Microsoft first announced Family Safety back in March and made it available in preview on Android and iOS this May. The Redmond giant is today rolling out the app to everyone.
Microsoft Family Safety is a digital safety tool that offers various digital safety features such as weekly activity reporting, screen time limits, web search filters, purchase request emails, and location sharing.
Activity Reporting
With weekly activity reports, parents can view the highlights of the child’s digital activity. Microsoft says these reports would serve as conversation starters towards building better digital habits.
Screen Time Limits
Just like Google’s Digital Wellbeing, parents can set screen time limits on Family Safety. It works across Windows, Xbox, and Android apps and games. It will also let kids request their parents additional time when they exhaust the daily limit.
Web and Search Filters
Another feature of the Family Safety is the ability to let parents use web and search filters to block adult content and set browsing to kid-friendly websites. These filters work with the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, Xbox, and Android.
Purchase Request Emails
Parents can choose to receive purchase requests via email when their kids initiate in-app purchases with this feature. There have been instances where children misused their parents’ bank details to make purchases and this approach should limit such incidents. However, it is worth noting that this feature is limited to the apps and games downloaded from Xbox and Microsoft stores.
Location Sharing
With the location sharing feature, you can see the real-time location of your family members within the app, including the last seen location. The company says to have added location clustering that shows the number of family members at the same place.
Microsoft is planning to add two premium features namely safe driving (shows insights on driving behavior) and location alerts (notifies when a family member arrives or departs a specific location) as part of Microsoft 365 Family subscription in the coming months.
Download Microsoft Family Safety (Android | iOS)
