Disabling FamilyMode

If Verizon allows it set limits and restrict mobile data without installing an app, why can't T-Mobile?

This should not be so complicated. 

tmo_chris wrote:

So, while disabling the VPN toggle is not an available option. If he is using an iPhone, you can in fact restrict the deleting of apps. How to use parental controls on your child's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Yeah, I can set-up Screen Time in an iPhone such that my kid can't delete the T-Mobile Mode app, but he can still toggle-off the VPN. If you can't work with Apple to disable toggling-off VPN, then at least do the parental controls on the data/cellular side without needing VPN. It won't work when the phone is connected to wi-fi, but parents can choose to put parental controls on the wi-fi too using third-party software.

I just installed FamilyMode on both my kids phones. After a few days I received the "no longer communicating with FamilyMode" message from the older boys phone. He admitted to turning off the VPN, and with a hint of attitude I might add, so I logged on to T-MOBILE, pulled up his line, and changed his Active Add-ons to "No Data".

Agree with these comments. My son disabled the VPN the first day he had his phone this week. T-Mobile, have you done something about this? I am deciding whether to keep the feature. 

Until I decide, I will follow the previous suggestion to take phones at night if it ever happens. 

I downloaded the app a few months ago, was about to give my son the phone right away, but decided to play with the settings.  About a half hour later, I found this same loophole.  

magenta3799870 wrote:

From what i understand of Android, there is no way an app can be what we need it to be as a parent. There is no way to lock apps and settings. Of course, the Android version is modified by the carrier, but not so easy to mess with Android's core design which is meant to give the user complete control of the device and stop apps from messing with anything unless you give it specific permission.

 

On the IOS side there is a way to act at a higher permission level and lock things down for the user, but Android for some reason has not done this.

 

I have tried to use Tmobile family controls TWICE now and both times my kids get around it within minutes.

 

Kasperksy does have an app which they claim cannot be deleted or messed with on Android, not sure how, but will check it out.

Android has family link, you create the email that the phone operates under and then you can control the phone. However, my son already created an email address which he has all this history on, so I didn't remove it because he was devastated. But if he removes T-Mobile Family Mode again, I will add family link and shut it down. Just wish I had known about family link earlier before creating the email address.

magenta2708381 wrote:

My son seems to have figured ou that you can disable FamilyMode by simply turning off VPN in the iPhone's general settings. Is it really that easy to disable the app and make it useless?

My son just removed the app, TikTok made him do it. Perhaps not using a bright pink magenta color app icon and disguising the name to "FM T-Mobile" he wouldn't have noticed it so quickly. It would be nice if we could customize it. I had to tell him if he removed it again that I would disable his entire phone and take over his email address.

Completely useless app. 

It's a year since the last post in this thread and I'm a new user of FamilyMode.  After installing and  configuring, I tested my daughter's iPhone.  Everything worked as advertised.  Thirty minutes after giving the phone back to my teenage daughter, she simply turned off VPN and bypassed all controls.

Apparently, they still haven’t fixed this issue.

This service may be useful for five year-olds, but any kid who can read is going to find this fatal flaw very quickly and you will have zero control.