Parent.Care helps parents see where their children are, how they use their phones and what they’re exposed to. Interviews surfaced a gap in similar apps: switching between children was hard, especially on the move.
Parent.Care is a parental-control app for iOS and Android. It lets parents limit screen time, restrict apps and websites, see where their child is, and watch the content their children meet across messengers and other apps.
I interviewed parents to understand what they expect from a parental app, and built a persona from what they said: a working mother of two.
01Problem
More than one child, no easy way to switch
Almost all the parents interviewed couldn’t switch between their children easily in similar apps — especially on the way to work or on public transport.
02Solution
One home screen, the child always in view
A home screen anchored on the child’s location, with six tools one tap away and the active child shown — and switchable — in the header.
03Outcome
Tested with users
User testing produced hypotheses for the next round of optimisation.
01
Parents with several children couldn’t switch between them quickly in similar apps — most of all on the move.
The home screen puts the active child’s name in the header as a switcher, above a map of where that child is right now. Changing child is one action from the screen parents start on.
02
Parents’ goals spanned location, browsing, messages, calls, apps and screen time — six jobs for one small screen.
The information architecture puts all six on the main screen beneath the live map, so every tool is one tap from where parents begin and the child’s whereabouts stay in view.
03
The persona built from interviews didn’t only want to watch: she wanted to change screen time, block apps and be told when something worrying appeared.
Screen time comes with a blocker, every app has its own switch, and word lists — like this one for alcohol — notify parents when those words appear. Each screen ends in an action.
Taken from interviews to a tested, high-fidelity design.
User testing on the design produced hypotheses for the next round of optimisation.