Question TV Apps with ability to lock...

GrumpyJo

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Just curious to know if any TV manufacturers provide the ability to "lock" their inbuilt Apps with a pin code etc.

We have 2 young children ages 6 & 8 who get up really early in the morning switch on the TV, load up You Tube to watch other people play games ! It's driving us crazy.

We do our best to try to limit what they can and can't do and to ensure that what they want to watch is suitable and free from foul language etc but this all seems to fall apart when it comes to TV's security.

We have the Hisense 65N6800 which allows you to lock channels, inputs etc, and set time locks also which is good but irrelevant when the channels and inputs are locked untill say 09:00, but all the kids need to do to bypass the locks is simply press the "You Tube" button on the remote and it loads up regardless of the time. A fundamental flaw in my opinion.

The latest example of how bad it's getting is when I had to get up for work at 03:45, I went downstairs and my 8yo daughter is sitting in the lounge, in the dark watching someone playing the Sims 4 on You Tube. Needless to say I went a bit crazy at her but you see our dilemma here. She can sneek around undetected without creaking any floorboards, which in our house is a miracle in itself at such a rediculous time of the morning when she really needs to be sleeping.

If there were the ability to have some sort of lock on these inbuilt Apps and she knew she couldn't access them when she likes she wouldn't have any choice but to try to get back to sleep.

So my question to owners of TV's out there is thus : What make/model of TV do you own that has inbuilt Apps with the ability to lock them with a pin etc like our mobile phones
 
Why don't you just take charge of the remote? Only make it available when you are there to supervise.
 
Why don't you just take charge of the remote? Only make it available when you are there to supervise.
Quite simply, no one should have to play 'hide the remote'. My kids do this enough when they decide they don't want anyone else changing the channel that they are watching. I know I did this to my sister when we were younger just as she did to me. Typical kids stuff.

As it happens, I have put the remote control away since then as I have a harmony elite which I now use, but even that gets hidden by the two of them.

I'm more interested in the broader discussion about whether other manufacturers provide such security as this may well influence any future purchases going forward.

I trust by your reply that the TV's within your household afford no such application security ?

I'm well aware of security options within the YouTube app itself but I find it doesn't filter out all unsuitable content effectively but it also doesn't help with my daughter waking up and thinking 'i'll just nip downstairs to watch YouTube' instead of thinking she should try to get back to sleep so her brain can work efficiently at school
 
I agree that You Tube presents a problem. My grandchildren are no longer given access to the tv or Sky remotes. Their tablets are child friendly locked. I recall that before he was 1 my grandson managed to turn on Jeremy Kyle!
You would think it would be simple for manufacturers to password protect tv's as you suggest, but apparently not.
 
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Unfortunately parental controls on TV's are sometimes an after thought.

I think the Roku have a pin code you can set on channels (what they call apps) but Roku TV's are USA only ?

I have an 2017 LG OLED with it's latest webos and this does have a pin code option for apps in it's safety settings. The cheaper LCD LG's should have this too if running the same version of Webos.

Without replacing the TV you could through advanced methods probably block Youtube but this would require some tinkering with the network.

For example if the network router has a capable firewall you could block the Youtube domain for only the IP address the TV is assigned, of course this would disable Youtube for you too but only on the TV.
 
Unfortunately parental controls on TV's are sometimes an after thought.

I think the Roku have a pin code you can set on channels (what they call apps) but Roku TV's are USA only ?

I have an 2017 LG OLED with it's latest webos and this does have a pin code option for apps in it's safety settings. The cheaper LCD LG's should have this too if running the same version of Webos.

Without replacing the TV you could through advanced methods probably block Youtube but this would require some tinkering with the network.

For example if the network router has a capable firewall you could block the Youtube domain for only the IP address the TV is assigned, of course this would disable Youtube for you too but only on the TV.
A friend at work suggested the same about blocking YouTube access through my router but I feel simply disconnecting the TV from my WiFi would be the simplest option all round. I didn't buy the TV for its smart features as I have Amazon fire TV and Xbox for smart features which perform better on those and also have security options.

It's interesting that LG have afforded some form of security but I absolutely agree that in these modern times they need to do better
 
I agree the You Tube presents a problem. My grandchildren are no longer given access to the tv or Sky remotes. Their tablets are child friendly locked. I recall that before he was 1 my grandson managed to turn on Jeremy Kyle!
You would think it would be simple for manufacturers to password protect tv's as you suggest, but apparently not.
Honestly, I can't imagine anything worse than Jeremy Vile !!
I have no idea where or how it all started but it seems to be a bit of a trend these days where they want to sit in a room watching someone sitting in a room playing a game. Would they not rather play the game themselves ?
You take them outside to try to do something fun and active like cycling, or even throwing a frisbee but it's not long before they just want to go home to watch YouTube ! It's terribly sad.

They have kindles that they are allowed 45mins on during the week and 1.5hours on a weekend but must do 30mins reading on first (15 for my 6yo son) and YouTube on the kids fire tablets are heavily filtered which is good.

My father-in-law has just bought a new Samsung so I'll pop round his to see if Samsung provide App security but also wonder if any Sony owners would comment as Sony's are android based I believe
 
I checked my Samsung TV and the only option you can select is "Restricted Mode" which hides inappropriate content in You Tube, whatever that might mean. A child could obviously soon find out how to change the setting as it's not password protected. It's something You Tube should tackle. Hope you find a solution. There is nothing in the Samsung menu that does what you are asking, unless there has been an update in this years models.
 
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I checked my Samsung TV and the only option you can select is "Restricted Mode" which hides inappropriate content in You Tube, whatever that might mean. A child could obviously soon find out how to change the setting as it's not password protected. It's something You Tube should tackle. Hope you find a solution. There is nothing in the Samsung menu that does what you are asking, unless there has been an update in this years models.
Thanks mike7, I really appreciate you taking the time to look through your TV settings and reply. I hope going forward that manufacturers might start to implement simple security settings for apps like YouTube, or all apps in general. It's not too much of an effort to input a 4 digit number to prevent the little ones from potentially explicit content full of foul language.

Regards,

Chris
 
It is a pain, especially as nippers are technical minded ,as you say,just turn off the router.
 
You can limit internet access to certain times for each device, well you can on BT anyway. That way you could stop the tv having internet access between say 10pm-6am but still use your phone, ipads etc.
 
I have a remote control mains switch on my TV which I can click off at night when we go to bed. It cuts off all mains to the TV, and you could take the remote switch to bed with you to stop the kids using the TV if they get up early. You can get a pack of three from Wilkinsons for £15.
 
So far, the main TV remote has been demoted to a drawer in the cupboard under the stairs (my man drawer) and the harmony has been set up with all option input of "apps" etc has been removed. I have reprogrammed the 'blue' button to be the TV "settings" button on a long press so I can still navigate the inputs/apps and general settings if needed. This alone should be a deterrent following on from the long lecture as to why getting up so early ( especially as she is learning to tell analogue and digital clocks at school ) to watch YouTube is unacceptable and why it's so important for her to get the sleep she needs.
But as it's been said before, kids are so technically minded these days as everything at school is done on computers/tablets etc it wouldn't surprise me if she figured it out
 

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