Help How do I blacklist and whitelist apps.

[Joshua Morrison]

My kid is looking up porn on social media apps such as Tumblr, Reddit, etc.. We have Covenant Eyes which blocks websites on the phone, but does nothing to prevent the usage of generic apps which allow you to access the above sites. We have enabled parental features, but that prohibits the phone from downloading updates for things such as Amazon Music, rendering it recently unusable because of a Critical Update.

How can I create a whitelist of approved apps that will allow for usage, and updates, while blacklisting every other app?

 

[no one]

My dad would have installed the asswhooping app. He'd use it just once, and I'd never want to see it in use ever again.

 

[Joshua Morrison]

My dad would have installed the asswhooping app. He'd use it just once, and I'd never want to see it in use ever again.

Who says that app isn't applied regularly. LOL!

 

[svim]

Try installing a firewall app. This allows you to selectively allow/block apps from any online access via WiFi or mobile data. If your device is rooted I'd suggest using the 'AFWall+' app, it's actively developed and gives you a lot of control over your device's online connectivity:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.ukanth.ufirewall&hl=en_US
If your device is not rooted, there are a handful of viable choices. Currently I'm using the 'NoRoot Data Firewall' app and it has a pretty good feature set that's working out well:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jianjia.firewall&hl=en_US
You might want to look into 'NetGuard' or 'Mobiwall' too. Basically they have similar functionality with the biggest contrasts being the user interface so look at the screen captures on each Play Store page for what appeals to you the most.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netspark.firewall


*** Note that on a rooted device a firewall app can rely on direct access to 'iptables', the integral firewall in the Linux kernel, so it can have complete control on almost everything -- regular apps you install and system-level processes. On a non-rooted device a firewall app doesn't have any access to iptables so while you have control over apps you install, there's limited access to system-level apps/processes. Non-root firewall apps instead rely on using a 'local' VPN, something of a clever work-around. It's not a VPN that uses an online, remote server tunnel but rather it re-directs everything through an in-device VPN.
Also, note that a lot of people recommend 'NoRoot Firewall' (yes there's a similarity to 'NoRoot Data Firewall' but it is a different product) but keep in mind that it may or may not be active any more, the last time it was updated was in late 2014:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall