Block apps at bedtime and study time

Phones are hardest to put down at the moments you most want them gone: homework, dinner and the last hour before sleep. A routine in Qustodio is a set of rules that switches on for exactly those windows and switches off again by itself.

Inside a routine you decide what stays reachable. Block the games and social apps, keep a dictionary or a messaging app with the grandparents open, and leave the rest of the day untouched. Apps are blocked by category on computers and tablets, so new downloads fall under the same rule.

Routines can be switched between easily, so a school-night routine and a weekend routine can sit side by side. Pausing the internet is there as the blunt option for the evenings when a routine is not enough.

Sleep is the reason most families set this up. Qustodio describes routines as a way to encourage healthy sleep patterns, and a charging phone outside the bedroom does the rest.

Sit down with your child and agree the hours together; a rule they helped write gets challenged less. Opening a free Qustodio account covers one device and includes a trial of Premium features, which is where custom routines live.

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