Mobile Control

Mobile Control app is designed to restrict access to selected installed apps. User can create both white and black list of the installed apps.

• Select and filter installed apps
• Overall and individual app restriction
• Automatic restart of the app when phone is rebooted
• Sandbox – Allows interaction with selected apps
• Password reminder (emails admin password to the configured email address)
• Automatically launch an allowed app in Sandbox mode
• Protect app against unauthorized uninstall

Mobile control app can be downloaded from:

1. Google Play Market: Use Play Store app to download Mobile Control app or alternatively go to this URL in your browser:

   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vlobe.mobilecontrol.android

2. If you are using Amazon Kindle Fire, you can download the latest version from:

   http://www.amazon.com/Smart-App-Cloud-Android-Parental/dp/B0081HXKGU

3. You can download apk of the latest version of the app directly from here:

   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/54207630/Mobile%20Control%20App/MobileControl.apk

Start the app installation. The app will prompt you with list of required permissions and once you agree it will proceed to the next screen. You should follow the steps below to complete the app installation:

Configure Administrative Password. App is going to show you a page where you should define your administrative password and a password reminder email address that can be used to retrieve your password in case you forgot it:

You should enter your password twice. After you enter your password, scroll down the screen to enter your reminder email address.

Make sure that the email address is valid and that you can securely use it to retrieve your password. If the entered passwords and email addresses do not match (the second entries) or are not valid, the app will prompt you to reenter the password and email address again. You should also make sure that your device has full internet connectivity at this time. If your device is not connected, close the app (hit the Home button), connect your device to the internet and then re-run the app.

After you have entered your admin password and password reminder email address, tap on the Submit button. If you have entered a valid email address and your device has internet connectivity, the app will send you an email that contains a confirmation code.

You need that code for the next step:

Check your inbox. You should have received an email with “Parental Control – Email Address Confirmation” title, open it. That email contains your confirmation code. Enter the Confirmation Code and then hit the Submit button.

In case you had not received that confirmation code email, check you Spam (Junk) email folder. If that email is not there you can hit the “Resend” button to send the confirmation email one more time to your email account. You might also have entered an invalid email address. If that is the case, tap on the Change Email button which will take you to the Change Administrative Password page, where you can re-enter your valid email address.

When you hit the Submit button, the app will verify that the entered confirmation code matches the expected value. If the code is not valid, the app will show an error message and you will have the chance to re-enter the valid code, or repeat the process to receive and enter a valid confirmation code. You cannot use this app until you validate your password reminder email address. In the next step the app will show the page below which will ask you to grant administrative permissions to this app:

The app needs these permissions to protect itself against unauthorized uninstall attempts. Without these permissions, the user could uninstall and/or force the app to stop. Click on the Activate button. The app will show a message that lets you know that it is now a device administrator. Then the app will show you the Configuration page.

This is where you can turn on/off the app features and configure your restricted and allowed apps:

Configure Administrative Password: This option will take you to the Configure Administrative Password page where you can change your administrative password and/or password reminder email address. Changing the password reminder email address will trigger another email confirmation process (as explained above). You can hit the Back button to come back to the Configuration page.

Do not allow uninstall: This feature only works well under version 4 of the Android operating system. This feature is enabled by default. If your device had multiple users and they are familiar with operating system features, they may decide to force stop or uninstall the app to bypass app restrictions. Enabling this feature will prevent force stop and uninstall attempts. If for any reason you decide to uninstall the app, you should first disable this feature. Uninstalling the app is explained under the Uninstall section of this guide.

Auto start at phone power up: This feature will automatically restart the app and apply restrictions when your phone restarts. This feature is enabled by default, but can be turned off at any time (not recommended).

Enable Restrictions: This is the most essential feature of this app. Enabling restrictions will prevent unauthorized access to the restricted apps. This feature is on by default. You can turn off this feature when you are the only person who utilizes your device. Even if this feature is on, you can use your admin password to bypass restrictions and use the restricted apps. Make sure to define at least one restricted app, otherwise this app will not apply any default restrictions (other than protecting itself).

Enable Sandbox: This feature is very useful when you want to create a white list where only selected apps are accessible. This is an ideal feature when you want to allow your kids to play or use some safe apps. They will be able to only use those apps and will be restricted if they want to explore any other app or setting. This feature can also be used by corporations and stores. Sandbox mode only works when Restrictions is enabled and there is at least one allowed app.

Sandbox Options: This feature enhances the Sandbox feature. If there are multiple allowed apps and Sandbox mode is active, you can specify one allowed app to be automatically started and kept alive while Sandbox mode is on. This feature is extremely useful and used by corporations and offices where they want their main app to be always on top and running:

Only one app can be selected to auto launch.

Selected Apps: This section allows you to see and modify the list of allowed and restricted apps:

By default this list is empty. In order to apply restrictions (black list) or enable Sandbox (white list), you should select and add some installed apps here. Click on the Modify button to see the list of all installed apps:

Tap on the apps you would like to restrict. That will put a check mark next to them. Then use the Back button to move back to the Configuration page. The Configuration page will update its list of selected apps. Selected apps are by default marked as restricted. You can toggle between the restricted and allowed options by tapping on each of the selected apps. In most cases it is a good idea to select at a minimum the Settings, Google Play and Browser apps. You can select any number of apps that you would like to restrict.

After you pick a list of restricted apps and enable restrictions on the Configuration page, you can hit the Home or the Back button to leave the app. If a user attempts to open a restricted app, Mobile Control will immediately pop up the following login page:

The user now has several options:

1. Entering the administrative password will close the Login page and open the restricted app
2. Invalid passwords will not close the Login page. Mobile Control will show a message indicating that the entered password was not valid.
3. If you forgot your admin password, you can click on the “Forgot your password?” link which will email the admin password to the configured password reminder email address.
4. Or the user can hit the Back or Home button which will close the Login page and display the Home screen.

If the Sandbox mode is on and there is at least one allowed app, going to the Home screen or clicking on any app will trigger the Sandbox screen:

The Sandbox page will show the list of allowed apps. Users can launch any one of the allowed apps. If one of the allowed apps is selected to start automatically, the Sandbox mode will automatically launch it after a small pause. The small pause allows the admin user to escape from this mode. You can always go back to the Sandbox page by closing the allowed app.

To end the Sandbox mode, tap on the Unlock button. This will launch the Login page. There you can enter your password and go to the Configuration page to disable the Sandbox mode (Uncheck Enable Sandbox option).

To uninstall the app you need to know the administrative password. Click on the app icon to display the Login page, then enter your password and go to the Configuration page. There, uncheck the Do not allow uninstall box and Enable Restriction option. Then, you should deactivate this app as a device admin. Follow the steps below:

1. Hit the Home button

2. Go to Settings > Security > Device administrators:

   

3. Click on Mobile Control and hit the Deactivate button:

   

4. Now you can uninstall the app from Settings > Application manager: