Humor & Quirks
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., & EMERYVILLE, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--The wireless phone is the number one tool teens use to communicate. More than 75 percent of children ages 12-17 now own a wireless phone.1 With many schools banning wireless phone use during class time and family dinners being interrupted with texts, parents are looking for solutions to help teens use their phone responsibly.
"We are excited to be launching another service with Sprint"
Sprint (NYSE: S) announced today new Sprint Mobile Controls powered by Safely, a division of Location Labs, that will allow parents to see rich graphical representations of how their family calls, texts and use applications and to lock phones remotely at specific times.
Sprint Mobile Controls, along with Sprint Family Locator, Sprint Drive First and Safely Social Monitor powered by Safely, are part of a suite of family services offered by Sprint to help parents better stay connected to their children and help protect their physical and virtual safety.
Parents can sign up and learn more about Sprint Mobile Controls by visiting [ www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols ]. Key services that are available include:
- Easy-to-read dashboard of phone usage, including voice and text messages broken down by time of day.
- Seeing who your son or daughter has been calling or texting recently a" and how often.
- Quickly and easily setting phone use limits by time of day and day of week.
- Establishing an allowed list of phone numbers from which your child can receive a call or text.
- Seeing a list of your childas contacts with an associated picture ranked by overall texting and calling activity.
- Viewing what apps your child is downloading to their phone.
- Choosing up to three anytime apps that your child can use when their device is locked.
- Ability to set optional alerts.
- Allowing your child to override phone restrictions in case of an emergency.
- Setting alert notifications for new contacts, or School Hours and Late Night time periods.
- Setting Watchlist contacts: Receive alert notifications when your child communicates with a Watchlist contact.
aSprint is pleased to give parentsa tools and information to help better manage their teenas and familiesa wireless usage,a said Fared Adib, vice president-Product Development, Sprint. aWith Sprint Mobile Controls, Sprint Drive First and Sprint Family Locator, Sprint offers parents a comprehensive and innovative suite of applications to ensure their teen is using their wireless phone responsibly.a
Sprint Mobile Controls is available on all Sprint CDMA Android smartphones for $4.99 per month per line and includes a 30-day free trial. At the end of the trial, customers will be charged the $4.99 monthly rate unless they cancel service at [ www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols ]. The service will be offered to BlackBerry devices and other operating systems in the coming months.
aWe are excited to be launching another service with Sprint,a said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Location Labs, creator of Safely. aSprint Mobile Controls leverages our mobile platform, strengthens our longstanding relationship with Sprint, and gives parents greater confidence about letting their kids engage with mobile phones.a
Sprint Family Locator
Sprint Family Locator is a location-based service that uses Sprint's state-of-the-art GPS technology to enable a parent to use a phone or PC to locate a childas phone on a map. The service also gives the address, surrounding landmarks and accuracy of the phone's location within a specified radius. Parents can also set up safety checks that alert them if their child is not at a designated location at a specific time. Sprint Family Locator costs $5 per month to locate up to four phones. For more information and to register, visit [ www.sprint.com/familylocator ].
Sprint Drive First
Sprint Drive First is an application that automatically locks a mobile phone when a car is moving more than 10 mph, disabling phone functionality, directing incoming calls to voice mail, and silencing distracting alerts for emails and text messages. Anyone texting the driver will receive an automated message indicating the person they texted is driving. A locked device displays a home screen with exit and emergency 911 buttons to override the app. Sprint Drive First can be overridden if the user is a passenger in a car, on a bus or train, but the parent or account holder can choose to receive notifications when the service is overridden. Sprint Drive First costs $2 per month. For more information and to register, visit [ www.sprint.com/drivefirst ].
Safely Social Monitor
Safely Social Monitor is a free service offered exclusively to Sprint customers. With Safely, parents can monitor their childas Facebook activities, including viewing their friend list, see who they speak to most frequently and the ages and gender of their friends. They also can view newly posted photos of their child and receive alerts when certain phrases are used or when they are tagged in photos. This will help parents quickly intervene when necessary to keep their child safe. Safely Social Monitor is part of the Safely family of services. For more information and to register, visit [ www.safely.com ].
Supporting Resources:
- Sprint Mobile Controls website: [ www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols ]
- Sprint Mobile Controls video: [ www.youtu.be/watch?v=JXmCNBV55CI ]
- Sprint Family Locator website: [ www.sprint.com/familylocator ]
- Sprint DriveFirst website: [ www.sprint.com/drivefirst ]
- Safely Social Monitor website: [ www.safely.com ]
- Sprint 4NetSafety program: [ www.4netsafety.com ]
About Safely
Established in 2011, Safely is a division of Location Labs and provides services that enhance the personal security of millions of families. Nearly a dozen Tier 1 wireless carrier services are powered by Safely, helping parents to keep tabs on loved ones through mobile alerts and online activity reports.
Safely includes: Safely Locate, a mobile location service available via AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere; Safely Drive, the only carrier-grade, patent-pending safe-driving service on the market, available via Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus; Safely Phone Controls, the most advanced mobile phone remote control and usage analytics service, available via Sprint Mobile Controls; and Safely Social Monitor, an online service that helps parents stay informed about kidsa social network activities.
Location Labs has raised $26 million in venture financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), QUALCOMM Ventures, Intel Capital, and Mitsui Ventures and was named to Inc.as 500/5000 list of Americaas Fastest Growing Private Companies in both 2010 and 2011. For more information: [ http://www.Safely.com ] and [ http://www.LocationLabs.com ].
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 53 million customers at the end of 3Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index showed Sprint is the #1 most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the last three years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nationas greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at [ www.sprint.com ] or [ www.facebook.com/sprint ] and [ www.twitter.com/sprint ].
1According to Pew Internet research study.