Screen time that kids plan themselves

Set one daily limit for fun time. Learning time is never capped. Your kid adds fun time to their own daily plan, and Vantee keeps count.

“Thirty minutes of fun a day, but homework doesn’t count.”

Most parents we talk to already have a rule like this. The trouble is that a screen timer can’t tell the difference. It cuts off a math practice the same way it cuts off a cat video. So parents end up doing the counting themselves: standing in the doorway, asking “Is that for school?”, and arguing about whether the last ten minutes were fun or homework.

This month we added screen time controls to Vantee that follow the rule parents actually have. You set the limit once. Your kid plans their own fun time inside it. Vantee does the counting.

Fun time has a limit. Learning time doesn’t.

Every minute in Vantee counts as either fun or learning.

• Learning time is never capped. Challenges, practice, quizzes and reading in Vantee are learning. Your kid can keep going on these for as long as you let them use the device.
• Fun time has a daily limit that you set. You can pick one number for school days and another for weekends.

When fun time runs out, fun stops for the day with one short message. Learning keeps going, with no warning and no lock. A kid who finishes their YouTube time can still finish their homework.

Some days are different. A rainy Saturday, a long car ride, a reward for a good week. Tap Add minutes today and your kid gets extra fun time that ends at midnight. Tomorrow goes back to normal on its own.

You choose what’s allowed, and whether it’s fun or learning

You decide which websites and which YouTube videos your kid can use in Vantee. For each one, you also decide if it counts as fun or learning.

• Websites. Add the sites you’re fine with, like Khan Academy for learning or a game site for fun. If a site needs other addresses to log in or load, Vantee adds those for you.
• YouTube. Pick from playlists Vantee has picked out, by topic, or paste a link to a video or playlist you like. When a playlist you approved gets new videos, they wait until you say yes. Nothing new shows up on its own.

Your kid can ask for a website you haven’t added. You get the request in your inbox, with their note if they wrote one, and you approve or decline it. If you have more than one kid, an approved site starts as that kid’s only. One more tap adds it for the others too.

Your kid can’t change whether something is fun or learning. That always comes from your setting.

Your kid plans fun time, like everything else

This is the part we care about most.

Your kid already starts each day in Vantee by looking at their daily plan: what to do today, and when. Now fun time goes into the same plan. To watch YouTube or browse a site for fun, your kid adds it to today’s plan first: pick the site or video, pick how long (15 minutes to start), and pick a time if they want.

They see it in three steps:

1. Plan. Choose what to use, when, and for how long.
2. Use. Your approved websites and videos open during the planned time.
3. Finish. When time is up, they lock again.

Websites open in the Vantee Browser, built into the Vantee app on iPhone, iPad and Android. It only opens the sites you approved, and it counts the time as your kid uses it.

The plan shows how much fun time is left today. If there isn’t enough left, the item can’t be added. If a kid wants a bit longer, they can add 10 more minutes in one tap, as long as there’s fun time left.

We like this because it turns screen time from a fight into a skill. The question stops being “Can I have more?” and becomes “When do I want it, and what do I want to spend it on?” Kids who plan their own fun time have a reason to look at their plan every day, and you stop having to say yes or no to every session.

What Vantee will never do

A few rules we set for ourselves:

• Vantee never adds fun time to your kid’s plan. When Vantee drafts the day, it plans challenges and practice. Fun time is always the kid’s own choice.
• Vantee never asks for more screen time. Its job is to make the minutes you give count, not to argue for more of them.
• Fun time earns nothing. No gems, no streak, no credit toward a goal. Gems come from doing the work. And fun time a kid planned but didn’t use is never counted as a miss.

Want homework first?

You can turn on one more setting: fun time starts after today’s must-do challenges are done. It’s off unless you turn it on. When it’s on, your kid can still plan fun time, but it won’t start until the important work on screen is finished.

See where the time went

Your screen report shows each day’s time for each kid: total, fun and learning, and which apps and websites were used and for how long. Only you can see it. Site visits are kept for 90 days.

When your kid reaches their fun limit, you get one notification. Not one every time they try again.

Getting started

New to Vantee? When you set up your family, pick Master screen time. Vantee asks a few questions about what worries you and what your kid uses, then suggests limits you can change. Your kid gets a short welcome that explains how fun time works, and then lands on their plan.

Already using Vantee? Open your family settings and tap Screen control to set limits, websites and videos.

Questions parents ask

Does this block other apps on the device? No. These limits apply to time inside Vantee. If you want to block other apps, use your device’s own controls (Screen Time on iPhone and iPad, Family Link on Android) and make Vantee the place your kid’s allowed screen time happens.

Where does my kid browse? In the Vantee Browser inside the Vantee app on iPhone, iPad or Android. Download the app from the App Store or Google Play. It opens only the sites you approved for that kid.

What counts as learning? Challenges and practice in Vantee always count as learning. Websites and videos count as whatever you marked them.

Does my kid see the limit? Yes. Your kid can open See my rules to see their fun time limit and the sites and videos they can use. It’s easier to plan when you know the rules.

What about off-screen work like piano or chores? That never counts as screen time. It’s planned in Vantee and checked off later, but the tablet is put away while it happens.