FamilyMode is the all-in-one family safety solution that can help you locate your family in real-time and improve online habits for your kids across devices. From pausing Internet access for dinner, to rewarding good grades with more screen time, FamilyMode helps make digital parenting easier.
We’ve added some new features:
WORRY LESS ABOUT A LOST DEVICE
Find a lost phone by ringing it
LET YOUR FAMILY KNOW YOU NEED HELP
Send out an SOS alert with the touch of a button
STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FAMILY
Check-in and share your location with the touch of a button
While keeping the features you’ve come to rely on:
SET HEALTHY DIGITAL HABITS
Set time limits for your kids, pause Internet access, or give screen time as a reward
STAY IN THE KNOW WITH REAL-TIME LOCATION
Know where your kids are and the path that they took to get there
SET CONTENT FILTERS.
Use pre-set or custom filters to help ensure your kids only see age-appropriate content online
Not reliable or accurate. I’ve tried this app out for a little under a year and the same issues continue to occur. It stops locating the devices even while the VPNs are still active. It also stops managing time/bedtime/filters as well. No alerts to tell you it’s failed or can’t locate, sync, talk with device either. You are basically clueless until you go into the app. Huge waste of money.
This app causes the phone to slow, it drains the battery WAY quicker than normal, and it doesn’t even work properly. Tracking the location doesn’t work as it should, the Wi-Fi blocking doesn’t actually block the Wi-Fi, it only slows the phone down (which is done as soon as you download the app). To top this off if you want anything to work you must restart the phone everytime something isn’t working as it should. I wouldn’t be surprised if I need a new phone after this.
When it works, it’s great! But more often than not it doesn’t work. I gave up using it for my son’s iPhone. The XBOX is sporadic. I’m constantly reinstalling the app, or having to reset parental controls. So, overall I’m probably going to cancel the service and happily throw the box I bought in the garbage. It’s a shame, because the potential to help parents is so high, but the frustrating inconsistencies outweigh everything.
Hard to set up. Took it to TMobile for them to set it up and they couldn’t figure it out either. Find out it’s not just me, the app is scheduled for an update on May 24th due to others unable to set up as well. As of the 27th no update. Been paying for months and never been able to use it. Thanks TMoble. I recomend getting a different app, this one is terrible.
This app is the worst. Can’t even get on anything without the main screen popping up. Happened 7 times while I was typing this. The bedtime doesn’t do much, it doesn’t do anything to keep them asleep, and if someone wants to play an offline game, it won’t interfere. It’s been messing with my calls to, been talking to someone really important when it just cuts my volume and microphone. This is by far the worst parental control app I’ve experienced.
When we first got the app it was working great, but since the last update the only thing that works properly is the bedtime setting and time usage block. His location cuts off and only shows if he is actively using the phone instead of all the time which it used to do, which kind of defeats the purpose of me paying extra to have this feature since it doesn’t work. It’s very irritating.
I do not recommend this app to anyone. It not only slows your connection to the internet, but when you disconnect from it, you are continually spammed with requests to connect. The app opens on its own to ask and if you don’t connect, it just does it again! Not to mention the fact that you cannot access Google! Annoying and a wast of space.
Worthless. This app NEVER works, and does not deliver on any of its promises. I have spent hours w/ tech support & repeatedly deleting & setting up the app again bc the VPN drops every few days. If you change the settings it doesn’t update or work at all. You can block apps, but then they just log in thru the website. This app is just trash. If it was free I would figure you get what you pay for, but for the monthly fee, it is criminal to have such a sub par product from a big provider.
I’ve called T-Mobile twice, waited on near eternal hold, listened to garbled country hold music, been transferred to tech support in another country where English isn’t their strong point. More important than all that is that the interface for the app is illogical and in no way intuitive. No wonder the app’s rating is so low. Please scrap it and start fresh. Finally got a US rep but her lack of knowledge plus her heavy breathing into her microphone made me think I was receiving a crank phone call from decades past.
This app has changed fundamentally several times, but in its latest iteration it is awful. The app Performs its work by installing a pseudo VPN onto the child device and filters online content via the VPN pipeline. Here is the rub. It doesn’t control phone calls at all, and doesn’t seem to block SMS either. So the app only controls data. Plus you can circumvent it by simple restarting the phone. There is nearly a 30 second gap of unfiltered content until the VPN turns on, allowing apps to sync.
I don’t even want to give it a star. It absolutely messes with the phone. Everything worked slow. I followed the directions and tried to troubleshoot. My son couldn’t access wifi after. The allowances are free with mode. Worthless. You aren’t able to set your own schedule and their schedule doesn’t even fit most family’s schedules. Google Family Link is free and actually works. Even set your own schedule.
causes crashes and for my phone to stop working at random, no matter what I do it doesnt seem to be able to tell the difference between whether or not to block or allow certain websites or apps, social media especially making them completely stop to function even when theyre set to be allowed, the app is fine but the VPN needs to be fixed so it doesnt cause your phone to be quite literally worthless without a hard reset or resetting it a million times a day
Worked fine at the beginning, now it can’t find the location. Everything is set up correctly, it just doesn’t work. Update 10/8/22: it got better but a couple days ago,it started doing the same: loggin me off and my child also and we have to redo everything again. I think I will have to cancel subscription.
This was a great tool to help both with setting limits and restrictions for my kids. 2years back, HOWEVER, over the last 2 years it has become increasingly obsolete & cumbersome to use. The updates given made the usability worse & app ineffective, including allowing the iPhone to allow not to be monitored & offload the app. The absolutely inept “pause” internet feature has no effect on newer iPhones. The bed time or time limits no longer work because the monitoring no longer actually works.
We’ve been having issues with the location being accurate. The child can still be operating apps after shutdown time. Store employees are useless with this app. Need to train store employees on apps that are made by T-Mobile!! Customer service is a call center in Manila Philippines that struggles to understand English. Why should I have to delete the app and re-install it? I’m paying for this, and I shouldn’t have to deal with this. I also use this app to track my child in this crazy world.
I had to cancel my family plan because the app just does not work. It will not allow me to sign in and when it did work, it was spotty
Will not recognize this app is very very stupid I hate it and as a child writing this and if you’re a parent seeing this we’re not recommend to any parents this it slows down your internet speed it never works and before I had it everything’s working perfectly normal and nothing was interfering but as soon as I got it boom everything went down you I think this app should I I just don’t like it basically just doesn’t want me to do anything I can’t play games
This app sucks, the battery runs out way faster and i can’t delete it, so I switched my phone plans to Verizon and still can’t get it off my phone.
Use to be a great app, but since uodate in the beginning of 2022, it started to not work as well and then around May 2022, it quit! Won’t let me login, won’t accept my bring rge primary account holder, I am and it did before. Tells me I need to oay 10$ a month to join, but won’t let me and I’m already paying 10 a month. Contacted customer service 5 weeks ago ticket made and still no anwser or notification. They don’t know I don’t know, guess I will just pay 3rd part or an app that works!!!
They don’t mention that this free app is $10 a month until you download it. No thanks. There are free products that do the same thing. It’s $10 and they use all of your data to sell.
This app is useless. Continues to disconnect from parent phone we have go in to the kid’s phone at least every two days to reactivate the app.
If zero star reviews were a thing…. It should be called halfway kids mode instead of family mode. Parent accounts are the only ones who can see anyone’s location like knowing where mom is should be top secret and while you can pause and set bedtime it’s only for the internet like talking or texting all night isn’t a thing. Verizon might overcharge but at least had the freedom to shut down all but family numbers at certain periods when needed.
Pixel 6 pro with Samsung A32s…over 24 hours and never showed the A32s actual location. The A32s had poor Duo phone reception. Took off the kids phones.
This app keeps spaming my apps even when I’m not using it. Even I powered it it still took time off. This app is really fishy, don’t recommend getting it.
Lost the ability to delete devices! The T-Mobile FamilyMode HomeBase automatically adds every device that uses your WiFi. So every guest, every device you no longer use or own, will remain in the list of devices forever! My FamilyMode App currently has over eighty devices in it…and growing. I’ve been on with T-Mobile support with no resolution.
This app worked ok before the update, the location was very intermittent. Now the location is much better, but it nolonger tracks how much online time is used, so the time limits that are set don’t work. I went into the store and had the app re-installed and checked all my settings and it didn’t help. The bed times work, and I can pause the internet. The only issue is the internet times which is one of the main reasons I have this app. Please fix!
A little disappointed. My daughter’s home location puts her next door. I had decided to pay for this app thinking it would work better than 360. I also liked that I could pause her internet whenever I wanted to. I was getting notifications from 360 but not Familymode. The interface could be smoother. There is not much description explaining the options. Not worth the money. Probably going to cancel and go back to 360.
I always have issues with it not working and I have to uninstall and reinstall it repeatedly.
When I first purchased and installed it was great but like all the others I’ve tried, over time it went downhill. I have to constantly uninstall and reinstall because it stops working. The app now says there is a problem with the app and directly sends me to an optimal page to log in. It doesn’t deactivate the VPN from having my teen turning it off so it’s pretty useless now that she’s figured it out. PLEASE FIX THESE ISSUES!!
This app was fine at first, to pause the internet, apps and set limits. But my daughter is 12 and figured out how to beat the app. She has been turning off her VPN So I can’t track her location. Since turning off her VPN on her phone I noticed the apps that I wanted paused she can still access them without any problems. It was a nice run, but I think I’ll save my 10 dollars a month.
App keeps saying his phone hasn’t communicated and we have to uninstall and reinstall the app for it to work. Do better T-Mobile. UPDATE: reduced to one star due to having to Uninstall and reinstall app multiple times because it blocks all internet and network access on phone for no reason (even with no limits set). These problems continue to persist and I will be looking for an alternative in the meantime.
I can’t even play my games anymore. My wifi is always so bad. Like ok you can use it to track my phone but you there’s other apps for that. And the bedtime is basically a screen time and parents can set that up differently. Our phones comes with that option. I can’t even make phone calls after my bedtime start. What happens if im kidnapped. How am supposed to call for help.
Absolute garbage. It breaks the alarms you set, it slows wifi connection, spams you with ‘connecting to VPN’, opens the app constantly, and even after to deny it’s permissions it keeps asking you to turn them back on. I hate it, it’s slow, annoying, and if anything if doesn’t do what it’s meant to.
My experience with this app has been horrible. The restrictions that were set for me came with time limits. These time limits are off, I believe this is a major glitch with the app. When I need to use the internet for homework purposes my Wi-Fi is completely off. I have no acsses to the internet at times. When my phone shows that I do have internet access, apps that I am permitted to use, Snapchat for example, never work. It is frustrating, I feel shut out from my friends.
(I’m a teenager) my mom put the app on, and it stops anything from loading like internet, instagram, music, youtube. I have to turn the wifi on and off so it disconnects for about a second so the phone can work how it should, then, AND ONLY THEN, am I able to load anything. and on top of that, it gives “connecting to vpn” all the time. if your a kid with it, restart the phone for a brief 1-2 min period of actuall use. and the BEST part is I get 1 hour of screen time. cant update any apps too.
IF I get logged in its only after logging in twice EVERY TIME. Not wrong password, I have to login to two different screens. I have not yet been able to locate a family member. System just spins & spins. Haven’t even gotten the Family Home thing out of box I’m so disappointed. The old app at least located my family.
There used to be a time when T-Mobile allowed you to shut off everything except for calling and texting on a phone. That’s all I really want. They took that option away and now they have this family mode thing that really doesn’t work especially on iPhones. Sometimes newer is not better. Just bring back the old option please.
the app has issues. this was not tested enough before rolling it out. if your child has an app open on their phone when bedtime, offtime or pause is enabled they are still able to use it. they actually have to click on the notification from family mode for the change to occur. this is a MAJOR FLAW! no child is going to so that and if they do, they will only do it once when they figure out that is how the family mode is enabled. THIS NEEDS TO BE AN AUTOMACTIC SETTING. Please address this issue!!
Using this as a child on the account. Once installed, this app shut down everything on my phone whether my parents had my phone paused or shut off or not. My parents and I had no idea what to do and the app wouldn’t allow anyone to disable or uninstall it. I have to write this from a computer. I can’t access the internet, use anything that requires WiFi, and my phone slowed to a crawl after this app was installed even though it once ran perfectly. DO NOT GET THIS APP!!!!!!!!
Worked ok for the first day. Now I can’t open the app on my phone or my kid’s phone. It keeps crashing. And the location feature doesn’t work anymore either. And yes, the location IS turned on. I really hope this gets fixed soon because I’m paying for a service and I’m unable to use it fully.