It is a common complaint among parents: “They just sit on their phone all day. Playing outside is no longer an option. ” You can of course force children by taking their phone, but you can also approach the situation more positively. That’s what the makers of Goya-Move thought too.
Goya-Move: you have to earn phone time
This app has a very simple goal: to get children to exercise and then reward them with ‘phone time’. The slogan is therefore also “Get of your apps … and move!”
Here’s how it works: parents install Goya-Move on their phone. Then they put the app on their children’s phone. On the ‘administrator’s phone’, Goya-Move looks like an average app, while their children’s iPhones actually look different.
Parents must indicate how many steps their children have to take daily before apps are unlocked. For example, once the kids have completed 6000 steps, they can use Instagram, Musical.ly, Snapchat and YouTube again. Until then, they can open the apps, but nothing will happen.
To prevent abuse, parents can also set an hourly step goal so that their children stay active throughout the day. In addition, children do not always have their phones with them during sports, such as football, which allows parents to manually enter activities.
Also read: Guide: How iOS 12 makes your iPhone less addictive
Deliberation and weighing
However, there is a catch. Goya-Move does nothing more than block the internet connection of apps. In other words, children can still work with offline apps, such as many games. This has to do with the closed nature of iOS: developers cannot just restrict the internet access of other local (offline) apps.
Plus, of course, you have to ask yourself if this is the way you want to interact with your kids. According to many pedagogical experts after all, it is better to motivate a child intrinsically than by imposing restrictions.
Either way, there’s no harm in trying. Goya-Move is free to use for five days, after which the app costs 1.99 euros per month. One euro is added for each additional child. Goya-Move does not store any personal data other than the email address and telephone number of the parents.