Does Accountable2You monitor social media?

Social media is a big part of everyday life for most of us these days, and while it has many advantages, it can also be a source of temptation or weakness where we need extra accountability. 

We're committed to helping you and your family stay accountable for all your device activity; that said, monitoring social media platforms can be a tricky task. (This is true beyond just the monitoring provided by Accountable2You - other accountability platforms, firewalls, and filters likewise struggle to restrict or effectively monitor social media platforms.)

Why is it so hard to monitor social media?

Many social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, etc.) are designed in such a way that makes it difficult for Accountable2You's monitoring app (or any other service) to monitor the exact details taking place within them.

So while our monitoring app can capture some of the actions within social media apps and web pages, it cannot capture every activity. That said, we're continually exploring new ways to increase the monitoring depth within social media platforms.

iOS vs. Android

It's important to note here that when it comes to monitoring social media apps on mobile devices (phones and tablets), there are some significant differences between what we're able to capture depending on what type of device you have.

• Android devices allow us to monitor activity within social media apps to some extent. While this is still limited, as mentioned above, you can typically expect to see the titles of pages visited, and some (limited) messaging activity in most social media apps. 

• iOS devices have some built-in monitoring restrictions that prevent us from capturing any detailed activity within social media apps. On these devices, you can expect to see the app names and estimated time spent on social media apps on the App Usage Report.

  
  

  Tip: For slightly more detailed monitoring of social media on iOS devices, try using a web browser (like Safari) to visit social media platforms, rather than the social media apps themselves.

What can I do next?

Use Custom Trigger Words for additional accountability 

Related to this, one feature worth mentioning is the powerful ability to create your own Custom Trigger Words. You can use the Alert Sensitivity settings to create custom alerts for the names of apps that hold a particular risk or temptation.

• For example: if you create a custom alert for "Facebook", this will trigger an alert if you visit the Facebook webpage or install the Facebook app. 

We know there's no one-size-fits-all solution out there, and we're always working to expand and improve our monitoring - especially within social media apps! If you have any further questions about social media monitoring or need help in setting up custom alerts tailored toward social media usage, just contact our support team at support@accountable2you.com.