Microsoft Family Safety Reviews

by SammieBammie1204

I am 25 years old, owned and paid for my own Xbox live account for at least 7 years, bought several games over time, yet only now am I being rejected from downloading games that I OWN because of a mysterious content filter. My live account does indeed display my real age and I had to verify this, wondering why I have child settings on an ADULT ACCOUNT. Live support is completely useless and pulls up several of the same tabs, they offer “web support” as if you could change these random content settings without needing an app ….. WRONG! Here I am, downloading another useless Microsoft app to change one ridiculous setting. Great.

by ShawnZzzzzzzz

I was hoping to see and respond to requests from my kids quickly and easily using an iOS app. Unfortunately it’s not helpful yet. The problem is that when you get a request you can only unblock MicrosoftFamilySafety completely. On the website, you get an option to give access for a specific number of minutes or hours. If I’m goi to unblock all the apps, why bother using Family Security at all? Also an issue is that when the notification pops up and you tap on it, it opens MicrosoftFamilySafety but doesn’t show the newest request.

Once again, it’s clear Microsoft doesn’t use the products they make. I discovered this issue the first time I used MicrosoftFamilySafety . I used to be a big Microsoft fan, but they have gone downhill in the last couple of years. I’ve slowly started moving to all Apple products, but my kids need these machines for schooling.

by SpecialJefferson

MicrosoftFamilySafety should be great in theory. You would expect that Microsoft would provide great tools - I mean they have them to administer large networks and organizations, right? Unfortunately MicrosoftFamilySafety is plagued by odd unexplainable behaviors - websites appear in the white list even though you removed them the day before. MicrosoftFamilySafety limits seem to reset each day… sometimes. Setting a time limit for an app seems to be over ridden by also adding a schedule. The overall devise schedule oddly resets. Blocked apps are still accessible - this is well documented online. It is completely unpredictable. Just do a web search regarding these and other types of problems. If I can’t really on the settings being persistent how can I trust that my parental controls are in place? Come on Microsoft you are better than this!

by Vic3.7

I used MicrosoftFamilySafety to lock my daughter out of the computer until her chores and homework were done. MicrosoftFamilySafety started glitching, not allowing me onto my administrator account. I chose to remove all restrictions, and was still unable to log onto my administrator account. I completely removed my account from MicrosoftFamilySafety , which still did nothing. I contacted customer service, who gave a response showing they didn’t even read the ticket. I explained the problem several times, and they stopped responding altogether. I’m still locked out of my administrator account, and customer service will not help.

by Onetyger

We live in South Carolina and have only been using MicrosoftFamilySafety for a couple of weeks now. Three times already, it has shown my family members to be somewhere in Michigan. It also sometimes shows the most recent location as three days ago, when it should be current. Even when we’re in town, the location is sometimes off by several miles.

My husband relic hunts in fields and woods several counties away at times and I would like to know where to send someone to search if he ever goes missing, gets lost, etc. This definitely wouldn’t help. I also have a 9 year old and would want to keep up with him if he was ever away from home.

by SStygimoloch

MicrosoftFamilySafety is simply terrible. Unintuitive, hard to find functions you’re looking for. And no way to give just one hour of extra time for one day — you have to change the time allocation permanently, then change it back later.

Maybe it will let you do this when the child requests extra time (like the web site does), but why should you have to wait for that request first? And when you do get the request in your email, and click on the link, it doesn’t open MicrosoftFamilySafety — instead it asks if you want to download MicrosoftFamilySafety (which of course I already have installed). Completely useless.

by Tiru117

It doesn’t keep track of time on the computer. My child has been on the computer for a couple of hours and on my phone app it says that 0 minutes have been used out of 60 minutes. But when the time frame is up, it works…until she asks for more time on the computer and I try to approve it from my phone. I approve for any set amount of time and it doesn’t even register. My phone says approved. But she still can’t log on. I have to physically do it from her computer and click on “parent is here” to approve more time. And still, it shows 0 minutes have been used.

by Marine2K6

Very handy app while my children are homeschooled with a computer. But I can’t seem to turn on iPhone notifications for when they ask permission to use a site. They have to come ask me instead, which in some cases is useful, but most times is unnecessary as I’m familiar with the site they are trying to access.

Also an adjustable notification anytime they use the bing search engine with what they typed into search would be incredibly helpful. Thanks and God bless!

by Yenca615

MicrosoftFamilySafety works well for ease of adjusting the parental controls. However, the fact that anyone can open MicrosoftFamilySafety if they have my device without entering a pin of some sort to make the adjustments is frustrating. Especially when children are able to adjust their own time because there is no backup when MicrosoftFamilySafety opens. MicrosoftFamilySafety would receive 5 stars for being more complete. Even other devices require the account password or other pin to even open MicrosoftFamilySafety . I hate having to log out in order to keep my crafty kids from accessing their settings.

by 1001WordsPhoto

MicrosoftFamilySafety really only appears to be good for allowing parents to give their child more time on their devices. But even this function is very limited. On the website, you can allow eight hours, while on MicrosoftFamilySafety , only up to three.

My main complaint is that there is no audio alert to a request from my kids. I get a visible banner, but unless I look at my phone, I have no idea they asked for more time. My boys have started sending the request, and then sending me a text message so my phone rings and I look. Why is there no audio alert?

by Yellohut

I like that MicrosoftFamilySafety makes it easy to see how my kids are using their devices, however the ability to set time limits needs improvement. Specifically, I need to be able to group apps together, instead of individually. Right now there's no way for me to limit the amount of time spent on all games. You have to set each game individually. So when the time runs up for one game, they just jump to another one. I don't want to limit total device time as a work around because they use it for school work.

by Chutch15

MicrosoftFamilySafety does a great job of allowing restrictions on devices that are solely used for gaming (i.e. Xbox). However, many kids use the same PC for schoolwork that they do for gaming. MicrosoftFamilySafety needs a way for parents to group Windows apps into categories then allow them to set the limits on those categories. My use is games vs. non-games. I don’t want to limit Chrome which is used for school but I do want to limit the total time played on games in general, not each individual game. The current paradigm for Windows restrictions does not makes sense. Giving them 4 hours on each game, say for three games, is 12 hours of screen time. I want to set it for 4 hours total. Please make this update! I know a lot of parents need this feature!

by Toroblue1

Would really love for MicrosoftFamilySafety to send notifications when my child requests extra time on the computer instead of sending a request via email to approve. When having to approve via email, I have to sign in to my account through Safari just to confirm. Please allow this feature through MicrosoftFamilySafety instead.

by NotAnotherName!

The interface takes a bit of getting used to but aside from a consistent glitch in the screens for editing/adding/removing allowed time (often takes many taps to bring up the edit mode), MicrosoftFamilySafety does exactly what it should and I find it superior to Apple’s ScrenTime controls for the precise control it allows. Apple has improved steadily, so most of the functionality is available now, as far as I know.

by Roadwarrior1010

Finally I don’t have login to the site every time my kids send a request for additional computer time whenever they run out of their quotas.

**Suggestion**: To the team maintaining/developing MicrosoftFamilySafety, provide the possibility to pause access on demand and not just when the allotted time runs out. It’s a key feature of any parental controls app. e.g. at dinner time all the parent would have to do to bring them to the table is a single click on MicrosoftFamilySafety to pause access. Holding back a star for that feature!

by Klaudia Fisher

I love the convenience of MicrosoftFamilySafety and not having to login, etc. MicrosoftFamilySafety is new and obviously needs some improvement but I’ve seen some good changes since it launched so I trust it’ll get there. The only thing it NEEDS right now is the option to ask for a PIN, password (I love how you can open the Nintendo app with Face ID) cause once your kids discover MicrosoftFamilySafety they can easily unblock apps, websites and remove limits. My sneaky 9 and 7 already figured it out and it’s not fun!

by Ndrblur

I’m so thankful this technology and app exist today, this was not around when I was growing up and I was allowed on tech with no restrictions. I seriously recommend MicrosoftFamilySafety for any parent, it is important for the health of our kids as we can set schedules, timers, and lock the computer when’s it time to eat. I would like the ability to have the option to remotely shut down the computer, I would use this if the kids forgot to turn of the computer.

by Wonderlessage

I have used Screentime app on iPad and iPhone. My kids are able to come up with various work-arounds incessantly to the point that it is less than 50% useful. Ms Family is doing great! The children have never found any bugs or loopholes to go beyond their quota. I am just hoping that MS can add a little more features such as showing what time the kids have accessed which app. But overall, it is highly effective and I highly recommend it to any parents who are concerned about their children’s screen time!

by Blue Moonlight

MicrosoftFamilySafety is very useful for helping keep screen time wrangled in our household, especially with how much time we’ve had to spend at home lately.

I would appreciate more granularity in the “schedule of available times” - half-hour increments are good, but I’d like to be able to align it a little more closely with school schedules (I.e. if school starts at 8:30, I’d like to be able to unlock the computer at 8:25, not 8:00 or 8:30).

by Mattpizza

It works exactly as it’s intended to. It’s a great way to simply monitor and limit my children’s activity. And I like how it can set individual limits to specific apps/programs.

I don’t see any security risk since the only way to access MicrosoftFamilySafety is on my phone that has a password. If parents choose to give their children the password to their phone or pin to their profile that’s their fault if the kids access the controls.

by MrMasterMister

Really? I went install this on my kids device...an iPad...an I discovered a lack of iPadOS support. Ridiculous. I could not install it because TestFlight isn’t supported for his age otherwise I would have provided that feedback there.

All other Microsoft apps support iPadOS.

by Bladedude

MicrosoftFamilySafety needs to pull existing info from account/web BEFORE applying new settings. This new app broke/blocked all existing settings.
App needs to allow time through midnight. Currently can only set a time limit UP TO MIDNIGHT.

by Aaqq111

Need ability to set and adjust total screen time within MicrosoftFamilySafety , as well as to set more granular controls for individual apps. Right now, can only block or unblock apps - need to allow scheduled blocks, (e.g. can play from 1pm till 3pm) or app by app time limits (e.g. 2 hours per day to use MicrosoftFamilySafety).

by Drewsterblue

I like it but I’m not going to use it over apples similar thing. Also I can’t use all of the features in iPhone as you can on android.

by LumiaTommy

I got to say that this is a very good app for parents with kids. MicrosoftFamilySafety is on Android as well so it works great for families with different devices (the Microsoft Launcher can be used on Android for activity monitoring). It's also easier than going to the Microsoft account website when setting limits or just checking activity on Windows and Xbox devices.

Even if the members in your Microsoft Family group are all adults, MicrosoftFamilySafety is still useful. The location sharing can help you know where others are at and where you are. Which is why it's good that this available for both Android and iOS (this could also be used to find a lost phone as well).