Comments on: Review: Covenant Eyes for iPhone

By: matt

matt — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:37:29 +0000

GLARING error however is that is DOES NOT monitor other apps.

i.e when in twitter…one can click a link and be taken there IN safari…even if safari is blocked.

CE needs to find a way to either a)cripple hyperlinks not clicked within their browser or b) develop a twitter app

“b” is obviously much easier…

it’s frustrating that they only offer “partial” mobile accountability.

By: Debbie Besch

Debbie Besch — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 05:13:53 +0000

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By: Sergiemag

Sergiemag — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:23:13 +0000

I’ve been using this browser for half a year now and quite regularly. I am pretty disappointed with the Covenant Eyes iPhone browser. There’s a lot of functionality that is missing or buggy. So this browser is many steps back from the default Safari browser that comes with the iPhone.

1. Keyboard glitches on the homepage and other pages
2. The bookmarks cannot be arranged, a simple functionality
3. When selecting text it sometimes doesn’t automatically move further off screen to select more text.
4. The google search on the top right doesn’t work.
5. When a page is loading, the x in the URL bar doesn’t stop the page from loading. I try to erase the URL, but if the page is loading the URL will reappear on top of new URL you typed.
6. The top browser bar with URL and google search always stay there on top even when you scroll down on a website. Safari gives you more viewing space by making it disappear when you scroll down.
7. Some of the UI elements are poorly designed. (ex: scrolling through tabs is glitchy and elements are poor). I assume there’s no designer on board with their team.
8. Crashes sometimes losing all previous browsing data.
9. phone calls to your phone will erase all browser activity. So make sure to not use the browser for important typing-related things because you will lose all your hard work. This happens because the app needs to re-log into the servers after you come back from the phone call which means starting from scratch.
10. The default safari browser lets you “go to top” of the page if you click on the top bar where the time is displayed. The CE browser doesnt have this feature.
11. Poor rendering engine. Some pages, like gmail mobile, don’t render correctly or take very long time to render. So some pages are useless because of this browser.
12. Slower and clunkier than default safari browser. I’m not surprised at this because there are background processes running.
13. Browser history is a very short list. Not useful at all.
14. Adding bookmarks is a pain. The field where you type the title of the bookmark only displays a limited number of characters instead of using all the width of the iphone screen.

In the end it was an annoying experience using this browser. I found my way around some things but it’s not ideal and I cannot depend on it. Poor quality control from Covenant Eyes. Have been waiting for an update from them but nothing has happened.

I hope this helps someone!

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:44:37 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by human3rror: Review: Covenant Eyes for iPhone – http://bit.ly/77b7Kp (Another great Guest Post by @GavinBaker)…

By: j3ff

j3ff — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:14:55 +0000

Since this doesn't track all web traffic from the iPhone isn't this essentially only as good as the user is 'good'? It seems like it defeats the accountability aspect of this offering. The desktop version sees all web traffic and when uninstalled notifies the accountability partner(s). I am just not sure this product was worthwhile for CovenantEyes to develop since the iPhone doesn't allow background processes.

By: stephenbateman

stephenbateman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:03:39 +0000

Gavin you're rippin the reviews up! nice work sir.

I've been a Covenant Eyes customer for years, and their service is right on, for computer at least.
Computer integrity is a heart issue, but software like this makes integrity way easier. What's the verdict from your end, X3 or CE, particularly since I already drop the $8/mo for CE.

By: stephenbateman

stephenbateman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:01:33 +0000

** Hey Jeff, Gavin replied to your comment, but didn't click "reply" so check the website **

By: Gavin_Baker

Gavin_Baker — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:17:45 +0000

If I understand your question, you're saying that because Safari can still access porn and Covenant Eyes won't catch it then it's pointless. I'd probably disagree only because the next step would be to set up the restrictions on your phone with your accountability partner and turn off Safari. Then your only browser would be Covenant Eyes or X3 which would track the sites you visited. I'd agree that both solutions aren't really complete but even if they both offered jailbroken apps that ran in the background, we'd then have battery problems.

Another option mentioned yesterday was to just have your accountability partner check to see if you've cleared your browser history when you meet.

By: human3rror

human3rror — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:18:04 +0000

i like your domain name.

By: Tweets that mention Review: Covenant Eyes for iPhone - ChurchCrunch -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Review: Covenant Eyes for iPhone - ChurchCrunch -- Topsy.com — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:10:20 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Saddington, Carol Thomas and topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en. topsy_top20k_en said: Review: Covenant Eyes for iPhone: This is a Guest Post by Gavin Baker. It’s part 2 of a 3 Part Series. Check out t… http://bit.ly/5xr8ed [...]