Toddler accidentally using up mobile data

[div0]

Our daughter is allowed to watch YouTube Kids etc on our phones from time to time. The problem is that she will sometimes do this when there isn't a WiFi connection (out of range, problem with connection) and so it then starts to eat into the data allowance.

Is there any good way to prevent this from happening?

I'd considered a couple of options:

• Prevent certain Apps from being able to use mobile data at all (not just background data).
• Set a maximum limit for mobile data per day (so that it would cut out before she used too much)

I think the first option could be done with a Firewall App, although I've not really found a good option that I like.

The best I've found for the second option is a warning when a certain threshold is exceeded, but that's not really what I want. Any standard restrictions on maximum usage all seem to work on a monthly cycle, which is no good - as that just stops you going over your monthly allowance. I want to be able to prevent data from being used by accident on any given day.

Has anyone got any suggestions on how best to solve this? Hoping to avoid less practical solutions like only giving her a separate device which doesn't contain a mobile SIM.

The phones in question are both android OS and are not rooted.

 

[div0]

Hoping to avoid less practical solutions like only giving her a separate device which doesn't contain a mobile SIM.

I realise that a WiFi-only device like a tablet would potentially solve the problem, but it would still be nice to be able to let her use our phones without having this one particular issue.

 

[div0]

Prevent Youtube from using mobile data.

How?

The only option I can find is to prevent it from using background data. But I would need to prevent it using any mobile data (including foreground).

 

[div0]

Is it iOS or Android?

You can do it on iOS under the mobile data settings.

Both phones are Android (will update OP).

 

[div0]

Can't you just check if there's Wifi before giving her the phone to play with?

We could do, but there's no guarantee of a 2-3 year old staying in one place for any length of time. WiFi coverage around the house is patchy in places, which is where I think the problem is mostly coming from.

Or turn off mobile data before handing it over.

Certainly an option, but it would be easier if we didn't have to keep manually swapping settings back and forth, which is why I thought I'd see if there were any good ideas here.

(was a bit surprised to see, upon checking, that YT doesn't have a no-mobile-streaming option. Slack, that)

Me too. Would make things so easy if you could enable/disable mobile data option within each app.

 

[div0]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like something based around the firewall solution like netguard would be the best bet.

For the tablet suggestions, we already have one which is normally what she uses, but I still wanted to see what options there might be for solving the mobile data issue on the occasions where we might give her a phone instead.

 

[div0]

I'd be wary about letting your kid just roam free on youtube kids

https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2

That's a loooong read!

But we certainly don't allow her to roam free on anything. The issue is just with using mobile data unexpectedly instead of WiFi, which is not something you can easily spot when there's a video playing full screen. And it's something which would be helpful to know we didn't have to think about if it could be restricted/prevented automatically.