The parental mode is too restrictive

Regard_39 · 09-03-2022, 04:02 AM

Hi,
As a father
- I have activated the parental control on my 9 year old son's kobo aura who had a tendency to tamper with the device and sheepishly return a reset e-reader to me
- I added a few dictionaries to give more choice.
- I agreed with my young reader to "add the word "* he was looking for so that we could talk about it later.
Alas, the menu offered is succinct : 'settings' and 'help', that's all.
The 'activity' section is no longer available, which makes it impossible to find the list of "my words".
Of course there is the possibility of "highlighting words" but I find this less practical.

I'm not sure if Kobo is taking this type of user feedback into account and perhaps implementing a fix at a later date. What do you think?
* I activated this option before activating the parental control option.

Quoth · 09-03-2022, 05:19 AM

Worse on Kindle. When I tried it on a PW3 and all sideloaded books were hidden.

Having raised children I think "Parental Modes" are rubbish. Either the kid can be trusted to have something or not. WiFi passwords can be deleted and WiFi passwords kept secret.

I know several 8 & 10 yo kids with Kobos. One 8 yo has a Binatone LCD ereader. No parental setting.

Younger than 7 to 10, depending on individual kid, they are better with paper and without "parental mode".

MGlitch · 09-03-2022, 02:28 PM

There isn’t a parental mode which can’t be circumvented and isn’t restrictive to a overly limiting degree.

It’s really just going to come down to trusting your kid, though you can easily monitor what they buy from Kobo by not attaching a CC to their account and only feeding it gift cards. Anything sideloaded wouldn't be immediately obvious but if your kid is sideloading explicit books they’re probably doing worse otherwise.

rtiangha · 09-03-2022, 03:18 PM

If all you're trying to do is restrict access to the store, why not enable Sideloaded Mode instead? You'll lose access to the home screen, but it'll hide almost all the links that require online access or an account to access. In your Kobo eReader.conf file, add the following to the ApplicationPreferences section:

Code:

[ApplicationPreferences]
SideloadedMode=true

If you need access to the store again later, apparently it's easy to switch back by setting that option to false.

Edit: Although if you're trying to hide access to Settings to prevent the kid from doing a factory reset, that may not work.

geek1011 · 09-03-2022, 03:42 PM

If you only have a few things you want to exclude or include with/without parental controls, I can also write patches for that, but note that they'll need to be reapplied when upgrading the firmware.

09-03-2022, 04:02 AM	#1
Regard_39 Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 134 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura, Kobo Libra H2O, Kindle Oasis	The parental mode is too restrictive Hi, As a father - I have activated the parental control on my 9 year old son's kobo aura who had a tendency to tamper with the device and sheepishly return a reset e-reader to me - I added a few dictionaries to give more choice. - I agreed with my young reader to "add the word "* he was looking for so that we could talk about it later. Alas, the menu offered is succinct : 'settings' and 'help', that's all. The 'activity' section is no longer available, which makes it impossible to find the list of "my words". Of course there is the possibility of "highlighting words" but I find this less practical. I'm not sure if Kobo is taking this type of user feedback into account and perhaps implementing a fix at a later date. What do you think? * I activated this option before activating the parental control option.

09-03-2022, 03:18 PM	#4
rtiangha Evangelist Posts: 495 Karma: 356531 Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: 'burta, Canada Device: Kobo Glo HD	If all you're trying to do is restrict access to the store, why not enable Sideloaded Mode instead? You'll lose access to the home screen, but it'll hide almost all the links that require online access or an account to access. In your Kobo eReader.conf file, add the following to the ApplicationPreferences section: Code: [ApplicationPreferences] SideloadedMode=true If you need access to the store again later, apparently it's easy to switch back by setting that option to false. Edit: Although if you're trying to hide access to Settings to prevent the kid from doing a factory reset, that may not work. Last edited by rtiangha; 09-03-2022 at 03:23 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Why is the iPad so restrictive?	louwin	Apple Devices	34	08-24-2012 05:03 PM
iPod Dumb parental questions	phenomshel	Apple Devices	15	02-28-2011 02:53 AM
You think geo restrictions are, well, restrictive? Enter OS discrimination	amoroso	General Discussions	30	08-11-2010 12:34 AM
Arizonan restrictive law backfires	Logseman	Lounge	208	06-26-2010 06:56 AM
restrictive practice	nobicus	Sony Reader	14	09-30-2008 11:27 AM

09-03-2022, 05:19 AM	#2
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,659 Karma: 103503445 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Worse on Kindle. When I tried it on a PW3 and all sideloaded books were hidden. Having raised children I think "Parental Modes" are rubbish. Either the kid can be trusted to have something or not. WiFi passwords can be deleted and WiFi passwords kept secret. I know several 8 & 10 yo kids with Kobos. One 8 yo has a Binatone LCD ereader. No parental setting. Younger than 7 to 10, depending on individual kid, they are better with paper and without "parental mode".

09-03-2022, 02:28 PM	#3
MGlitch Wizard Posts: 2,855 Karma: 22003124 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2	There isn’t a parental mode which can’t be circumvented and isn’t restrictive to a overly limiting degree. It’s really just going to come down to trusting your kid, though you can easily monitor what they buy from Kobo by not attaching a CC to their account and only feeding it gift cards. Anything sideloaded wouldn't be immediately obvious but if your kid is sideloading explicit books they’re probably doing worse otherwise.

09-03-2022, 03:42 PM	#5
geek1011 Wizard Posts: 2,801 Karma: 6990707 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Mini, Aura Edition 2 v1, Clara HD	If you only have a few things you want to exclude or include with/without parental controls, I can also write patches for that, but note that they'll need to be reapplied when upgrading the firmware.