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Verizon Smart Family is a service that gives you parental controls to help manage your kids' smartphone* use.
From a single app**, you'll be able to:
*Only smartphones are currently supported.
** Some features require Smart Family Companion app to be installed on the kid's device.
You can get Verizon Smart Family for your entire account for a single monthly fee.
There are 2 versions:
Verizon Smart Family Premium is also included for free with the Just Kids plan.
You can get Verizon Smart Family if you:
Note: If you or your children don't have Android or iPhone, you may still be able to use Verizon Smart Family with limited access to functions. Many functions require the Android or iPhone app to work properly.
To check your eligibility, go to the Add-ons and apps page in My Verizon. If Verizon Smart Family is listed there, you can sign up for it.
*Business and prepaid accounts aren't eligible.
Download the Verizon Smart Family app on your Android smartphone or iPhone, and follow the steps to subscribe to Verizon Smart Family.
Note: You can also sign up for Verizon Smart Family on the Add-ons and apps page in My Verizon.
For step-by-step instructions, refer to the Sign Up for Verizon Smart Family section of our How to Use Verizon Smart Family page or watch our setup video.
You can upgrade from Verizon Smart Family to Verizon Smart Family Premium from the Settings menu in the Verizon Smart Family app.
For step-by-step instructions, go to the Upgrade section of our How to Use Verizon Smart Family page.
Any 5G-capable device can use the Verizon Smart Family app for all parental services.
If your child's device supports 5G, there may be brief periods when you're in a 5G area that your call, text and data limits won't apply. Verizon Smart Family Premium content filters and location services will continue to function normally.
Without the Verizon Smart Family Companion app installed on your child's device, you can:
Note: Network location accuracy may vary up to a few miles.
However, you'll need to pair the Verizon Smart Family app on your device with the Smart Family Companion app on your child's device to:
If you're subscribed to Smart Family Premium, your child will receive a notification every month that their location is being shared with the parent and other account members designated by the parent.
They'll also receive notifications when they're near or have reached the data, call and text limits set by the parent.
If Web & App Activity has been enabled on the child line, your child will also receive a notification every month that their web and app activity is being shared with the parents on the account.
These notifications are legally required and can't be turned off.
You can unsubscribe from Verizon Smart Family through:
For step-by-step instructions, go to the Cancel Subscription section of our How to Use Verizon Smart Family page.
Note: With the Just Kids plan, you can't unsubscribe or downgrade from Verizon Smart Family Premium because it's included for free as part of the plan. To make changes to your subscription, you'll need to change your plan in My Verizon.
Your child will see a page with the Verizon Smart Family Companion app's pairing status.
If the Companion app is paired, your child will see a map of their location, along with the Check in button and Pick me up button.
If the Companion app isn't paired, the message will read: "Smart Family Companion is not paired. Pair [name]'s phone to enable content filters, pause internet and receive precise location alerts."
Yes, with Smart Family Premium, you may choose to share your location with other parent lines or all family members on the Smart Family account.
You can turn location sharing on and off in the Settings menu of your Verizon Smart Family app or on the My Verizon website. By default, your location sharing preferences will be set to "Not shared."
The experience differs based on the type of phone your child has:
Parents are no longer able to pair with the child’s device.
You can manage your Verizon Smart Family account in the Verizon Smart Family app or on the My Verizon website.
For step-by-step instructions, refer to our How to Use Verizon Smart Family page.
You can add family members to Verizon Smart Family through the Settings menu of the Verizon Smart Family app.
Yes, you can assign roles to other lines on your account, including another parent device role in My Verizon.
All My Verizon Account Owners and Account Managers can only be assigned a parent role, and all Account Members can only be assigned a child role.
To change a family member's role in Smart Family, you'll first need to change their account role in My Verizon.
Yes. If you change the phone number of your parent device, your Verizon Smart Family account will be suspended, and you'll need to re-subscribe to the service. You'll also need to set up all of your controls again.
If your child changes their phone number, all of their controls will need to be reset.
If the child changes their device, you'll need to pair the Smart Family Companion app on your child's new device.
No, Verizon Smart Family doesn't enable you to view the content of your child's texts. Nor does it allow you to view the pictures and videos on your child's phone, or access the content of third-party messaging applications.
Notes:
Verizon Smart Family does, however, allow you to:
The Web & App Activity section of Verizon Smart Family helps you better understand how your child is spending their time online on their device.
You'll be given a graph that shows:
When setting up the Smart Family Companion app on your child's phone, you let us establish a VPN profile on that phone through which all internet-related activity passes. We use the VPN connection to provide you with these Smart Family features: content filters, time restrictions, and web and app activity monitoring.
During a time restriction, the child won't be able to:
Note: With the Just Kid's plan, you can only limit data with time restrictions. Restricting calling and texting to trusted contacts only is already in place and can't be changed.
Purchase limits are measured in dollars per month. Only purchases directly billed to your Verizon account using carrier billing are limited.
Even if you set call and text restrictions through Smart Family, your kids can download and use OTT apps or smartphone features that don't go through the Verizon wireless network .These apps and features can let your child call or message people who aren't trusted contacts.
To prevent use of these apps and features, you can:
You can set up content filters to block all websites and apps in a variety of content categories.
You can also manually block and allow websites in the content filters section of the Verizon Smart Family app.
You can't block an app manually. However, on the Smart Family app's content filter screen, you can report an app that should be blocked. We take these reports into consideration for possible future Smart Family updates.
You can remove the content filters for a family member in the top-right corner of the content filters menu of the Verizon Smart Family app.
When Smart Family's content filters conflict with your router's content filters, your router's content filters will be given priority.
If you would like to use Smart Family's content filters instead, you'll need to disable your router's content filters.
Some apps or websites may share resources with another one, which could cause your blocking of one to impact the other.
For example, Instagram® is owned by Facebook® and uses the same servers. So blocking Facebook could cause issues with Instagram services (e.g., viewing pictures or stories).
We have done our best to limit these instances and continue to do so.
Trusted contacts are people you want your child to be able to call and text at all times. Your child will even be able to communicate with their trusted contacts during time restrictions and after their usage limits have been reached (which could result in overage charges depending on your child's plan). You can trust up to 20 contacts.
Trusted contacts can include any of the following:
If you have the Just Kids plan:
You can block up to 20 contacts from communicating with your child's device. All calls and texts to and from blocked contacts will be prevented.
You can block:
To block specific phone numbers or contacts, enter the phone number as a blocked contact.
Note: You can't block 911, numbers that are within your own Verizon account, or numbers currently added to the trusted contacts list.
If you have the Just Kids plan:
If the caller has enabled Caller ID Blocking and the number is recognized by our network, a number on your blocked contacts list will still be blocked.
If you've chosen to block all Private, Restricted and Unavailable numbers on your child’s phone, any caller using Caller ID Blocking will be prohibited from contacting your child.
Go to the Caller ID Blocking FAQs to learn more.
Yes, you can sync Verizon Smart Family with your contacts and your child's contacts, such that your child's call/text activity, top contacts and individual contacts profile appears with contact names. If a phone number is saved in both of your address books, it will be displayed as the name in your own. Otherwise, when the name is only saved on your child's device, it will be displayed with the child address book icon next to the name of the contact. Once permission to sync with your child’s contacts is provided on your and your child's devices, contacts will be synced every 24 hours.
If you don't have the Smart Family Companion app installed and paired on the child's phone, you'll receive the network location of their device. Network location accuracy can vary up to a few miles.
If the Smart Family Companion app is installed on your child's phone and paired with your phone, you'll get:
Watch our video to learn how to set up Location Alerts.
If your child's device is paired with the Smart Family Companion app, the location results will indicate a street address and approximately how many yards away the device is from that location.
However, location accuracy depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to:
We recommend you pair with your child's Smart Family Companion app for better location accuracy.
Verizon Smart Family is designed to be used within Verizon coverage areas in the continental US and Hawaii. As such, some features may be unavailable outside of this service area.
However, if your child's device is paired with the Smart Family Companion app and is connected to Wi-Fi when it's outside the Verizon network or roaming internationally, you'll be able to see the device's location.
Data usage may apply when roaming.
If a child can't be located, the child's device may be off or the phone's GPS functionality is deactivated.
If the phone can't be located for an extended period of time, check the child's phone settings to ensure:
If the phone still can't be located after 24+ hours (and the settings are accurate), please contact Verizon Customer Service at (800) 922-0204.
Arrival / departure alerts should occur close to the time they were triggered. However, we've seen them occasionally delayed for a variety of reasons, including:
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