Published on April 13th, 2013 | by Sedgrid Lewis
0Android App Review: MamaBear Parenting App
Summary: Great app for Tweens and young teenagers. Allows you to monitor Instagram and Facebook along with GPS Tracking
3 stars
Parental monitoring apps have gained widespread popularity based upon the increased number of children that own smart phones . Smart phones are no longer owned by teenagers. Children from the ages of 8-13 own smart phones. This is why the new app MamaBear is so popular. It is one of the few monitoring apps that marry location based apps with social media based monitoring apps.
The Set Up
In order to set up the app the parent (Mama Bear) has to download the app from Google Play. After downloading the app, the app prompts parents to set up an account and user profile for their child. The next step is for the parent to download the app to their child’s phone. After downloading, both phones are now able to communicate with each other. It is important to note that MamaBear is not designed as a spy app. Your child will know that the app is on their phones. If you want to perform covert monitoring, then MamaBear is not the best fit.
GPS
Like most location based apps, parents can monitor their child’s location and speed with MamaBear. MamaBear App uses Google Maps for it’s map of choice. While testing the GPS feature, there were some issues with accuracy. This is to be expected when using cell phone based GPS applications. Cell phone GPS signals are spotty at best and do not provide any long term reliability. If you need long term reliability then we suggest that you purchase a GPS child tracker
Push Notification
The push notification features on the child phone is very simple to operate. It allows for the child to make a quick call to a parent or send a quick pick me up alert. It is great for Tweens that are active in extra curricular activities. It also has an emergency push notification.
Social Media Monitoring
One of the best features of MamaBear is the ability to monitor Facebook and Instagram. It is easy for parents to monitor friends of their children and also be alerted to uploaded pictures. This feature is critical since a lot of children post explicit and illegal pictures on Instagram. You must know your child’s social media passwords for this feature to work. You also need to make sure your child does not have any fake Facebook or Instagram accounts. MamaBear also has a restricted word feature that parents can set up to prevent Cyberbullying
MamaBear earns high marks for it’s robust social monitoring features. It is by far the best app on the market that combines social media and GPS monitoring. The only concern is that MamaBear is not age appropriate for older teens (16-19). This age group would be able to circumvent some of the main features. MamaBear is perfect for tweens or first time cell phone users. Based upon MamaBear’s marketing efforts, younger children is the target.
About the Author
Sedgrid Lewis Sedgrid Lewis is the founder of Spy Parent LLC. He is an internationally recognized safety expert specializing in surveillance equipment, internet monitoring software, and mobile applications for parents and child care professionals. Sedgrid has been highlighted in over 20 major publications. Sedgrid has been covered by Fox News, CBS News, NBC News, Readwrite, Gizmodo, and many more. He is a contributor to Your Teen Magazine.
