How it works

Three pieces that live in your home.

No cloud account for your family and no rewiring. Homestead sits alongside your home internet and looks after the kids’ devices, and nobody else’s.

The Board

A touchscreen for the fridge, the counter or the wall, with a small computer on its back. Everything runs here, and your family’s information is stored here. The kids use it for routines, chores, stars and the calendar, and to see how much screen time they have left. It never counts against anyone’s time.

The Kids Wi‑Fi box

A small box that plugs into your router with one cable. It makes a separate Kids Wi‑Fi, which is how Homestead can pause any device, even ones that can’t run an app.

The apps

The Parent app on your phone sets the rules. On kids’ Windows PCs and Android devices, a small Homestead app makes their limits stick, even away from the Kids Wi‑Fi.

The Kids Wi‑Fi

One simple rule makes it work.

The Kids Wi‑Fi box makes its own Wi‑Fi just for the kids. Their devices join it, and yours stay on your home Wi‑Fi like always. You don’t have to change your router or your internet provider.

Keep your home Wi‑Fi password to yourself

Kids’ devices only ever join the Kids Wi‑Fi. A kid who knows your home Wi‑Fi password can hop off it, so keep it private. That’s the whole trick.

The internet
Your home router
Your phone, your laptop and the Board stay here
one cable
The Kids Wi‑Fi box
Makes the Kids Wi‑Fi. The Board sets it up for you.
Kids Wi‑Fi
Ava’s PC Leo’s tablet Ava’s phone Family TV Game console
Setting it up

Plug in, tap through, and you’re set up.

Homey walks you through it on the Board, one step at a time. No computer skills needed.

  1. Put the Board where the family gathers

    Plug it in and join your home Wi‑Fi on its screen. Homey takes it from there.

  2. Plug in the Kids Wi‑Fi box

    One cable to your router and one power plug. The Board sets it up for you.

  3. Add your kids, then your phone

    Pick their colours, routines, chores and screen-time rules. Then scan the code on the Board to add the Parent app.

  4. Move their devices to the Kids Wi‑Fi

    Add the Homestead app on PCs and Android devices for the strongest control.

What works on which device

We’d rather tell you now than have you find out later.

Every device is a little different. Here’s exactly what Homestead can do on each one, and where it helps to use the device’s own controls too.

Windows PC

Full control
Time limits, app blocks, schedules and an instant lock. Blocked apps are closed, so unsaved work in them can be lost.
Needs the Homestead Windows app, which takes a couple of minutes to install. It also sees the title of the window in front (like a browser tab name) and which programs are installed.

Android phone or tablet

Full control
Time limits, app blocks, schedules and locks, on Wi‑Fi or mobile data. In Full mode the app can’t be uninstalled or reset from the phone’s settings.
Full mode means resetting the device once. It takes about 10 minutes, and we guide you through it. It can’t run alongside Google Family Link on the same phone.

iPhone or iPad

Kids Wi‑Fi
Pause its internet on the Kids Wi‑Fi, with one tap or on a schedule.
Apple doesn’t let other apps control iPhones, so Homestead can only pause their internet on the Kids Wi‑Fi. Use Apple’s Screen Time too.

TV, console or streaming stick

Kids Wi‑Fi
Pause its internet on the Kids Wi‑Fi, with one tap or on a schedule.
Games that are already downloaded keep working offline. Use the console’s own controls too.

Away from home

Homestead app only
PCs and Android devices with the Homestead app keep following the rules they already have. To change rules or answer “more time?” while they’re away, you need Homestead Care.
Other devices are only managed while they’re on the Kids Wi‑Fi. A device that can’t reach the Board for three days lets go of its rules by itself, so a broken Board never leaves a phone locked.

Kids are clever

No product can stop every workaround, and we won’t pretend otherwise. A grown-up can always remove Homestead from a device with its release code. Homestead helps you set limits; it isn’t an emergency service and doesn’t replace supervision.

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