Grown-up guide to parental controls

Fall is here! The leaves are changing and so is your routine. With school in full swing, it’s inevitable that your kids will be using the Internet more for homework (or procrastination). That doesn’t mean you should have to worry about what they’re doing online. Today, we’re excited to introduce new ways to prioritize safety and quality time at home through Plume. You can now create profiles for each family member–not just the kids, filter age-appropriate content, block ads, and enable enhanced security through the HomePass app. We designed these features with your family’s digital health in mind, allowing you to practice and reinforce good habits. We think this is a whole family affair–if you lead by example and moderate your own activity, your kids may be less resentful when they lose Internet privileges. The best part? All of this comes included in your HomePass membership. Keep Track of People at Home Internet usage isn’t one-size-fits-all, so we created People at Home. You can create profiles for each member of your household and assign devices that belong to them. Now, it’s easier than ever to set permissions for individuals, allowing you to customize schedules, pause Internet access, and see when each person was last home and online. Encourage Healthier Habits There are many questionable websites out there. HomePass' content filters allow you to restrict content that’s inappropriate for kids, teenager, and adults. You’ll also be able to block or allow specific websites. The HomePass app gives you real-time visibility into every site that has been blocked, so you can see the protection happening in the background. There are also ways to manage time spent online. You may be familiar with our Schedule Internet Freeze option that lets you schedule offline hours during windows like bedtime and dinner time. We’ve added another option called Time Out, which lets you instantly create a 15- or 30-minute time-out for a person or device. More time spent on Fortnite than Algebra homework? We have an app for that! Time Out is your new best friend, forcing a break from the game action when you decide. A Safer Online Experience Finally, we’re introducing new ways to improve network safety. With the growing number of smart devices at home, online attacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated. We’re introducing a new option called Online Protect that blocks phishing, spam, malware, botnets and other harmful attacks. Think of it like a home security system for your network. You may turn on these settings across the household, certain devices, or for individual users. The inundation of ads online is annoying at best, and maddening at worst. Ads slow down page load times and create clutter, making it more difficult to read the content you care about. With our beta version of Ad Blocking, you can instantly turn off ads for the devices and people you choose.

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We hope these new security and content filter tools help you improve the quality of time spent at home, both online and off. For more details on how to activate these features, visit our website. This is the first of many exciting security and personalization updates coming your way. We can’t wait to hear what you think!