HomeSecure and iKydz announce a partnership to protect Tipperary families at home and online

HomeSecure, the smart home monitoring company, has announced a partnership with Ireland’s iKydz that will extend smart monitoring to help parents manage their children’s screen time and protect them from possibly harmful online content – whether it be at home or on a child’s mobile or tablet device.

This partnership, the first of its kind in Europe, will see HomeSecure offer the iKydz service as a convenient add-on to its current home monitoring service. “This partnership allows parents to take their children’s security into the digital age, with an easy to use internet control platform, iKydz naturally aligns with our current offering and was a key driver for this partnership,”said Colm Daly, CEO, HomeSecure.

Prior to this new partnership, iKydz noted that the internet usage of children on the platform saw a 16% drop in average time online from 2017 to 2018. This shows the significant effect that this new offering by HomeSecure can have on parents’ ability to monitor and control their children’s time spent online.

Research conducted by iKydz has shown that Tipperary children spend an average of 4.6 hours per day online – this is on-par with the national average of 4.6 hours per day. With the summer months here, and children spending more time than usual online – and possibly unsupervised with parents at work – HomeSecure can now offer customers peace of mind in more ways than only home monitoring.

iKydz is an intuitive, and effective Internet control solution that gives parents the ability to block websites, filter content, and easily view and manage their children’s time online. It works with any internet connected device in the home by using a smart micro-router to provide secure Wi-Fi for all children’s devices. This software also allows parents to cast an eye over internet usage and to curtail online game time, such as Fortnite, and other potentially harmful and distracting content when it comes to homework.

In fact, a recent report from the charity CyberSafeIreland revealed that 80% of eight-year olds own smart devices connected to the internet, and almost 40% of children engage with strangers online. Almost a quarter were playing over-18 video games containing violent or sexually inappropriate content.

Following this initial announcement, HomeSecure will also add an additional iKydz Mobile, a smartphone management solution that will allow manage and protect their children’s 3G or 4G mobile device. This service will be available to both existing and new HomeSecure’s customers.