Effective Parental/Self Control Solutions for Android?

[jane]

I don’t know; but I would be surprised if that is the case.

After all, this solution is a way to overrule depending solely on self-discipline.

[Archer]

If the waiting periode for overrule is long enough, then its resistant against impulsive behavior

[jane]

Sure. And if your need/reason to unlock before end of time is that urgent, this is probably not a solution for you.

[Archer]

Its not very important, cause if I there is an emergency that requires to open the box, I could probably force open the box with a hammer or something similar.

Would still nice to have something like a secondary opening method

[User53]

@PurpleDime

makes a valid point. Parenting alone is not enough. Even the best parents will come short, because there’s no such thing as a perfect parent. No parent knows everything. No parents can teach their kids everything. Other institutions like school and the right government policies matter. They have a role to play.

Instead of making stupid laws, the government should support software that allows parents who want to regulate their kids to do so in a effective way.

[Colter]

@anon16377614

NextDNS

Can DNS blocking be used when a VPN is active?

[anon16377614]

If you’re on Android yes Private DNS overrides a
VPN
MacOS also allows you to override a VPN dns via a mobileconfig file but from my testing it’s inconsistent

But then problem you then have to worry about is other browsers or whatever apps own DNS based solutions

if you’re on iOS sadly no. You have to depend on your VPNs implementations for custom dns which only iVPN has a good implementation or a custom wireguard file

Im not sure about Windows or Linux as I have not used them in a while

[Kabo]

@ThePrivacyDad

It seems that as the manager of the device, you’ll always be able to find a work-around to beat the app.

@sha123

Depends on how you define “rooted” and “verified boot”. You won’t get the same verified boot on a general purpose Linux as on Android, since Android minimizes trust in persistent state, which is very important for protection against malicious persistence. On Linux even small things like maliciously editing a systemd service file can fully compromise your OS and a reboot won’t safe you. Even if you have secure boot with UKI and dm-verity for /usr, it won’t protect you against this and the only thing it could offer is a somewhat safe reset by deleting all mutable data. On more narrowly purposed devices, like a server or IoT device, you could get meaningful verified boot by discarding all privileged state on reboot.

Can Immutable distributions solve this?

[Libre_Software_Enjoyer]

@Kabo

@sha123

Depends on how you define “rooted” and “verified boot”. You won’t get the same verified boot on a general purpose Linux as on Android, since Android minimizes trust in persistent state, which is very important for protection against malicious persistence. On Linux even small things like maliciously editing a systemd service file can fully compromise your OS and a reboot won’t safe you. Even if you have secure boot with UKI and dm-verity for /usr, it won’t protect you against this and the only thing it could offer is a somewhat safe reset by deleting all mutable data. On more narrowly purposed devices, like a server or IoT device, you could get meaningful verified boot by discarding all privileged state on reboot.

Can Immutable distributions solve this?

Immutable distros often prevent changes to system files.
On this regard, SecureBlue is probably the best distribution

[sha123]

@Libre_Software_Enjoyer

Immutable distros often prevent changes to system files.
On this regard, SecureBlue is probably the best distribution

There is no cryptographic enforcement and its trivial to get persistence as an attacker. Simple example: modify systemd service files.

[B977]

@Libre_Software_Enjoyer

Immutable distros often prevent changes to system files.
On this regard, SecureBlue is probably the best distribution

No Linux distro is as secure as Android, especially with GrapheneOS

[Colter]

@B977

No Linux distro is as secure as Android, especially with GrapheneOS

On Linux, you are always forced to install a lot of apps without any sandbox, that’s the biggest problem

[Expert4870]

Turns out my method has a workaround. I won’t say what it is, but don’t consider it perfect.

The “exploit” allows you to use vanadium in any profile no matter what as long as you know the password to that profile. Ik it’s silly, but if anyone knows it, just don’t say it here in case someone still wants to use my method (I consider it a great solution, but unfortunately not for the OP because they need vanadium anyway)

I can tell you in messages if you want. I would never have found it if someone didn’t tell me, and I’m not happy they told me.

Once MDM is released, it can be patched.

Help me, MDM, you’re my only hope.

[Libre_Software_Enjoyer]

@Expert4870

Once MDM is released, it can be patched.

Help me, MDM, you’re my only hope.

Could MDM enable full Open Source parental control?

[Expert4870]

I would guess that it would be open source because GrapheneOS ships Open Source code and it would be based on the AOSP MDM which needs to be adapted to work without play services because of the lack of privelaged play services.

I’m not sure about what your particular idea of parental control is, but you would likely be able to remove installing apps, remove Vanadium, block websites. Not sure if it would have time based blocking and it probably wouldn’t be as easy to set up as Apple’s screentime.