Digital parenting: Parental control of school-issued devices

Jamf School is an ideal management tool in today’s modern digital classroom. To make you more aware of the capabilities with Jamf School, we’ll suggest some tips that you can benefit from going forward.

Previously we talked about:

• Enhancing the education experience with Jamf School (Tips for teachers)

Brief introduction to Jamf Parent parental control app

In short, Jamf Parent is an app parents can use to control their children's school-issued devices.

Using Jamf Parent, you can do many things that protect your child online. Create locations so you can always view the approximate location of their device or allow and restrict apps so you can choose which apps your child can use. This can even be done in multiple ways, depending on location or time.

This video explains Jamf Parent and how to use it.

If you'd like more in-depth information, please read our product documentation for Jamf Parent for Jamf School.

Device rules and time restrictions with Jamf Parent

Device Rules come in handy if you would like to schedule several rules for a set period of time that occur regularly; for example, the availability of specific apps or device functionalities during homework time or bedtime.

Simply navigate to the Device Rules tab and select Create Device Rules. Here, you can choose if you want the rule to be applied when the device is in motion, at a set location, or simply on a chosen day and time. In the next step you can choose which app category to restrict. For example, social media, when you don’t want your child on TikTok while they should be studying.

When you’re happy with the device rule, you can set the day and time when the rule should be active and finish it by giving it a proper name. That’s it.

Take a look at how device rules look like when applied on your child’s device.

Before you can use Jamf Parent, your child’s school must use Jamf School and grant you access to Jamf Parent. They have the ability to decide what days and times you’re able to apply rules to the device, to prevent parental controls from interfering with in-class activities . It is, however, possible and useful to gain full management access during holidays and weekends when your child is at home during daytime.

How to access Jamf Parent parental controls

As mentioned before, the school needs to grant you access to Jamf Parent. This can be done by signing in with the login credentials that they provide or by scanning the QR code that automatically displays on your child’s device when opening the Jamf School Student app. That’s it; you have now permissions to manage your child’s school-issued device with your own device.

For step-by-step instructions on how to add your child’s device to Jamf Parent, please read the product documentation for Jamf Parent.

You can also use Jamf Parent via your Apple watch! This makes it possible and simple to limit app usage or device functionality right from your wrist.

What if you don’t have an Apple iOS device to make best use of the parent app? Well, the Jamf Parent portal can be accessed from any device with a web browser, and has all the same features and functionality to manage your child’s iPad. Access has to be requested from the School IT department rather than using a QR code.

Is your child’s school not using Jamf School yet, but you’re interested in all of its capabilities after reading this blog post? Share this with the school. They're just one click away from a free trial to explore everything Jamf School can do for them -- and for you.