Microsoft Edge for Android now lets parents block their kids‘ access to the same sites that are filtered in their family group. MSN Kids has been unveiled as well to provide curated content to minors.
Parental control often figured in Microsoft’s recent chain of updates to its variety of devices including Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One. The software giant has today announced a new feature for Microsoft Edge on Android that builds upon those family settings.
The Edge browser for Android devices has been updated with the site blocking feature, which has already been available for Windows 10 PC users. The latest update to the Android version of Edge prevents kids from gaining access to the same roster of websites that are filtered in your Microsoft family group settings. That means children won’t be able to open those blocked websites once they try to enter their URL in the web address bar on their Android device starting today.
Microsoft also unveiled the preview version of MSN Kids, a children-oriented news site curated for the elementary and middle school age group. MSN Kids contains age-appropriate news content from partner publishers including Time for Kids, Popular Science, Sports Illustrated for Kids, National Geographic, and USA TODAY.
Shilpa Ranganathan, general manager of Microsoft Mobile Experiences, said in a blog post that the kid-friendly news site allows children to find information about animals and the world around them with no advertising of sorts.
More than a week ago, Microsoft released a feature update for the Xbox One family of consoles, version 1805, which includes improved parental controls with a Details page in the setting.
Earlier this month, Microsoft also rolled out an update in beta to its Launcher app on Android meant to let parents view the app activity and last known location of their kids. These parental controls are already available on the Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One devices in which a Microsoft family group is set up.
