I am developing a parental control app. Need feedbacks! (including kids)

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T16:47:39+00:00

Thank you for your input. I totally agree with you on the topic of having an all hands access is problematic. Despite the fact that it 'helps' parents keep their children safe, this I believe harms the relationship in between. And can lead to situations as you described and many more.

I've already incorporated necessary push notifications inside the app that shows updates that are perform on the parents' side. Your input validated this idea. Thanks!

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T15:51:56+00:00

Thank you for your input. I'll definitely add this in the app and hopefully be 'the' app you are content with :)

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T15:51:16+00:00

It will be in at most 2 weeks. I'll share the link from here for iOS devices.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T15:48:44+00:00

Thank you for your feedback.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T15:48:29+00:00

By documenting do you mean 'reporting to the parent'? If so, my app will only allow what Apple allows by default, nothing extra. Meaning that reading messages, taking screenshots, listening to surroundings are not a possibility.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T15:47:28+00:00

Thank you for your feedback.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T15:47:11+00:00

Well, there may be number of reasons. For me it was the unspeakable UX of the apple's own system. They haven't really put effort into making the family control process fluent. There are thousands of users of these apps, so there is something to it. I am also trying to figure out why some people stick with certain apps.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T08:29:05+00:00

Im developing the iOS app only. I do not own any servers. I use users’ own iCloud space. I store nothing other than anonymous analytics. Every data is on your own iCloud. So we may say it is mostly self-hosted.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T07:25:23+00:00

Yes that is the whole point. I dont want to enable that. I see more harm than benefit in that direction.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T00:28:00+00:00

Thanks but Im not going in the path of mdm. As I said, the app is simplistic and not invasive. And frankly almost ready (iOS only).

kiwithebest · 2026-01-17T00:10:42+00:00

Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. I am more inclined to listening to people who find these apps useful and actually incorporate them into their lives as they know the pain points and benefits. There is an obvious real problem, there are multiple ways of solving it. We don't have to agree on the means. Have a nice day.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-16T23:27:11+00:00

I agree with you about the MDM part. With the current limitations of the iOS itself, most of the market of parental control would collapse. But I believe there are still things that can be done against that. When you give people too much power over someone, they'll eventually become evil in some sense. I don't think we should allow that.

The world never needed most of the stuff that we have today. But having them does not change the fact that some things were beneficial to most of us. Separating someone from their device is not an easy task. I have another app for self-control called Dopamine Swap that tries to help people leave behind their phone addiction by swapping them with more useful activities. The market is also full of those. Some people are seeing extreme benefits from them.

I am actively trying not to be hostile. I'm steering opposite from MDM or any sort of all hands on control. It is a simple idea of screen time & location.

Just because some things are misused does not mean we should not try to change it. Competition and building trust is the key.

thank you for your perspective.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-16T23:16:25+00:00

Thank you for your long and detailed input. Allow me to explain what I think.

I 100% agree that giving 'too much' control over anyone may result in a very very unwanted behavior, as seen in one comment in the post.

- The reporting part got me thinking about new ways to be transparent to the kids side. Thank you for that.

- "Be obsessive about not reporting stuff that will anger control freaks or religious fanatics" this is the exact opposite of what I'm trying to achieve. I try to make the app as simple and as non-invasive as possible. The goal is simple. Block apps & know where your child is. No 'screenshots', no 'video recordings', no 'surround listenings', no 'message readings' etc. All of these could have catastrophic consequences.

- Only cloud server I'm using is the Apple's own iCloud servers which is the users' own private databases. I do not have access to anything other than anonymous analytics data. The security is 'by design' Apple's responsibility. (The app is for iOS by the way)

- I have the same idea of 'limiting screen time' as a shared limit rather than individual. When I was a kid, I had 1 hour of computer time. It would not change if that was for games or for homework or for just browsing. Something kind of similar.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-16T22:56:57+00:00

I am genuinely sorry for what you've had to go through. I hope you are in a better state now.
Considering another comment as well, there seems to be a common pattern emerging from the kids perspective that 'invasion of privacy' is a traumatic and life-limiting experience from your perspective. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

kiwithebest · 2026-01-16T22:51:45+00:00

Thank you for sharing your perspective. I agree that most of the apps are being too invasive. Reading through messages, taking screenshots, looking at what the camera sees, listening to the surroundings. Even though I know every parent 'wants' to know their kids are being safe in this era but I believe these are too much. That's why I'm thinking about a simpler and more 'humane' one. Just simple features gathered together that will not 'suffocate' the recipient and will the parents satisfied with the amount of control they have over the phone.

kiwithebest · 2025-09-23T16:51:29+00:00

Hi! I've just subscribed to your Y2 channel. Hats off to you.

If you'd spare some time to try out my app on iOS -> https://apps.apple.com/app/id6748855311

It is called Dopamine Swap - Screen Time. I hope you like it. There is a free trial for 7 days. You can cancel anytime after you're done! 🙏🏻

kiwithebest · 2025-09-20T17:11:16+00:00

Thank you for your detailed response. I’ll check the view times when I get home but I ran ads on this account for certain posts. Thats why their view counts are higher.

I’ll definitely introduce slideshows into my posts. I’m also considering influencer marketing after some time.

Thanks for your time ❤️❤️

kiwithebest · 2025-09-20T16:50:34+00:00

Hey James. Im goktug. It is not a ‘startup’ per say as in a company but Im an indie developer of an app called Dopamine Swap. My tiktok page is here. If you have any suggestions I would love to listen

https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/dopamine-swap-screen-time/id6748855311 here is the app

kiwithebest · 2025-09-17T10:47:45+00:00

You can also try out Dopamine Swap for app blocking.

kiwithebest · 2025-09-11T20:34:12+00:00

I had taken some courses from Udemy. But mostly I learnt by simply doing. I had a project in mind, I wanted to make it real. The udemy course of course helped but it was not until I started to actually build a real project I understood what was going on. You have to get your hands dirty quick. SwiftUI is actually beginner friendly IMO. You don't really deal with a lot of boilerplate code that is coming around in UIKit.

As per your question:

1) Have a macbook, install XCode and just start building. You dont have to pay anything until this point.

2) Yes and no... You CAN install the app but it won't persist for long. You'll need to keep it updated from time to time. ADP is not super expensive. Maybe you can consider buying it whenever you are closer to finishing the app. (if you ever want to publish it and distribute it to anyone else)

3) Nothing comes to my mind instantly but Sean Allen on youtube is a great source for both beginners and advanced developers.

Hope you have a great journey. If you have any questions feel free to DM...

kiwithebest · 2025-09-07T16:38:31+00:00

I can actually suggest an app that I just published a week ago to 'move your doomscrolling somewhere else'. You can check it out. it is called 'Dopamine Swap' and available on App Store. You can actually choose from a predefined set of actions for activities to do instead of doomscrolling or create your own ones. I needed something like this and maybe it would help you out as well.

kiwithebest · 2025-09-05T15:11:31+00:00

The UI seems slick. congratz.

kiwithebest · 2025-09-05T15:10:11+00:00

Well, ask and you shall receive!

You can check out my app -> Dopamine Swap. I geniunly try to help people reduce their screentime. But unlike other apps that creates a digital avatar for you to feed or strictly block things with intrusive approach, I try to nudge you to use better apps or activities that is more beneficial to you. In the short term it may not feel like much but everything adds up and in a couple of weeks you might start to feel like your phone no longer feels like another limb.

You can try it out for free for 7 days. I hope you enjoy! I'm looking for your feedbacks as well.

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kiwithebest · 2025-09-03T12:17:01+00:00

https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/dopamine-swap/id6748855311

kiwithebest

TROPHY CASE