My child accessed YouTube and the internet through an app I approved...

I am extremely disappointed and frustrated that after using the Greenlight app for a few weeks it is only now that I have discovered through the 'choose a charity' section that my children can access the internet on a GABB phone. I appreciate that you have a disclaimer on the app description on that says there are no parental controls but I do I feel duped and misled, as I naively assumed that a phone company whose purpose is keeping kids OFF the internet would not partner with companies who have secret backdoors to the internet hidden within their app.. Why it is incumbent upon the parent to hopefully discover this dangerous back door on one of your approved apps instead of your app vetting team?

My child was able to access YouTube through the advertisements that come up in the Wordscapes game.

hopping in here to add to this conversation! My daughter has been able to access YouTube via the Magic Cube App. To be clear, there is no warning on this app around having potential internet access. It should just be the game. Is this something @Gabb Product you can review with your team and block this access?

We have had so many issues with this phone overall. We loved the watch, but the phone has been a headache.

I find this response to be more disappointing than the problem. Gabb should hear this concern as an opportunity to further live their mission of providing kid safe devices, and giving parents peace of mind.

I am able to block domains on my router and through Apple’s Screen Time, so there must be a way for Gabb to block traffic from social media domains on their OS. I don’t expect Gabb to solve this overnight, but hiding behind terms of service and pretending that this isn’t solvable is not an acceptable solution.

Greenlight is an app promoted by Gabb. There is a marketing offer attached to it, so there is some level of partnership between Gabb and Greenlight. I chose Greenlight because it appeared to be promoted by Gabb and available on the Gabb platform (other apps were not available).

I would like Gabb to take the following action:

Block domain traffic from the major, known social media platforms:
Meta/Facebook/Instagram
Bytedance/TikTok
Snapchat
Twitter/X
YouTube

I believe this is the right thing to do and would solve this issue.

Otherwise, all of this is false advertising:

Unfortunately, MANY Gabb approved apps have internet access. My son is older, and has let me know with multiple apps, that he can get into the support part of the app and eventually get to google and has access to internet searches. So it's been pretty disappointing that we tried this avenue, only to find that even the "safe and approved" apps are actually not safe :( It's important for parents to know that there are back ways to the internet through many of Gabb apps!

The topics brought up here from other parents has me curious also. I have built in additional network security on our home Wi-Fi network to prevent something like this from happening on our computer network, so my question is do the gabb phone allow Wi-Fi access? That would resolve the problem when the phone is on the home network, however it doesn't resolve the problem when the are at the mall with their friends or disable wifi. So in that instance Google family would be able to take over for 3rd party apps that have that backdoor. But the question is can the gabb phone integrate with Google family in any way.

What does request a app mean? Does Gabb support just add the app or is there something vetting process that happens that take time and then the app is added or denied and we are .ade aware of it?

I am so disappointed in Gabb because of this issue of back door internet access. There are known backdoors on various apps. My first issue is why didn't Gabb vet these apps better in a real environment and discover the backdoors prior to calling them "Gabb approved apps". The Gabb approval process is not robust. My second issue is why has Gabb allowed them to continue on their platform after parents pointed out the internet access? How can Gabb purport to be a safe phone for kids with no internet and then offer 3rd party apps that go straight to the internet? (e.g.Blackboard) This is giving parents a false sense of security at best and deceiving them at worst. Hiding behind a disclaimer is weak and I have lost respect for Gabb. How about not allowing apps that have back doors to the internet? Internet browsing with NO guardrails defeats the ENTIRE point of getting a Gabb phone for my child. On the road to offering more access to teens, Gabb has lost their way and undermined their message and alienated their core customer. It would be better to not offer 3rd party apps on the Gabb platform if the apps make the Gabb phone unsafe.

I am disappointed to learn, after have I purchased a Gabb 4 Pro for my child, that there are numerous backdoors to the internet. I googled "backdoors on Gabb phones to the internet" and found an extensive discussion on Reddit, where children are posting the detailed steps for how to use an "approved app" on their phone, and get onto You Tube or a google browser. The options are endless, and frankly ought to be embarassing for Gabb. I have read Gabb's canned responses to many parents' concerns about this failure, and therefore am NOT asking Gabb to tell me the same thing. My most important question is this: Does the Flagging feature in Gabb's system detect access to pornographic websites (EG sites with nudity of any kind) ? I have turned on every notification possible for flagged content on my child's phone ("Flagged Images", "Flagged video calls", "Links", and "Low/Med/High risk" Text messages. Before giving the phone to my child, I did a test to see what content would warrant a flag notification to me. So far, after sending several graphic and explicit messages to and from the phone, Gabb has Flagged nothing. If the graphic terms I used in my test messages (I used some bad vulgar language) didn't warrant a Flag, I am now wondering if nudity will trigger a Flag? Please explain how the Flagging feature works, because so far, I am really disappointed overall with the phone. There doesn't seem to be any safety barriers for kids, and I am carrying a placebo around thinking I have done anything to limit internet access of my child.