Parental controls

[BulliesSuck]

I'm using smart limits on my 12 year old daughter's phone. With shared custody, I don't always have hands on access to her phone. I'm concerned and wanted to know if there's any way to read texts and listen to voicemails she has received from certain numbers since she has been threatened and bullied as of recent via calls and texts.

[David606]

Not without the phone is your possession. You can listen to voicemails by getting the retrieval number and calling it from another phone. However if whoever has possession of the phone deletes a voicemail then it won't be available. Texts only come into the device itself. SmartLimits allows you to set restrictions but you can't read the actual texts. 

[lizdance40 · Accepted solution]

Please teach your daughter how to block numbers on her phone that are not in her contact list.  

Make sure your ex knows how to do this also.

ATT messages back up and sync would allow you access to text on another device, like computer.  

Ideally, preventing calls and texts from unknown, non contacts would be the best option.

I think the paid subscription smart limits does prevent incoming calls from non contacts.

Adding an app like DU Caller, or using ATT call protect might be helpful.  DU Caller is a bit of a nuisance (fiddle with settings to avoid pop up for contact calls). but it can limit incoming calls to contacts only.  Blocked calls will still show in the call logs on the phone and bill.   There is a less annoying app called Hiya, but I am still testing it.  It does not limit calls to contacts only.

no perfect options.    

[BulliesSuck]

I figured I wouldn't be able to read any texts on her phone unless I had access to it. But it never hurts to ask. Thank you

[BulliesSuck]

I appreciate the options to try with her phone. My daughter is very good with knowing how to use her phone for blocking and so on. The unfortunate thing being the harassment came from known contacts in her phone. I have blocked these numbers through the smart limits app and I will be looking into setting it for blocking unknown numbers as well. Thank you