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Having a 4 year old son I am the first person to put my hand up and say I absolutely HATE ads and general in-app purchases for games that he likes to play on my

• OriginalPenguin 9y ago
  I don't have any suggestion for an iPhone. But Humble Bundle has had fantastic ad-free bundles of games, where you pay what you want. Maybe get your four year old a cheap Android phone or tablet and some Humble Bundled games? Then you won't have ads, and if your child breaks the device, at least it wasn't your iPhone.
  • apapli 9y ago
    Looks good. Definitely something to consider. I agree it would be nice to have an alternative to my iPhone, I fear it is only a matter of time before we have lots of tears and a broken screen.... :)
• manmal 9y ago
  Most ads don't work without a connection, so for games that allow it, I just disable Wifi on my son's iPad. Works great for e.g. Zombie Tsunami, it's actually a way better experience without wifi.
  • apapli 9y ago
    Ha. Awesome idea. I'll check it out!
  • asadlionpk 9y ago
    This hack works. I wish there was way to disable internet for some apps. I am sure that's possible on android.
    • gambiting 9y ago
      Not without rooting it isn't. I don't think even Android 7.0 has an option to disable internet access on per-app basis - you can disable most permissions, but accessing the internet does not require a special permission(there used to be an INTERNET permission but it has been removed by Google)
      • Bakary 9y ago
        >(there used to be an INTERNET permission but it has been removed by Google) Can't say I'm too surprised by this development. I am surprised they were magnanimous enough to give it in the first place.
        • NTripleOne 9y ago
          It was likely implemented before google took over android.
          • jeeva 9y ago
            It seems unlikely, given that the permissions system (if we're talking being able to approve certain permissions only, per app) only came in a relatively recent version of Android (definitely >3).
      • edgartaor 9y ago
        There's a way. A firewall, that work as a local VPN. You don't need to root your Android. I use NetGuard. https://www.netguard.me https://www.netguard.me It's open source.
• mentalpiracy 9y ago
  Maybe set up a Pi-hole at home and filter your network ad traffic, specifically for your kids devices?
  • apapli 9y ago
    Thanks foir the suggestion. He just uses my iPhone which I lock, but if disabling wifi doesn't work I'll try this approach instead.
• shurcooL 9y ago
  For a game suggestion, I'll mention "Re-Volt Classic" [1]. It's a very high quality port of an old PC game. It runs beautifully on today's mobile devices, and the game is really well made IMO. Be careful not to get Re-Volt 2/3/etc., they're awful modern micro-transaction clones. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1OH4ZKr1iY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1OH4ZKr1iY
  • apapli 9y ago
    Awesome suggestion, video looks great, will be buying it soon. Thanks :)
  • NTripleOne 9y ago
    Oh wow, thanks for this, I loved revolt on the PS1 as a kid (that menu music tho <3) and have played the far superior PC version on and off over the years since.
• PakG1 9y ago
  That's funny. I remember not being allowed to go to Chuck E Cheese's or play carnival games that offered prizes for the same reason, parents didn't want priming for casino visiting. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.
  • gmac 9y ago
    I often wonder if this kind of extreme parenting is more or less likely to result in the negative consequences the parents are trying to avoid. One could hypothesize that, having never learned to enjoy a pleasure in moderation, a person might be more vulnerable to going off the rails with it later on. Anecdotally, the friends I have that are most prone to binging on sugary things are the ones who were never allowed sugar as kids.
    • apapli 9y ago
      Maybe, but having a 4 year old I'm happy to be called a helicopter parent with regards to casino type content. When he is older, yes I'll need to pull back a bit :)
      • rhaps0dy 9y ago
        Would it work to explain to him why casinos are bad? "Games that are like this (point to app), like casinos, have "random" endings. "Random" means that sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, and if you were to play many many times, and count the number of times you win and the number of times you lose, they would stay at similar levels. For example, you win two times for every one time you lose. But, here's the trick: these games are made so that they trick people, even very smart people, into thinking they win more often than they lose, but they actually don't! These games take over your brain and make you think things that are not true. And if you let them do that, you will lose more often than you win, so overall you will lose and that is bad. So it is best to stay away." Your kid will also learn about probability!
• jeffhuys 9y ago
  Hey, you can lock certain parts of the screen from touch on the iPhone. It locks the phone inside an app and you can define "dead" parts of the screen, really handy.
  • apapli 9y ago
    Thanks, yes I've done that. Works well in keeping him off youtube/my work email etc. The kid lock is great, unfortunately doesn't stop the ads.
    • tripzilch 9y ago
      it's crazy that a kids mode wouldn't affect ads. in some countries it's illegal to advertise to children, and in many others there's at least strict rules on what you can and cannot advertise to children.
• RickS 9y ago
  If the game can be played offline, just turn off wifi and you can disable cellular data on a per-app basis with settings > cellular > use cellular data for (toggle) I use this to disable ads and upgrade posts in angry birds, and it works very well.
• huhtenberg 9y ago
  Set up a DNS proxy, point your son's iPad at it, tail the log and then blacklist domains that serve these ads. Bonus, this can also be used to remove YouTube and other kinds of ads as well as all the phone-home "analytics" if that's your thing. -- Edit -- Some options: http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html + ToDo's via Google https://github.com/apankrat/dnswhisperer https://github.com/apankrat/dnswhisperer or more generally https://github.com/search?utf8=&q=ad+blocking+dns https://github.com/search?utf8=&q=ad+blocking+dns There are also 3rd party services that provide this function. They have obvious privacy issues, but for a kid's iPad it might be an option.
  • deecewan 9y ago
    +1 for Pi-Hole for this sort of thing. Comes with pre-built lists of sites, and has a nice admin ui to handle blocks/allows.
  • lucasverra 9y ago
    Also, the kid and father could pihole the shait out of it. I know i really want to do it. Q: About ad blocking dns projects in general, what's the downside ? (beside jeopardizing the future of the internets)
    • ybrah 9y ago
      Making people who have passive ad income upset enough to tell people not to use it but in a non confrontational way
    • guelo 9y ago
      The same downside as adblockers: some websites will break or block you.
  • apapli 9y ago
    Wow, thanks!
  • seanp2k2 9y ago
    The thing you want for this is called Privoxy. There are scripts out there to convert e.g. Easylist to Privoxy format. It should take less than an hour to get it all going.
• mmjaa 9y ago
  My kids love The Land of Venn series: https://itunes.apple.com/at/app-bundle/learn-master-geometrical-shapes-addition-math-facts/id1038960636?l=en&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/at/app-bundle/learn-master-geometri...
  • apapli 9y ago
    Thanks, will check them out :)
• ObeyTheGuts 9y ago
  Protecting ur kid from reality will make him loser! You should not be alowed custody of your son!
• SoreGums 9y ago
  Hmm, I installed sonic on Android, first screen that popped up before getting into the game was "give money to get rid of ads". So maybe install it and pay for it :)
• stuaxo 9y ago
  I'd pay 20 quid, it's a huge catalogue (though they probably have extracted most of the revenue already).
• vog 9y ago
  It seems to me that Sega pulled an interesting instance of the well-known fallacy "Works for Google, so it will work for us". (Not sure if there is a short name for this. "Google fallacy"?) Usually, the fallacy is more along mimicking technical details such as using a commodity hardware server setup or introducing high-scalability technology into early software stacks. However, seeing the same fallacy applied to ads, at such a large scale, is new to me.
  • emodendroket 9y ago
    Free games on phones with obnoxious ads is new to you? And you associate it with Google?
• intromatt 9y ago
  Perhaps you could setup Pihole and blacklist Sega's advertising domains?
• TomNomNom 9y ago
  My 3.5 year old loves Monument Valley. It's not something I thought he would have been capable of playing - and he does sometimes "need some help to win" - but he downloaded it himself on Kindle Fire for Kids Unlimited and just started playing it. The Kids Unlimited thing has been great. All the apps are included in the monthly price, there's no ads, no in-app purchases, and all the games and apps are vetted to be child-safe. It's amazing to watch him download stuff and figure out how to play it without any help.
  • Baeocystin 9y ago
    Thanks for making me aware of it. I've been looking for something to get my 6-year-old nephew that can be set up to be kid safe, and I hadn't really thought about the Fire tablets until now. How's their durability?
    • johnwards 9y ago
      Rock solid. We've have had 2 fire 7's in our house for 1.5 years, in the hands of a now 8 and 6 year old and no issues. Things are covered in gunk (like how they manage the touch screen is beyond me), and they keep going. I don't use unlimited, I've side loaded play store, set age range, enabled full parental controls on play store and on the tablet themselves... They have full control, but web is blocked etc. Play store is great, tells them they need to uninstall things to install the next game. They don't need my interaction to install X or Y now. They did manage to download an app that let them have full access to unfiltered youtube, but we caught that pretty quick. YouTube kids is great as well.
      • Baeocystin 9y ago
        Sounds great. Thanks for taking the time to answer, I appreciate it!
    • TomNomNom 9y ago
      The durability has been really good. We've just got a regular Kindle Fire with a Kids profile on it; it's taken a real beating and shown no issues. The Kids Edition of the tablet is more expensive, but comes with a very rugged case and a "If they break it, we'll replace it. No questions asked" guarantee for the first couple of years.
• LoSboccacc 9y ago
  > Having a 4 year old son > games that he likes to play on my iPhone Dude those thing are psychological traps aimed to break a 30yo-something will, what do you think they'll do to a 4yo?
  • throwaway7645 9y ago
    This is important for parents to note. Teach your child about computing on a RaspPi where they'll actually learn real computing and not a walled device with a download button. I know they're convenient at a restaurant...etc, but they rigidly enforce instant gratification without much learning involved. I guess though it isn't super different than a Nintendo if taken with moderation, but I'd argue most of the games are less complicated in scope...more like slot machines than something with an engaging story and strategy. They also have an infinite amount of games at their fingertips instead of I'm bored with "x", time to go play.
    • LoSboccacc 9y ago
      Well I think some gaming is okish, with moderation and even as a time-off for parents, but at that age socializing should be the primary activity, and that includes making a scene in public and facing the consequences. That said there are plenty games suitable for children that aren't manipulative iap-infested swamps. sure you have to pay those, but destroying reward centers of kids that age isn't worth the saving from freemiums.
      • throwaway7645 9y ago
        Agreed
    • kstenerud 9y ago
      Welcome to parenthood. You even sound like the parents of the 80s and 90s now. Before that it was too much TV. Before that it was too much radio. In Victorian times it was reading too many books. Kids of today will always be kids of today, doing the things that they do instead of the things that you nostalgically remember doing. Even Socrates noted that.
• Eun 9y ago
  I use the AdBlock app for iOS, it sets up a dummy VPN that blocks a lot of ad servers. Works pretty well. https://www.adblockios.com/ https://www.adblockios.com/
• harel 9y ago
  I've just downloaded a couple of games, and I do have the option to buy for £1.99, an ad free version.
• morganvachon 9y ago
  The ads are insane. Want to save your progress (even in games with built in save mechanics in the original cart)? You have to watch an ad. Want to progress to the next level? Watch an ad. Want to progress past an in-level save point? Watch an ad. It completely removes the player from the game and makes it tedious to play. I mean, I guess I'm happy they are releasing these at all, but they need to come up with a better way to serve ads that doesn't defeat the purpose of the game itself (quick bouts of fun).
  • emodendroket 9y ago
    Am I reading the discussion wrong or do they offer you a two-dollar no-ads option? Because for that price it seems like a no-brainer.
    • morganvachon 9y ago
      Until I see reports that it truly is "no ads" in the purchased version, I'll hold off. I've been burned too many times by the "pay full price to remove ads" only to get more ads.
• afro88 9y ago
  You should definitely report the game to Apple. Games have ratings, and a guy holding a girl in a headlock with a gun pointed to her head is depiction of violence and likely not 4+ age friendly. Apple are the only people that can force the game to change it's ad inventory.
  • DanBC 9y ago
    I've done that before, and no-one cares. The app had an age rating of 4+, it kept showing alcohol ads. I told Apple, who did nothing, I told the app maker who did nothing, and I reported it to the UK regulator who told me the ad network was using demographics, not app age ratings, to deliver ads. Since the phone owner had a credit card the ad network "knew" the person using the phone was over 18. I pointed out as politely as I could how fucking stupid that was, and the regulator is now "working with" the industry to try to fix this.
• Shivetya 9y ago
  On the App store when browsing the various apps with in-app purchases you can get a history of the popular purchases. Needless to say I am quite astonished at how rapidly the in-app purchase price increases. From simple 99 cent purchases to 99 dollars. The ability to make in-app purchases needs to be turned off by default rather than buried three levels down in iOS
• mysterydip 9y ago
  The in-app purchase says "remove non-SEGA adverts" which sounds like you'll still see ads even after paying, which seems shady to me. Second, I've got a retro arcade collection on iOS/android that might be a bit harder for the 4yo but has some games he can play. My niece likes "pong" and "duck hunt". Check my website for more info. I'm working on a graphics revamp as well. I have a second game (on iOS only) that's free called "tic tac blam" that might be easier for them to pick up. I'd appreciate feedback on either one.
  • cableshaft 9y ago
    Well if it's Sega ads it'll probably just be ads for future free games you can download, or possibly for their console game releases. As long as the frequency is much less, that's might not be too bad, and possibly useful.
    • mysterydip 9y ago
      Right, but it's still odd since most people would expect all ads to be removed if they pay.
• DanBC 9y ago
  > I'd welcome some suggestions of games he can play, The BBC have some games under the CBeebies brand. LEGO have a few which are somewhat enjoyable. Dogbyte have "blocky highways" (and when he's a bit older "blocky roads").
• casca 9y ago
  Jailbroken iPhones can get FirewallIP[1] which offers Little Snitch functionality where domains and IP addresses can be allowed or denied for each app, triggered by the App's request to access a resource. Android briefly had WhisperMonitor[2] but that was killed when WhisperSystems was puchased by Twitter. [1] http://cydia.saurik.com/package/com.yllier.firewall7/ http://cydia.saurik.com/package/com.yllier.firewall7/ [2] http://www.androidauthority.com/worlds-first-true-firewall-for-android-just-launched-13701/ http://www.androidauthority.com/worlds-first-true-firewall-f...
• EA 9y ago
  I downloaded Sonic the Hedgehog this past weekend. My 3-year-old son was really intrigued as he watched me play. Within a few minutes, he wanted to play. The mechanics of a the game are a little difficult for him, however, the ads made the game almost unplayable for him. "Finding the 'X'" (to exit out of an ad) is now a mini-game within a game. That said, SEGA got $1.99 out of me really quickly. $2 is a killer deal for sense of nostalgia, let alone a fine video game. My son was talking about Sonic the Hedgehog at the breakfast table the next morning.
  • LordKano 9y ago
    My son is 5 and I let him play Sonic on an emulator. He was hooked almost immediately.
• Mahn 9y ago
  Excuse me if I sound intolerant but, do kids really need to play mobile games? I don't understand why most parents are happy to hand over an iPhone to their kid, then complain that their games are constantly trying to syphon money. Just find something else to keep them distracted then, get a second hand gameboy for example.
  • deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  • moovacha 9y ago
    Nope they dont. In fact it has shown to slow their development (social, mechanical, physical, speech). Kids should be playing in the real world for a long time before they are exposed to the virtual world. But so often parents make these decisions based on nostaliga ("Oh look my 3 y/o son is playing Zelda just like I did when I was a kid")
• sonnyz 9y ago
  Some years back my wife and I decided to write a series of apps for toddlers that had zero ads, and absolutely no annoying sounds or music. We wanted to make something your kid could play quietly, without any help. The iPhone/iPad app version has been down for a while since we didn't profit enough off of it to continue paying the $100 annual apple developer fee. The Amazon version is still up if you want to see what we had in mind. It's called "Quiet Toddler Games for Tablets" when you search under Apps. I still like the concept, it's too bad that it didn't really pick up.
• mintplant 9y ago
  For those with rooted Android phones, AdAway (available from F-Droid) does a good job of blocking in-app ads in my experience.