So far in 2018, Apple, Google, Facebook and Instagram have all begun adding features to make you use your phone less. Now, T-Mobile is taking that approach to your kids. Today, the Un-carrier announced FamilyMode, which is going to allow parents to limit how much time their kids spend on a smartphone, tablet, or any other connected device in the home. Now carriers already offer something like this where, users are able to put a time limit on how long a kid can use their smartphone each day, but T-Mobile is extending this to everything on the network. Which means there’s some hardware being sold here, and that is the FamilyMode Home Base.
The FamilyMode Home base will connect to your home network and allows you to manage, monitor, filter and also set time limits on different devices. Whether that’s a smartphone, tablet, gaming console, smart TV or anything else that is connected to the WiFi network in your home. Ideally this is meant for keeping your kids from spending a ton of time on tech, but it can also work for others in the home. T-Mobile is selling the FamilyMode Home Base for $20 out of pocket, and then $10/month for the T-Mobile FamilyMode app. So it’s not free, but it is rather inexpensive.
This is more expensive than what other carriers offer. For example, AT&T’s Smart Limits is $9.99 per month, Sprint’s Safe & Sound is $6.99 per month and Verizon’s Smart Family is $9.99 per month, and none of them are selling hardware along with it. However, T-Mobile’s FamilyMode is actually far more feature-rich than what you’d find at other carriers, as you can see outlined in the table down below. It’s a pretty neat app that should do well with parents. Beginning this Friday, June 29, you’ll be able to add FamilyMode to your account by calling 1-800-T-Mobile, going online to My T-Mobile or stopping in at your local T-Mobile store and getting the FamilyMode Home Base and adding it to your account. It’s pretty simple to get it all set up.
