12 ms·

Ignore No More – lock your child's device until they call you back

76 points by juliann 12y ago

ck2 12y ago
Very very clever. Grew up before mobile phones existed so it is hard to relate but I guess if a kid has to have a phone, this helps. Of course nothing stops the kid from lying to their parents which I guess 99% of all kids do.
jacquesm 12y ago
Kids will have to explain to their parents how to install it. Or show them how they removed it.
DoubleMalt 12y ago
I like these projects to get more children interested in hacking!
tinco 12y ago
Looks great! one thing, you have a nice carousel going on, and maybe I'm a slow reader but I had to make it go back to the last slide three times before I finished reading it. Consider either making the carousel change slower or better yet, make the story vertical.
jpfielding 12y ago
if you have this problem with your child, an app is not the solution. you have serious discipline problems.
- Broken_Hippo 12y ago
  I agree the app isn't a solution to disicpline problems, but the problem of a child not calling back is not really a discipline issue. If you have proper trust and be sure to not over-check the child, this isn't as much of an issue - 'hey, that's my mom, she doesn't usually call, i better answer this' is Very easy when the kid has proof. It is also pretty easy to talk to a child to see why they might not have called back and explain why answering from parents is important It also seems that perhaps parents should try switching to text or whatever the child's preferred method of communication - being flexible might bring better responses. None of this is due to actual discipline problems, just miscommunication or inflexible parenting.
  - aurelius 12y ago
    I don't think you or jpfielding have any real experience raising kids. That's pretty clear from your smug assumption that children are reasonable people who will see the error of their ways if only their parents took the time to explain it to them and pander to whatever way the child wants to go about subverting parental authority. Let me clue you into reality. When kids pop out, they are uncivilized savages. It takes a good 25 years (on average) before they stop acting like savages and start resembling a reasonable human being. A reasonable person does not require an explanation as to why answering a call from a parent is important, they just answer it because they are reasonable and civilized and know automatically that answering such a call is the right thing to do in the civilized world. A reasonable person also does not require others to pander to their "preferred method of communication", they just pick up the phone and deal with whatever's on the other end. Teenagers with phones are like hungry cavemen with shotguns. There has to be a way to pull the plug before things get out of hand and dumb stuff happens. This app is part of the solution. If a teenager's trumped up, uncivilized sense of independence is telling them to disrespect their parents and not answer their call, then this app is a useful tool for parents. The correct mode of operation, of course, is to prompt the child to call their parents so the parents can then tell the child that they're coming to pick them up immediately, and to have the phone ready to hand in because they're never going to see it again. The child should also prepare to have their wings clipped. Unreasonable savagery can not be made civilized through reasonable discussion. That's why economic sanctions, bombs falling from airplanes, and smartphone crippling apps are still effective tools for civilized people.
    - king_jester 12y ago
      How ageist of you. Teens are savages and not really people, so it is totally cool if we walk all over their autonomy as people and dehumanize them.
    - xorcist 12y ago
      It's strange. Everyone who's had a child is an expert on parenting. Yours is just one data point. Here's another: it's perfectly possible to actually trust teenagers without regarding them as savages, while still catching the bad stuff that inevitably happens. Different cultures tend to raise their kids differently. Many North American disciplinary actions are downright illegal here. Our kids still turn out fine.
inglesp 12y ago
Shouldn't parenting be about trust?
- blueskin_ 12y ago
  Agreed. Also, going to be funny when they work out how to uninstall it.
  - ElliotH 12y ago
    Hell, uninstalling is mild. Set the parent phone to a child phone and vice versa, all you need is to guess that password. I wonder if it's the same as their email account?
    - blueskin_ 12y ago
      From their FAQ, looks like that would need you to deregister and reregister the phone. Still, as in my experience most parents (mine and others I'm familiar with) leave their phones lying around without a password so much of the time (or else likely use weak ones such as their date of birth or similar), that isn't exactly hard. I've also accidentally shoulder surfed dozens of random people's (patterns on android are particularly easy as by default it shows the full trace; ios7 is also easy as the buttons are very high contrast) where I had zero intention to just because they aren't careful about who can see the screen when they unlock. Of course, given the poor security of so many mobile apps, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a way to reverse engineer the protocol to lock a 'parent' phone. Then, of course, the child can feign ignorance with "but I thought that wasn't possible".
- aurelius 12y ago
  I don't trust unreasonable savages. Neither should you.
blueskin_ 12y ago
Products like this are great, as they teach children how to get around stupid arbitrary restrictions from a young age, so are less likely to end up as drooling passive consumers poking at a tablet and more likely to become hackers.
- walterbell 12y ago
  danah boyd has a (free) book on the responses of teens to network parenting, http://www.danah.org/itscomplicated/ http://www.danah.org/itscomplicated/ Edit: corrected name capitalization
  - untothebreach 12y ago
    Huh, I have never seen this, thanks! (OT nitpick: her name is actually 'danah boyd' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danah_Boyd#Early_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danah_Boyd#Early_life)
    - walterbell 12y ago
      Thanks for pointing that out, fixed.
    - mseebach 12y ago
      OT nitpick: It's not actually her name, it's the name she prefers for political and aesthetical reasons, and the most civil and polite thing to do is to accommodate that preference. But her actual name is Danah Boyd, just like Snoop Doggs actual name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
      - untothebreach 12y ago
        from http://www.danah.org/name.html http://www.danah.org/name.html: in the summer of 2000, i finally had legal paperwork acknowledging my name as i saw fit: danah michele boyd
walterbell 12y ago
Ransomware improves parent-child communication? Better: analytics dashboard on latency of response. Suppression of emotional signals (response latency) is unlikely to improve communication and could lead to second-order consequences "If you treat me like ___, I will behave like ___".
tux3 12y ago
Wow that's disgusting.
jzwinck 12y ago
Danger: the front page says the child will always be able to call "first responders," but the FAQ reveals that 911 is the only built-in one which the child cannot change. If you live outside the US, 911 may not work, leaving your child unable to dial emergency services. Adding 112 and 999 to the list would help, but perhaps it's better to just let the kid call whomever they like, and just block "fun" things like texting and other apps. After all, if your kid is out with friends and gets a bit lost, the best person to call will be one of those friends, not the police.
- KJasper 12y ago
  The app is only available in the US appstore for now.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - blueskin_ 12y ago
    Because restricting to GeoIP really works well, right? Oh wait, even many users know how to use a proxy to get Iplayer/Pandora/Netflix from another country - there are even dedicated products for this purpose.
    - ceejayoz 12y ago
      Apple handles the restriction, not via GeoIP, but via the credit card attached to the account.
- ElliotH 12y ago
  Hilariously, there's actually nothing stopping the kid phoning whoever they want. It's controlled by a contact group on the phone, that the child device can edit at will. Step 1 would be to add all friends to that group.
  - brational 12y ago
    Ha. I guess I'll put it on my son's phone and tell him that there is a "solution" to fully defeat the app. Make a game out of it. (and I'll tell him Mom won't know) PS this is how you build trust with your kids.
rrrx3 12y ago
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOUNG MAN? WHY WERE YOU IGNORING MY CALLS? checks GPS log, sees school does child's homework for him applies to college for him goes on job interviews for him
- untothebreach 12y ago
  you forgot, wipes butt for him
  - rrrx3 12y ago
    I thought that was implied :)
- waterfowl 12y ago
  god mom at this rate you're not going to close my Series A for me by 14
- pavel_lishin 12y ago
  > goes on job interviews for him One of my previous employers regaled me with a tale of a parent coming in for an interview with their child. Needless to say, neither got the job.
martiuk 12y ago
The perfect app for helicopter parenting, be sure to tell your child you don't trust them as they leave the door. I'm sure this would be a good product commercially. The FAQ is a bit jarring, most of it seems to be self praise.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  >The perfect app for helicopter parenting // Alternatively the perfect app to allow you to let your children have freedom to go out by themselves but still to coerce response when it's needed. It seems a reasonable quid pro quo to me - I give you this tool which is the pinnacle of consumer communication devices but if I need to talk to you then it's locked until you respond. Doesn't it mean that children who aren't so trustworthy get the benefit of being allowed out when otherwise they wouldn't?
michaelmior 12y ago
I haven't tried it, but isn't this trivial to disable by just booting into safe mode and uninstalling the app?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- blueskin_ 12y ago
  Yep. With root, you can even just disable administrators without allowing them to hijack the attempt. Actually, letting apps hijack the normal disabling of their administrative functions is a massive vuln, as then any piece of malware can do that to prevent it from being removed. The funny thing is, Android's safe mode isn't that well publicised (I knew it existed, but would have to look up how to enter it), but if apps like this ever proliferated, it definitely would become well known. See how in the UK, since TPB got censored, there are now literally hundreds of reverse proxies available, and since the government pushed 'opt-out' censorship, there are now dozens of proxies explicitly marketed for defeating them, and more and more sites are switching to use TLS.
fidotron 12y ago
In my experience many adults (meaning everyone over 35 at this point) seem to have an irrational attachment to phone calls, when texting or email would suffice or be better. This is just a manifestation of that mentality. If you encourage your kid to text you it's much more likely they'll communicate, largely because it can be done quickly and discreetly. Given the problems I've heard about with app store purchases from parents in this target market there's zero chance of this actually working, and I'd be surprised if any parent in the target group even believes it would work either.
jasonkester 12y ago
Language is weird, and it's always interesting to see the way people spell things that they've only ever heard, often picking completely different words to construct sentences that sound kinda right but don't actually make any sense with the words they've used (there's a guy here who says "properly" whenever he means to say "probably" for instance). This is the first time I've seen anybody substitute their own made up word (notta') for nada though.
cpwright 12y ago
Or you take their phone away when they don't call you back; or ground them. It seems to me that having an enforced version of that won't actually promote responsible behavior as much as more traditional punishments.
steventhedev 12y ago
While it's nice to see other applications using the Device Administrator's API, I fail to see what advantage this provides over Google's implementation [1]. [1]: https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager
dm2 12y ago
If you thought your kids didn't like you before, wait until you install something like this on their phone. Emotions are weird, if you're sitting around worrying about your child then you need a hobby. If it's really a problem that your child goes somewhere without texting you if you asked them to then don't let them go out next time. If they are in college and don't answer your calls, then leave them alone, find something else to do, send them an email if you need to inform them of something or have something you want to discuss. Kids go through weird phases, they lash out at parents for different reasons such as being unhappy with themselves or struggling to find purpose. Talk to them in person, ask difficult questions, if they don't have an answer, ask again later or ask different questions. Be a good roll-model by being calm, rational, humble, and honest. I can picture the mom who had the idea for this app, controlling, slightly crazy, comes off as bitchy. What if your significant other installed a similar app on your phone? Would piss you off, right? If you want to restrict the games kids play or the sites they visit on their phones, that's probably for the better, be sure to inform them of the logical reasons such as the fact that game companies exploit human psychology to create addiction and many apps upload private information that could harm them later in life. But locking their phones because they haven't called you back, I just can't see how that'll do anything but harm in the long-run. "Because I said so.", "Do as I say, not as I do.", "Say it, say I love you." If you kid doesn't answer their phone they are either in class, busy, have it on mute, in jail, dead, getting high, in a loud car, at a party with friends, having sex, eating somewhere, or they just don't want to talk to you at the moment. If they are in jail, they'll call you, if they're dead, then there is nothing you can do about it, you'll find out soon enough. In every other situation it's not that critical that you hear their voice, send them a text message and find something to do. It might just boil down to positive verses negative reinforcement. Just my 2 cents about actually using this product as a parent. Looking at it as an app idea, it's a good idea and looks well executed. I'm sure many parents will purchase it.
- unethical_ban 12y ago
  I find some of your content presumptuous, but overall, I agree that, if you tell a child to check in or be home at a certain time, this app won't solve insubordination. Either lock them in at home, have a real chat about it in person, etc., but this novel locking mechanism isn't going to solve the problem. >Emotions are weird, if you're sitting around worrying about your child then you need a hobby. If you're worried about your pre-teen while he/she is out roaming the city, you're a good parent. It doesn't mean you have to be freaking out all the time, but my parents cared enough to be concerned if I didn't check in at the deemed intervals.
exodust 12y ago
This app would put whatever rocky relationship I had with my mother on even rockier ground. The biggest flaw is that the child may not be ignoring the parent, but simply can't call at that time. Perhaps the kid's phone is in their bag or they are in class or something. To lock the kid's phone based on an assumption of guilt is like punishing the kid for not eating his vegetables before dinner is served.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
  Not to mention you may be preventing them from getting important help from other sources.
murbard2 12y ago
Another way to do it would be to stop offering a free phone plan, or free rent for that matter. What kind of self respect do you have if you're letting a teenager whose lifestyle you're subsidizing treat you like this?
dataminded 12y ago
The solution to poor parenting is not an app.
- yourad_io 12y ago
  but it could be PaaS
taternuts 12y ago
This is ridiculous - really more like "Teach your child how to jailbreak his device". I know this holds true of me, but I truly can't stand talking on the phone with anyone - I much prefer just a simple text message. My parents/baby-boomers can't stand this, in my experience - for some reason they need the actual call. I think this would be more effective if it unlocked after a text message back.
rational-future 12y ago
Hmmm, here's a business idea - install the app on as many phones as you can (remote exploits, free apps in stores) and demand monthly payments to keep them unlocked.
crunchcaptain 12y ago
The developer must have hired a great P.R. company because yesterday our local TV news was covering it. Now it's on HN!?! Read the FAQ and you'll get an idea of the brains (or lack thereof) behind this app: http://ignorenomoreapp.com/faq http://ignorenomoreapp.com/faq "Q: My child ignored my instructions and selected “OK” to the pop-up request to “Disable Device Admin”. How do I restore Ignore No More on their phone?" "A: I know, I know let me guess the child said, “It was an accident”. First you need to check to see if Ignore No More is still on their phone. If it is then that’s great news. All you have to do is select the device’s Settings icon>Security>Device (or Phone) Administrators where you will then see an empty box beside of Ignore No More Device Admin. Select the empty box; a pop-up will appear, select “Activate”. Ignore No More is now restored on the child’s phone. On the other hand, if the child deleted the app entirely from their phone you will need to download again from the app store."
xg15 12y ago
Q: Why won’t the message “Ignore No More!” go away once my child has used the password to unlock their phone? A: Don’t worry their phone is unlocked. “Ignore No More!” stays visible to your child to help you. The message is a constant reminder to them to answer your calls and texts or else you will lock their phone. If you don’t want to use this feature and want the message to go away, simply open up the parent My Household page and press “Unlock Phone” for that child. Once the child refreshes their screen the message will be gone. If you market to helicopter parents, that's one thing. If you market to parents who actively enjoy being mean to their children, you should maybe overthink your business model.
lttlrck 12y ago
Somewhat surprising there is no Facebook backlash yet... this is a horrible product.
philbarr 12y ago
What I find more interesting about this, besides the fact you can block your kids' phones, is the amount of effort put into the creation and marketing of it. I mean - as far as I can tell [0] this is the only app this person has done, but they've created the website, set up a company, and I even heard about this on the UK BBC news! And at the moment they only have about 100 downloads?! It would be interesting to hear the story behind this and how much this all cost. Does anyone know more? How did they manage to get such exposure on launch day/week? [0] reading http://ignorenomoreapp.com/mountaineer-technology-ventures http://ignorenomoreapp.com/mountaineer-technology-ventures
- ufmace 12y ago
  I'm seeing 5-10k installs on the Play store. Still not much for something that has caught this level of media attention.
- quaffapint 12y ago
  They should sell their marketing services rather than this app. To get such quick publicity for something like this, either they have great marketing skills, a bunch of $, or both. Either way, it would be nice to see how they did it.
diminoten 12y ago
I should come out with an app that disables this app, and charge something like $5 for it.
ck2 12y ago
I find the negativity about this surprising. I live in a low income area - you would wish many parents around here cared this much and would helicopter their kids. I fear many of them are doomed from the start. I think this app is a last resort measure, not like a block on computer use but if the kid is being bad about something to get them to respond.
- nknighthb 12y ago
  Being controlling is not the same thing as caring.
hluska 12y ago
It's very rare that an app inspires as much rage in me as this one has. I'm not sure if it is the over the top self praising tone of the FAQ, or the fact that this will be such an amazing tool for abusive parents, or the fact that this is a great way to condition children to obey unconditionally, but seriously, this app makes me irrationally angry. Some parents are assholes. Some kids have other things going on and don't need a helicopter constantly hovering over top of them. And some media outlets need to learn to be critical of the crap that they flog. Even if the FAQ included some child abuse/help lines, I'd be significantly less angry. But seriously, this app looks like a red flag for extraordinarily controlling parents. And, there is a bunch of research that indicates extremely controlling behaviour is a sign of abuse. What if, as an entire industry, we decide to always err on the side of protecting kids?? Sorry for the rant. I've edited this several times to tone things down, but this app makes me intensely angry. If there is any justice, the app store will remove this garbage.
StavrosK 12y ago
Hah, the FAQ reads like you're trying to keep pests out of your house.
anotherevan 12y ago
I often feel when reading discussions about parenting that posters should be required to list the number and ages of their children. If you're spouting off about how terrible and awful this is, lack of trust, etc, etc, and you haven't been there, your opinion on the matter has a value approaching zero to a stressed out parent. That said, I don't think this is the greatest of ideas, but I can see cases where it could be a useful tool in parenting. And it is a tool, not a solution that replaces an open dialogue with your kids. Grayclhn said it best[1]: "Of course, a parent could also install an app like this as part of a long process of discussion and negotiation wherein the child repeatedly blows off commitments to check in, blows off even lenient curfews, and struggles to hold up his or her side of the agreement." Agreed that it is something that is ripe for abuse and helicopter parenting. (Parent of girl 15, boy 12.) [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8197401 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8197401

76 points by juliann 12y ago

ck2 12y ago

Very very clever. Grew up before mobile phones existed so it is hard to relate but I guess if a kid has to have a phone, this helps. Of course nothing stops the kid from lying to their parents which I guess 99% of all kids do.

jacquesm 12y ago

Kids will have to explain to their parents how to install it. Or show them how they removed it.

DoubleMalt 12y ago

I like these projects to get more children interested in hacking!

tinco 12y ago

Looks great! one thing, you have a nice carousel going on, and maybe I'm a slow reader but I had to make it go back to the last slide three times before I finished reading it. Consider either making the carousel change slower or better yet, make the story vertical.

jpfielding 12y ago

if you have this problem with your child, an app is not the solution. you have serious discipline problems.

Broken_Hippo 12y ago
I agree the app isn't a solution to disicpline problems, but the problem of a child not calling back is not really a discipline issue. If you have proper trust and be sure to not over-check the child, this isn't as much of an issue - 'hey, that's my mom, she doesn't usually call, i better answer this' is Very easy when the kid has proof. It is also pretty easy to talk to a child to see why they might not have called back and explain why answering from parents is important It also seems that perhaps parents should try switching to text or whatever the child's preferred method of communication - being flexible might bring better responses. None of this is due to actual discipline problems, just miscommunication or inflexible parenting.
- aurelius 12y ago
  I don't think you or jpfielding have any real experience raising kids. That's pretty clear from your smug assumption that children are reasonable people who will see the error of their ways if only their parents took the time to explain it to them and pander to whatever way the child wants to go about subverting parental authority. Let me clue you into reality. When kids pop out, they are uncivilized savages. It takes a good 25 years (on average) before they stop acting like savages and start resembling a reasonable human being. A reasonable person does not require an explanation as to why answering a call from a parent is important, they just answer it because they are reasonable and civilized and know automatically that answering such a call is the right thing to do in the civilized world. A reasonable person also does not require others to pander to their "preferred method of communication", they just pick up the phone and deal with whatever's on the other end. Teenagers with phones are like hungry cavemen with shotguns. There has to be a way to pull the plug before things get out of hand and dumb stuff happens. This app is part of the solution. If a teenager's trumped up, uncivilized sense of independence is telling them to disrespect their parents and not answer their call, then this app is a useful tool for parents. The correct mode of operation, of course, is to prompt the child to call their parents so the parents can then tell the child that they're coming to pick them up immediately, and to have the phone ready to hand in because they're never going to see it again. The child should also prepare to have their wings clipped. Unreasonable savagery can not be made civilized through reasonable discussion. That's why economic sanctions, bombs falling from airplanes, and smartphone crippling apps are still effective tools for civilized people.
  - king_jester 12y ago
    How ageist of you. Teens are savages and not really people, so it is totally cool if we walk all over their autonomy as people and dehumanize them.
  - xorcist 12y ago
    It's strange. Everyone who's had a child is an expert on parenting. Yours is just one data point. Here's another: it's perfectly possible to actually trust teenagers without regarding them as savages, while still catching the bad stuff that inevitably happens. Different cultures tend to raise their kids differently. Many North American disciplinary actions are downright illegal here. Our kids still turn out fine.

inglesp 12y ago

Shouldn't parenting be about trust?

blueskin_ 12y ago
Agreed. Also, going to be funny when they work out how to uninstall it.
- ElliotH 12y ago
  Hell, uninstalling is mild. Set the parent phone to a child phone and vice versa, all you need is to guess that password. I wonder if it's the same as their email account?
  - blueskin_ 12y ago
    From their FAQ, looks like that would need you to deregister and reregister the phone. Still, as in my experience most parents (mine and others I'm familiar with) leave their phones lying around without a password so much of the time (or else likely use weak ones such as their date of birth or similar), that isn't exactly hard. I've also accidentally shoulder surfed dozens of random people's (patterns on android are particularly easy as by default it shows the full trace; ios7 is also easy as the buttons are very high contrast) where I had zero intention to just because they aren't careful about who can see the screen when they unlock. Of course, given the poor security of so many mobile apps, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a way to reverse engineer the protocol to lock a 'parent' phone. Then, of course, the child can feign ignorance with "but I thought that wasn't possible".
aurelius 12y ago
I don't trust unreasonable savages. Neither should you.

blueskin_ 12y ago

Products like this are great, as they teach children how to get around stupid arbitrary restrictions from a young age, so are less likely to end up as drooling passive consumers poking at a tablet and more likely to become hackers.

walterbell 12y ago
danah boyd has a (free) book on the responses of teens to network parenting, http://www.danah.org/itscomplicated/ http://www.danah.org/itscomplicated/ Edit: corrected name capitalization
- untothebreach 12y ago
  Huh, I have never seen this, thanks! (OT nitpick: her name is actually 'danah boyd' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danah_Boyd#Early_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danah_Boyd#Early_life)
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Thanks for pointing that out, fixed.
  - mseebach 12y ago
    OT nitpick: It's not actually her name, it's the name she prefers for political and aesthetical reasons, and the most civil and polite thing to do is to accommodate that preference. But her actual name is Danah Boyd, just like Snoop Doggs actual name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - untothebreach 12y ago
      from http://www.danah.org/name.html http://www.danah.org/name.html: in the summer of 2000, i finally had legal paperwork acknowledging my name as i saw fit: danah michele boyd

walterbell 12y ago

Ransomware improves parent-child communication? Better: analytics dashboard on latency of response. Suppression of emotional signals (response latency) is unlikely to improve communication and could lead to second-order consequences "If you treat me like ___, I will behave like ___".

tux3 12y ago

Wow that's disgusting.

jzwinck 12y ago

Danger: the front page says the child will always be able to call "first responders," but the FAQ reveals that 911 is the only built-in one which the child cannot change. If you live outside the US, 911 may not work, leaving your child unable to dial emergency services. Adding 112 and 999 to the list would help, but perhaps it's better to just let the kid call whomever they like, and just block "fun" things like texting and other apps. After all, if your kid is out with friends and gets a bit lost, the best person to call will be one of those friends, not the police.

KJasper 12y ago
The app is only available in the US appstore for now.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- blueskin_ 12y ago
  Because restricting to GeoIP really works well, right? Oh wait, even many users know how to use a proxy to get Iplayer/Pandora/Netflix from another country - there are even dedicated products for this purpose.
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    Apple handles the restriction, not via GeoIP, but via the credit card attached to the account.
ElliotH 12y ago
Hilariously, there's actually nothing stopping the kid phoning whoever they want. It's controlled by a contact group on the phone, that the child device can edit at will. Step 1 would be to add all friends to that group.
- brational 12y ago
  Ha. I guess I'll put it on my son's phone and tell him that there is a "solution" to fully defeat the app. Make a game out of it. (and I'll tell him Mom won't know) PS this is how you build trust with your kids.

rrrx3 12y ago

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOUNG MAN? WHY WERE YOU IGNORING MY CALLS? checks GPS log, sees school does child's homework for him applies to college for him goes on job interviews for him

untothebreach 12y ago
you forgot, wipes butt for him
- rrrx3 12y ago
  I thought that was implied :)
waterfowl 12y ago
god mom at this rate you're not going to close my Series A for me by 14
pavel_lishin 12y ago
> goes on job interviews for him One of my previous employers regaled me with a tale of a parent coming in for an interview with their child. Needless to say, neither got the job.

martiuk 12y ago

The perfect app for helicopter parenting, be sure to tell your child you don't trust them as they leave the door. I'm sure this would be a good product commercially. The FAQ is a bit jarring, most of it seems to be self praise.

pbhjpbhj 12y ago
>The perfect app for helicopter parenting // Alternatively the perfect app to allow you to let your children have freedom to go out by themselves but still to coerce response when it's needed. It seems a reasonable quid pro quo to me - I give you this tool which is the pinnacle of consumer communication devices but if I need to talk to you then it's locked until you respond. Doesn't it mean that children who aren't so trustworthy get the benefit of being allowed out when otherwise they wouldn't?

michaelmior 12y ago

I haven't tried it, but isn't this trivial to disable by just booting into safe mode and uninstalling the app?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
blueskin_ 12y ago
Yep. With root, you can even just disable administrators without allowing them to hijack the attempt. Actually, letting apps hijack the normal disabling of their administrative functions is a massive vuln, as then any piece of malware can do that to prevent it from being removed. The funny thing is, Android's safe mode isn't that well publicised (I knew it existed, but would have to look up how to enter it), but if apps like this ever proliferated, it definitely would become well known. See how in the UK, since TPB got censored, there are now literally hundreds of reverse proxies available, and since the government pushed 'opt-out' censorship, there are now dozens of proxies explicitly marketed for defeating them, and more and more sites are switching to use TLS.

fidotron 12y ago

In my experience many adults (meaning everyone over 35 at this point) seem to have an irrational attachment to phone calls, when texting or email would suffice or be better. This is just a manifestation of that mentality. If you encourage your kid to text you it's much more likely they'll communicate, largely because it can be done quickly and discreetly. Given the problems I've heard about with app store purchases from parents in this target market there's zero chance of this actually working, and I'd be surprised if any parent in the target group even believes it would work either.

jasonkester 12y ago

Language is weird, and it's always interesting to see the way people spell things that they've only ever heard, often picking completely different words to construct sentences that sound kinda right but don't actually make any sense with the words they've used (there's a guy here who says "properly" whenever he means to say "probably" for instance). This is the first time I've seen anybody substitute their own made up word (notta') for nada though.

cpwright 12y ago

Or you take their phone away when they don't call you back; or ground them. It seems to me that having an enforced version of that won't actually promote responsible behavior as much as more traditional punishments.

steventhedev 12y ago

While it's nice to see other applications using the Device Administrator's API, I fail to see what advantage this provides over Google's implementation [1]. [1]: https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

dm2 12y ago

If you thought your kids didn't like you before, wait until you install something like this on their phone. Emotions are weird, if you're sitting around worrying about your child then you need a hobby. If it's really a problem that your child goes somewhere without texting you if you asked them to then don't let them go out next time. If they are in college and don't answer your calls, then leave them alone, find something else to do, send them an email if you need to inform them of something or have something you want to discuss. Kids go through weird phases, they lash out at parents for different reasons such as being unhappy with themselves or struggling to find purpose. Talk to them in person, ask difficult questions, if they don't have an answer, ask again later or ask different questions. Be a good roll-model by being calm, rational, humble, and honest. I can picture the mom who had the idea for this app, controlling, slightly crazy, comes off as bitchy. What if your significant other installed a similar app on your phone? Would piss you off, right? If you want to restrict the games kids play or the sites they visit on their phones, that's probably for the better, be sure to inform them of the logical reasons such as the fact that game companies exploit human psychology to create addiction and many apps upload private information that could harm them later in life. But locking their phones because they haven't called you back, I just can't see how that'll do anything but harm in the long-run. "Because I said so.", "Do as I say, not as I do.", "Say it, say I love you." If you kid doesn't answer their phone they are either in class, busy, have it on mute, in jail, dead, getting high, in a loud car, at a party with friends, having sex, eating somewhere, or they just don't want to talk to you at the moment. If they are in jail, they'll call you, if they're dead, then there is nothing you can do about it, you'll find out soon enough. In every other situation it's not that critical that you hear their voice, send them a text message and find something to do. It might just boil down to positive verses negative reinforcement. Just my 2 cents about actually using this product as a parent. Looking at it as an app idea, it's a good idea and looks well executed. I'm sure many parents will purchase it.

unethical_ban 12y ago
I find some of your content presumptuous, but overall, I agree that, if you tell a child to check in or be home at a certain time, this app won't solve insubordination. Either lock them in at home, have a real chat about it in person, etc., but this novel locking mechanism isn't going to solve the problem. >Emotions are weird, if you're sitting around worrying about your child then you need a hobby. If you're worried about your pre-teen while he/she is out roaming the city, you're a good parent. It doesn't mean you have to be freaking out all the time, but my parents cared enough to be concerned if I didn't check in at the deemed intervals.

exodust 12y ago

This app would put whatever rocky relationship I had with my mother on even rockier ground. The biggest flaw is that the child may not be ignoring the parent, but simply can't call at that time. Perhaps the kid's phone is in their bag or they are in class or something. To lock the kid's phone based on an assumption of guilt is like punishing the kid for not eating his vegetables before dinner is served.

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
Not to mention you may be preventing them from getting important help from other sources.

murbard2 12y ago

Another way to do it would be to stop offering a free phone plan, or free rent for that matter. What kind of self respect do you have if you're letting a teenager whose lifestyle you're subsidizing treat you like this?

dataminded 12y ago

The solution to poor parenting is not an app.

yourad_io 12y ago
but it could be PaaS

taternuts 12y ago

This is ridiculous - really more like "Teach your child how to jailbreak his device". I know this holds true of me, but I truly can't stand talking on the phone with anyone - I much prefer just a simple text message. My parents/baby-boomers can't stand this, in my experience - for some reason they need the actual call. I think this would be more effective if it unlocked after a text message back.

rational-future 12y ago

Hmmm, here's a business idea - install the app on as many phones as you can (remote exploits, free apps in stores) and demand monthly payments to keep them unlocked.

crunchcaptain 12y ago

The developer must have hired a great P.R. company because yesterday our local TV news was covering it. Now it's on HN!?! Read the FAQ and you'll get an idea of the brains (or lack thereof) behind this app: http://ignorenomoreapp.com/faq http://ignorenomoreapp.com/faq "Q: My child ignored my instructions and selected “OK” to the pop-up request to “Disable Device Admin”. How do I restore Ignore No More on their phone?" "A: I know, I know let me guess the child said, “It was an accident”. First you need to check to see if Ignore No More is still on their phone. If it is then that’s great news. All you have to do is select the device’s Settings icon>Security>Device (or Phone) Administrators where you will then see an empty box beside of Ignore No More Device Admin. Select the empty box; a pop-up will appear, select “Activate”. Ignore No More is now restored on the child’s phone. On the other hand, if the child deleted the app entirely from their phone you will need to download again from the app store."

xg15 12y ago

Q: Why won’t the message “Ignore No More!” go away once my child has used the password to unlock their phone? A: Don’t worry their phone is unlocked. “Ignore No More!” stays visible to your child to help you. The message is a constant reminder to them to answer your calls and texts or else you will lock their phone. If you don’t want to use this feature and want the message to go away, simply open up the parent My Household page and press “Unlock Phone” for that child. Once the child refreshes their screen the message will be gone. If you market to helicopter parents, that's one thing. If you market to parents who actively enjoy being mean to their children, you should maybe overthink your business model.

lttlrck 12y ago

Somewhat surprising there is no Facebook backlash yet... this is a horrible product.

philbarr 12y ago

What I find more interesting about this, besides the fact you can block your kids' phones, is the amount of effort put into the creation and marketing of it. I mean - as far as I can tell [0] this is the only app this person has done, but they've created the website, set up a company, and I even heard about this on the UK BBC news! And at the moment they only have about 100 downloads?! It would be interesting to hear the story behind this and how much this all cost. Does anyone know more? How did they manage to get such exposure on launch day/week? [0] reading http://ignorenomoreapp.com/mountaineer-technology-ventures http://ignorenomoreapp.com/mountaineer-technology-ventures

ufmace 12y ago
I'm seeing 5-10k installs on the Play store. Still not much for something that has caught this level of media attention.
quaffapint 12y ago
They should sell their marketing services rather than this app. To get such quick publicity for something like this, either they have great marketing skills, a bunch of $, or both. Either way, it would be nice to see how they did it.

diminoten 12y ago

I should come out with an app that disables this app, and charge something like $5 for it.

ck2 12y ago

I find the negativity about this surprising. I live in a low income area - you would wish many parents around here cared this much and would helicopter their kids. I fear many of them are doomed from the start. I think this app is a last resort measure, not like a block on computer use but if the kid is being bad about something to get them to respond.

nknighthb 12y ago
Being controlling is not the same thing as caring.

hluska 12y ago

It's very rare that an app inspires as much rage in me as this one has. I'm not sure if it is the over the top self praising tone of the FAQ, or the fact that this will be such an amazing tool for abusive parents, or the fact that this is a great way to condition children to obey unconditionally, but seriously, this app makes me irrationally angry. Some parents are assholes. Some kids have other things going on and don't need a helicopter constantly hovering over top of them. And some media outlets need to learn to be critical of the crap that they flog. Even if the FAQ included some child abuse/help lines, I'd be significantly less angry. But seriously, this app looks like a red flag for extraordinarily controlling parents. And, there is a bunch of research that indicates extremely controlling behaviour is a sign of abuse. What if, as an entire industry, we decide to always err on the side of protecting kids?? Sorry for the rant. I've edited this several times to tone things down, but this app makes me intensely angry. If there is any justice, the app store will remove this garbage.

StavrosK 12y ago

Hah, the FAQ reads like you're trying to keep pests out of your house.

anotherevan 12y ago

I often feel when reading discussions about parenting that posters should be required to list the number and ages of their children. If you're spouting off about how terrible and awful this is, lack of trust, etc, etc, and you haven't been there, your opinion on the matter has a value approaching zero to a stressed out parent. That said, I don't think this is the greatest of ideas, but I can see cases where it could be a useful tool in parenting. And it is a tool, not a solution that replaces an open dialogue with your kids. Grayclhn said it best[1]: "Of course, a parent could also install an app like this as part of a long process of discussion and negotiation wherein the child repeatedly blows off commitments to check in, blows off even lenient curfews, and struggles to hold up his or her side of the agreement." Agreed that it is something that is ripe for abuse and helicopter parenting. (Parent of girl 15, boy 12.) [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8197401 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8197401