it safely" arrival alerts, contact management, purchase approvals, and a community danger database where human-verified warnings from other parents reach every family.

Accepted Answer

Screen time limits, downtime and bedtime schedules, web filtering with your choice of strictness, location with "made it safely" arrival alerts, contact management, purchase approvals, and a community danger database where human-verified warnings from other parents reach every family.

Question 9

No, you're halfway there. SimpleSentinel builds on what you've set up and brings it into one place, then adds what the built-ins don't offer: risk reports with every request, update alerts, and protection that doesn't fall to a guessed passcode.

Accepted Answer

No, you're halfway there. SimpleSentinel builds on what you've set up and brings it into one place, then adds what the built-ins don't offer: risk reports with every request, update alerts, and protection that doesn't fall to a guessed passcode.

Question 10

Your child's iPhone needs iOS 17 or later (iPhone XS and newer, back to 2018), so hand-me-downs are welcome. The parent app runs on iOS 16 or later, and setup works from any Windows PC or Mac. Android support is on the future roadmap.

Accepted Answer

Your child's iPhone needs iOS 17 or later (iPhone XS and newer, back to 2018), so hand-me-downs are welcome. The parent app runs on iOS 16 or later, and setup works from any Windows PC or Mac. Android support is on the future roadmap.

Question 11

One price covers your whole family: every kid, every device, no per-child charges, ever. Full Control is $149 a year (or $16.99 monthly). That's the wired level: approval over every new app, updates held for your review, and protection your child can't remove. The only other way to get control like this is a locked-down replacement phone at $300 to $1,000 a year, per child. Full Control does it on the iPhone your child already has. Watch is $49 a year (or $5.99 monthly). It sets up from your phone in about ten minutes: every control in one dashboard, risk reports, and update alerts. Start here, upgrade to Full Control whenever you're ready, and your settings carry over. Founding families: the first 1,000 families lock in Full Control at $99 a year, and keep that price for as long as you stay subscribed.

Accepted Answer

One price covers your whole family: every kid, every device, no per-child charges, ever. Full Control is $149 a year (or $16.99 monthly). That's the wired level: approval over every new app, updates held for your review, and protection your child can't remove. The only other way to get control like this is a locked-down replacement phone at $300 to $1,000 a year, per child. Full Control does it on the iPhone your child already has. Watch is $49 a year (or $5.99 monthly). It sets up from your phone in about ten minutes: every control in one dashboard, risk reports, and update alerts. Start here, upgrade to Full Control whenever you're ready, and your settings carry over. Founding families: the first 1,000 families lock in Full Control at $99 a year, and keep that price for as long as you stay subscribed.

Question 12

Start with whichever matches your next ten minutes. Watch gets you real visibility today with no computer, and most families use it to see what's actually on the phone before deciding. Full Control is for when you want the rules to hold even when you're not looking. Both come with the full 7-day trial, and moving between them never means starting over.

Accepted Answer

Start with whichever matches your next ten minutes. Watch gets you real visibility today with no computer, and most families use it to see what's actually on the phone before deciding. Full Control is for when you want the rules to hold even when you're not looking. Both come with the full 7-day trial, and moving between them never means starting over.

Question 13

The phone-only level sets up in about ten minutes, so you'll see real value on the first day of your trial, before ever plugging in a cable.

Accepted Answer

The phone-only level sets up in about ten minutes, so you'll see real value on the first day of your trial, before ever plugging in a cable.

Question 14

We never trap a family, and we never yank protection out from under a child. If a payment fails, nothing changes for 30 days: full protection continues while we remind you to update your card. If you cancel, your service runs through the period you've paid for, and your child's protections stay quietly in place rather than suddenly opening up; they just stop updating. Returning the phone to completely normal use is your choice, any time, in two ways: instantly from your parent app, which lifts every rule remotely in about a minute, or completely, with one guided session that removes every trace of management from the phone. Nothing about leaving requires our permission or a support ticket.

Accepted Answer

We never trap a family, and we never yank protection out from under a child. If a payment fails, nothing changes for 30 days: full protection continues while we remind you to update your card. If you cancel, your service runs through the period you've paid for, and your child's protections stay quietly in place rather than suddenly opening up; they just stop updating. Returning the phone to completely normal use is your choice, any time, in two ways: instantly from your parent app, which lifts every rule remotely in about a minute, or completely, with one guided session that removes every trace of management from the phone. Nothing about leaving requires our permission or a support ticket.

Question 15

Apple's account-based controls do wind down with age: purchase approvals end at 18, and an adult child can leave Family Sharing. But the deeper protection SimpleSentinel uses is tied to the phone, not a birthday, so it never silently expires. That's by design, and it's why we built a graduation path instead: as your child matures, loosen the rules stage by stage, and when they're ready, return the phone to fully independent use in one guided step. The goal was never control forever. It's a kid who no longer needs it.

Accepted Answer

Apple's account-based controls do wind down with age: purchase approvals end at 18, and an adult child can leave Family Sharing. But the deeper protection SimpleSentinel uses is tied to the phone, not a birthday, so it never silently expires. That's by design, and it's why we built a graduation path instead: as your child matures, loosen the rules stage by stage, and when they're ready, return the phone to fully independent use in one guided step. The goal was never control forever. It's a kid who no longer needs it.

Coming Soon!