It’d be hard to come up with a product that made more of an impact in as many people’s lives as the iPhone did when it went on sale in 2007. It literally changed the way people used cell phones and we finally had a true portable computer which even had internet access. The iPhone 4 took it to a whole new level with it’s incredible screen and HD cameras. But like a lot of great products, the iPhone has a dark side.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has repeatedly said he wanted to keep the iPhone porn free and for the most part Apple has backed this up by not approving “adult” (btw, I hate that term as much as I do calling a strip club a ‘gentleman’s’ club. Trust me, you won’t find a real gentleman within five miles of the joint) apps. But Jobs fails to acknowledge the easiest way for porn to get on an iPhone is through the Safari web browser.
Unfortunately, Apple does not provide any way to filter content on Safari. That means any guy can surf to content, huddled over his iPhone on 3G so there’s fewer ways for it to be traced, that he never would on his home or work computer. That’s why I came up with a few easy steps you can take to protect yourself or your teenager who has an iPhone.
These steps are not 100% foolproof, you can get around them if you try hard enough. My goal is to make it difficult enough and time consuming enough to get to porn that you’ll lose interest and the temptation will pass before you can actually see anything.
The first step is to use a little known option of iOS, Restrictions. Go to utilities-settings-general-restrictions. The first thing you do is have a friend or spouse set the passcode for you.
Next go in and turn off the following:
Safari
Installing Apps
In-app purchases
Now you won’t be able to do any of these actions without the passcode.
While you’re in this screen, set the ratings level for all of your content.
The next step is to install a replacement web browser. I’ve tested several and I really like Mobicip. It looks and functions just like Safari. You can find it in the app store and it will be the best five bucks you’ll spend this year. You use their website to set the filtering level and this something you should let the same person who set your passcode handle for you.
One drawback to using a third party browser is you won’t be able to just click on links in Twitter, Facebook, and emails. You’ll have to copy and paste them directly into the browser. Pain in the butt? Yep, but worth it.
Those are the big steps but here’s a few more that will restrict your access to porn no matter what computer you’re on.
Set Google’s SafeSearch settings in Preferences.
Set YouTube filter settings. To disable the viewing of porn videos on YouTube, simply sign into your YouTube account, and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Select SAFETY MODE, click on the ‘off’ link and you will bevshown the options to enable the filtering of unsafe videos.
Also, set the filter levels for media services like Flickr and Netflix.
BTW, all of this works on the iPad as well.
Again there are ways around any of these steps so the best line of defense is your own behavior.
I love my iPhone but I also know it can be a little like walking around with this
That’s why you and I have to be careful! Trust me, you won’t regret the money you’ll spend doing this or the inconvience.
