Smartphone Filters: Meshimer Vs. Tag

amother

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 11:16 am

Our kids' school requires filters from either Meshimer or Tag on the parents' smartphones.
We already have Meshimer for my husband's phone and the home PC.
Two concerns are cost and convenience.
I don't use my phone for shopping, I do use social media which I don't think either filter will allow anyway, and I like podcasts (any idea how that works?) I also have Whatsapp.
Have you used both of these providers and can tell me the pros and cons? Or what else to consider?

amother

Wheat

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 11:23 am

You can keep whatapp.

Don’t know about social media.

I used tag. They locked my AppStore

I needed to upgrade whatapp, wouldn’t allow me in without an upgrade. I went to tag offices and they were closed. For a few days. And we’re unreachable.

Was very frustrating.

I would go to Meshimer. But whoever you go to make sure they don’t lock your AppStore.

amother

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 2:20 pm

Ok, good to know about the flexiility. I had assumed Meshimer was less flexible but that could be the "program" my husband chose. When I do need to access sites like Shutterfly on Meshimer, they usually get back to me in ten minutes and give me the access. Maybe the price will be cheaper because we already have a few devices.
Thanks for the feedback.

amother

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 2:21 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

I'm sorry to hear that, what an awful experience. What did you do??

amother

Seagreen

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 8:04 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

I had a similar issue with TAG. I was out of state and needed access to the Play Store to upgrade my Gmail app. They had put a PIN on the account, so I couldn't do it through Gentech, and TAG wasn't picking up. I finally called Gentech and pleaded with them, and they let it through. But it was so frustrating and potentially could've cost us a really great planned activity on vacation (because the tickets were in my Gmail app and we had no other way of accessing the Internet).

amother

Navy

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 8:51 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

Tag is not flexible. Meshimer is way more flexible. However cost is a factor.

I had both and found tag to be much more flexible. Meshimer refused to unblock certain things. They took away all beige colorings from all pictures and refused to change it. Tag unblocked whatever I asked them to. Tag is also cheaper because they don't take any fees for themselves only for the filtering company. Meshimer takes a fee for themselves too. They both use the same filtering company.

amother

Navy

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 8:56 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

They can unlock your app store over the phone if you call them. You don't have to go to the office. They have very decent calling hours. ( Talking about tag meshimer didn't try this)

amother

Wheat

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 9:03 pm

amother [ Navy ] wrote:

They can unlock your app store over the phone if you call them. You don't have to go to the office. They have very decent calling hours. ( Talking about tag meshimer didn't try this)

They were closed. There was no one to talk to.

amother

Wine

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 9:08 pm

I can’t believe how ridiculous this all is, needing permission from some random guy - who most likely enjoys access to anything he wants to on his own smartphone - to upgrade WhatsApp or buy something online. All of you who are enabling and perpetuating this crazy, you’re part of the problem.

amother

Wheat

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 9:15 pm

amother [ Wine ] wrote:

I really don’t care what some random guy has access to and I don’t need his permission.

My kids sometimes have my phone and I want to have a filter on it.

Not sure what your problem is.

qwerty4

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 9:31 pm

I use tag and, while they did remove social media and YouTube, they left the App Store open and didn’t restrict me much further than that. They asked me about whether I wanted skin color removed which I declined and so forth with all other stricter options. The only thing they were not really giving me an option about was social media, though they did tell me I can get it approved by their vaad

proudmomma

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 10:08 pm

qwerty4 wrote:

Did they leace your browser? My kid's school is also requiring a Tag or Meshimir filter. I don't need YouTube or social media, but I really want my browser. Do they do that?

amother

Mistyrose

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 10:42 pm

I have gentech (thru tag) and am thrilled. You can ttly customize what you want filteres. You can ask them to unblock Google play app store for a few hours. You can choose diff filtering levels for youtube. You can have open browser. Their technicians are super helpful and knowledge. Their daily hours are m-t 6.30am till 11pm. (I called them earlier today for something and asked their hours).

creditcards

Wed, Jul 31 2019, 9:05 am

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

I have the same experience.

SuperWify

Wed, Jul 31 2019, 9:39 am

Tag and mishimer both use Gentech. Tag is a free organization so the charges are just to cover the cost of the filter. When you go into tag be very clear about what you want. It’s your filter you can have whatever you want open. I don’t know how mishimer works.

Keep in mind it will take a few days and a few calls until you figure out what you want open and what was by mistake closed and you need unblocked. You can always call and get it adjusted. You can call to have your plaster open for a bit or you can always have it open on a filtered level.

qwerty4

Wed, Jul 31 2019, 2:05 pm

proudmomma wrote:

Did they leace your browser? My kid's school is also requiring a Tag or Meshimir filter. I don't need YouTube or social media, but I really want my browser. Do they do that?

Yes, my browser is open with some categories blacklisted.

qwerty4

Wed, Jul 31 2019, 2:05 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

They gave you filtering options on YouTube?