Tracking Down Your Child with Synagram

[APPS]

by Roger B Rueda

The smartphone is getting more and more terrifically utilitarian, purveying almost everything we need – from games to virtual pets. It has become a multipurpose tool in this day and age.

To clinch your child's safety and peace of mind, having Synagram on your smartphone is the answer. Now tracking down your child is a piece of cake.

When you first start the app you will see the special structure of the application - a distinction between a parent and a child at the start. The parent must first create an account and then sign in to the individual device. This registration creates the parental account on your smartphone with which your child's account will be linked. As soon as the process is finished, the child must then enter a code that is shown on the device of their parents in order to finalise the joining up.

Syngram offers a lot of tasks that can bring peace of mind for parents. From the child's standpoint though, the application is divided into three separate tabs. There is a news section that will allow the child to keep up with present and coming events that are important for the family. This could include visiting the dentist, visiting families, going on a field trip, or going to a party, for instance. The only thing you can't think out of is whether or not your child will ever really look at this schedule.

The app has two key buttons. It is a security and tracking application. Consequently, young users need to ‘check in’ to the locations their parents expect them to be at whatever time they arrive – at home or school for instance, so their parents know they have reached their destination without harm. This simple feedback circlet lets parents breathe a sigh of relief and allows children to prove that an agreed-upon schedule was kept to.

This pleasant green ‘check in’ button is positioned right along a more unpromising button colour. Across this red button is inscribed the words ‘emergency’ and pressing it will form a direct connexion to the parents. The trick behind the emergency connexion is that it is done silently on the child's side, so if they are in company, no alarm sound is activated, which could make the situation worse. On the parental side, on the other hand, the smartphone will begin to loudly indicate that trouble is just round the corner so they can act immediately. The parent can access the child's location, send a message, or call him/her.

Beyond the essential safety component of Synagram, there is a whole host of other functions from the parent's side that allows them to be their child's protector. For instance, the battery level of the child's smartphone can be kept an eye on. This is particularly advantageous with today's battery performance and battery-guzzling apps, so if you see your child's battery is about to pack up, you can check in ahead of time and make sure everything is fine before they are out of reach.

Another helpful feature is location determination, by means of which you can get a GPS fix on your child's smartphone location. Here, of course, you will require the cooperation of your child, because they will need to actively turn on the GPS tracking on their device. We must also distinguish between the levels of supervision available between the ‘Monitoring’ or observe mode for smaller children and ‘Supervision’ or guide mode for older children, because children of different ages require different levels of independence and parental inattention.

Synagram is visibly organised and follows the Holo design course of action. The operation and the graphical presentation is well done and the general picture is very dependable.

Above all, the focus on the main content is commendable and does not distract from the main task of the application – safety and tracking.

Synagram was tested and it didn’t have any crashes as it was consistently stable. It is available free of charge. It is an absolute recommendation for all parents and children, but it is important that they openly and honestly discuss the use of the application and work as a team to implement it properly. It offers great benefits to both sides. Parents can dispel worries about where their children are and whether or not their phone battery may have died, and kids have a direct line to their parents in an emergency and can spare the nerves of their loved ones. If the app is mutually agreed to by both sides of the generation gap it is a really great addition to the family.