Smart Family Companion

Verizon Consumer Group

About this app

Get to know the digital-you and partner with your parents with Verizon Smart Family. The Companion (or Child) app lets you see how much you use different websites and apps and with Premium, you can ask your parents to pick you up, send them check-ins, and find family members on a map.

Download our Companion (Child) app to your smartphone or your Android connected tablet and pair it with the Parent app to:
• Learn about how you use your screen time.

Select Premium to unlock map features:
• Check in
• Pick me up
• Find your family members

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Once the child’s iPhone or Android device is paired via the Verizon Smart Family companion app, the parent app can configure parental controls (iPads aren’t currently supported). If enrolled in Smart Family Premium, the parent app can also monitor location and driving history – for either a driver or a passenger.

What’s New:
• Simple, easy to use interface.

This app uses Accessibility services to support parental control features. Accessibility services are used to block children's access to websites prohibited by parents and to prevent children from disabling other parental control features.

Ratings and reviews

This app is not child proof. If you click on the VPN icon on the notification bar, a screen pops up for a split second that says deactive. If you are fast enough a child can deactive the companion app and all the controls to go along with it. Go ahead kids, give it a try. Maybe when the parents complain enough, Verizon will fix it. When it does work, the app is great.

I am a child who has this app on my phone, and it sucks. It blocks stuff just fine, which is what it is designed for, but most of the stuff the app can do you can do without it (time limit, data limit, etc.) The problem comes in when you try and unblock stuff. WiFi doesn't unpause, it'll restrict call and text sometimes even a few hours early, blocks random apps (like Amazon Music or once even my calculator app) without warning, and sometimes it just stops working, forcing you to reconnect it.

Found out recently that this app is blowing up my limited data usage without even being opened. Nice job, Verizon. Edit: I honestly can't stand this app. Now it's a permanent icon on my notifications bar, saying that it's updating data. I wouldn't care if this app didn't start kicking me to the home screen once I turn my phone on, even if an app was active while I turned it off. Fix these issues and kids wouldn't have so much of a problem with this parasite on their phone.