One of the challenges that schools face with iOS is web filtering. There are multiple ways to filter web traffic for inappropriate content, but many of them require IT expertise that smaller schools might not have. Apple includes a web filter with iOS that can be controlled by a mobile device management system, but it’s a black box in terms of what’s blocked vs. what’s not. SPIN Safe Browser is now available as a “school edition” with no in-app purchases and controllable AppConfig from Jamf.
With the new Jamf AppConfig option, SPIN Safe Browser gives you a number of new control options, and if your devices are running iOS 14, it can be set as the default browser. Prior to iOS 14, using an alternative browser while blocking Safari would have broken the ability to open links from other apps. Setting SPIN Safe Browser as the default will let all links open as normal while filtering. Using a MDM-compatible AppConfig Utility, IT administrators can customize the filtering to meet their needs.
- Edit content filters
- Set list of blocked websites
- Set list of allowed websites
- Deploy bookmarks
- Set and enforce home page website
- Set and enforce new tab behavior
The app automatically blocks inappropriate or adult content and enforces web and image Safe Search filters for the major search engines. SPIN Safe Browser works on the school network as well as virtual learning environments without any adjustment on home network settings. When users are using the SPIN Safe Browser app, all web traffic gets filtered by SPIN’s filtering service.
The core categories that SPIN Safe Browser filters are:
- Prone to bad content (websites that are normally good but may contain sexual or inappropriate content)
- Pornography and adult Content
- Nudity
- Unsafe search engines
- File sharing/peer-to-peer sites
- VPN and proxy sites
SPIN Safe Browser is $19.99, but schools and businesses purchasing 20 or more copies through Apple School Manager or Apple Business Manager will receive a 50% volume license discount. Jamf also recently published a new blog post on the integration. Of course, the app also works great for home users wanting a little more control over what their kids can see.
Author: Bradley Chambers
Source: 9TO5Google
