- Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
- Written By Luke Gilkerson
- Categories: Accountability Software, Covenant Eyes Mobile, Criticisms and FAQ for Covenant Eyes, General Back to Blog Home
FAQ: “When will you work on an Android Application?”
The Covenant Eyes app for Android is now available on Google Play.
Recently I received a couple emails that led me to believe I haven’t been 100% clear on whether we are developing an Android application. My statements about this are likely buried in a mountain of comments no one would care to read through. So here’s our official position at the moment:
Currently Covenant Eyes is not working on an Android product. We have not written any code for it, nor do we know when we might start.
Our development team is quite aware of the growing need. Within the last year the Android has really taken the market in big ways.
This decision has nothing to do with ease of development, but has everything to do with our limited resources and our focus on higher priorities. Our staff is currently focusing on ensuring our current services are consistent with what we say they are, such as improving our Member Center, our accountability reports, rating system, detailed browsing logs, and overall usability of our website. We are also making it easy for larger accounts to manage their users (such as seminaries, Bible colleges, large missionary organizations, businesses, etc.). Sadly it would be impossible to focus on an Android app without losing these priorities.
This will be an ongoing battle. Almost all phones have some sort of web access any more. I’m not sure what the answer is, unless people become convicted enough of their need for CE-Mobile that they will purposely limit their phone choice to one with CE-Mobile support.
It is possible to have accountability on an android phone:
X3 have a good product that is very affordable an can be downloaded through the android app store too.
Keep up the good work covenant eyes. The whole mobile device issue is the big problem now and of the future for Internet use and abuse.
@James – We are currently working on some options for the Android. Thanks!
Once you have a CE-Mobile product, that is. 8-{)>
@osborn4 – Until then, if people want CE Mobile, people will have to stick to the iPhone, iPod touch, or one of the Windows Mobile devices.
Please continue to consider it, Android needs software like this.
i need covent eyes for my EV touch from verizon
Funny thing, I was just wondering when you were planning to work on an Andriod phone app. Now I know the answer. If you do, I’d consider buying an Android phone just to help you test it out. Keep up the great service!
When or if you finally do a CE for Android I will be one of the first to use it.
I agree, I plan on purchasing a Motorola Droid, but I’m concerned about owning a mobile device with unfiltered internet.
My husband struggles. We have ce on all our computers, but he just had to have a droid phone. Quite frankly it scares me, and I’m really hoping y’all will have some one develop a ce app for the droid.
On a related note, are there plans to develop an app for the Blackberry device? Thanks for your great work.
@David – No word yet on Blackberry.
How about a solution for Palm webOS like the Pre or Pixi
Hey Luke.. any further updates on Android development inhouse or contracted? thanks.
@Gerald – So far there haven’t been many people interested and capable of taking on this project. No updates yet.
Simply another vote for a Motorola Droid (Android) CE app; we have several Droids. Praying for someone to step up to the task. In the mean time, a timely verbal accountability will be the only accountability in place. Thanks Luke.
Another vote for an android app. Android phones are becoming increasingly more prominent and closing in on iPhones competitively. I’m very grateful that God has used you to bring CE into my life as a tool to help me live free so I can be a better servant of God, husband, father, and son.
I currently have CE on my desktop and Windows Mobile smartphone and consider it essential. The market for Android mobiles is massive (and growing at a huge rate!). Personally I would like to get an Android smartphone but wil not until CE software is available.
Therefore another vote for Android CE – please!!
I got an Android phone, Dec 2008, and the contract is up in June 2010. I’ve checked CE pretty much every month for a year (since I discovered you) for news on an Android CE app. The market is now really taking off worldwide for Android phones. There are several Android smartphones with superior specs to the iPhone. Have you considered the fact that you could sell the CE app for Android independently from the main software, and easily make up your costs. I would pay $100 for that app!
I’d love to get a new Android phone with my new contract, but if there’s no news on this by June, I’ll have to go for a Windows Mobile 7 phone…..sadly.
Agreed. I’d pay the monthly fee for covenant eyes plus a download fee for the android app of up to $100. Android filtering AND accountabilty is needed immediately! There are small ot midsize mobile development firms overseas (eg. low labor cost) that can help you with this. You might want to make contact via rentacoder.com.
Agreed, a Droid CE product is exactly what people need! The phone is so powerful and needs a way to keep users accountable. Please do develop this software!
Any update of contracting this project to an external developer/team?
May God bless your efforts and bring someone forward who can help make this necessity a reality.
I needed a new phone, guys need new filter for Android browser, at the market many competion, but new phone + many software develop, if no man step up there, would angel help, no. Android will take us to unknown place. I check the web site. I have the covenant eyes on my computer.
Officially, Android has now exceeded ALL other platforms in sales. This is a definate need.
http://www.androidcentral.com/admob-numbers-show-android-overtaking-iphone-requests-united-states
Yet another CE user who would pay for an Android app.
Another vote for android.
Another vote for android.
For those that are interested there is an app called double agent on android that offers a similar service.
Thanks for the heads-up – I’ve got DoubleAgent installed now and waiting to see how it works. This looks like exactly what I’ve been waiting for…thank you Lord!
Yes Vote for Android, A lot of people are entering the Droid Movement, please help protect those with internet. New Update all new smart phone owners are REQUIRED to pay for internet on a smart phone. Any smart phone is pretty much a waste of money without the internet access. Its horrible the internet is so beneficial but has its one downfall internet porn…
Douglas:
Microsoft’s smartphone market share has plummeted so badly THERE WON’T BE a Windows Mobile 7.
Microsoft is replacing it with a totally new mobile OS called Windows Phone 7 by holiday season 2010.
( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Phone_7 ).
Which means the current CE client for Windows Mobile will probably not work with it.
Luke Gilkerson:
May I suggest a quick-and-dirty interim solution for Android?
The DoubleAgent Android app costs only $5 one-time and doesn’t use a central server. It emails your accountability partner directly from the phone on a weekly basis.
But what if the “accountability partner’s email address” entered in the existing DoubleAgent software was “my_CE_username@covenanteyes.com?”
Then CE would be receiving weekly data about internet usage on Android, which could be incorporated into CE’s report, so accountability partners could monitor all platforms by reviewing one report. Of course, their report will be formatted differently from yours, so it would probably be simpler to do it as an additional separate section in the CE report. Still, slicing & dicing email text (as long as the report is in SOME consistent format) should be much easier than digging into Android’s guts.
Much more could be done with a little collaboration with the DoubleAgent developers.
First, they could increase the frequency of emails to the CE server, say, daily, or more.
Second, they could send you something closer to the raw unformatted data (each URL visited along with a timestamp) so your existing analytical processes could work on it more easily.
This seems like it could be a logical partnership. Their system is not a complete solution because it only monitors one platform. Also, they say they don’t do any analytics, so I guess that means their report isn’t SUMMARIZED for easier review.
So, their current system would be the inexpensive version ($5 one-time) for Android only, and Covenant Eyes could be like the premium fee-based service that covers multiple platforms and provides a report that is easier to review.
But, as I originally said, you could get some benefit by using their existing client as is, even if they are not interested in collaboration.
@Rodney – It is an interesting concept. I’ll pass it along to the development team and see what they say!
It seems that double agent has found somewhat of a solution and has written some software. Is there any way that CE could team up with them? Maybe acquire them? I would pay extra for this.
@Lucas – Thanks for the suggestion. We’ve been attempting to get in touch with them.
In regards to this double agent software, has anyone tested it yet? I really want to get into a Android based phone, but won’t do it until there is accountability software available for it. Has anyone tested this?? I know it monitors web traffic, but does it monitor every app you download and the content of that app? I just found the double agent app this morning, so curious to what it can really offer.
CE, keep up the good work.
Thanks for what you do.
I have been using Double Agent for almost a month. After installing it I added myself plus an accountability partner to the email list, and we both received an introductory email listing every app which I have on my phone.
It took about 2 weeks for the first “weekly” email to come through, but now they are coming on a weekly basis – listing every website visited on my phone, and any new apps installed.
However, it does not (yet) appear to monitor internet activity from your YouTube app, or other “non-browser” apps. I suspect that this will be a matter of time, but would also accept that it couldn’t possibly monitor all apps unless it finds some way of logging raw data coming into the phone – but that would be a challenge to analyse.
So, yes it works in that it does exactly what it says it will do, but I’d quite like one or two other common apps monitored too.
Appears as if X3Watch got the one up on Covenant Eyes and purchased double agent because the name changes to X3Watch with the most recent update. I guess this means the end of the line as far as hopeful partnerships between CE and double agent?
@Lucas – Yeah, they grabbed double agent. As their protocols wouldn’t have worked very well with ours, we didn’t pursue much with them. Hope their service really helps those who use Android!
PLEASE develop this for Android!
@Brandon – As for now, we recommend you go with X3s app (formerly Double Agent). I’ve not seen the accountability reports and don’t know how well organized they are, or if they lend to good accountability discussions, but something is better than nothing. We’ll let you know if and when we start development on our own app.
I need an Android version of this software. It’s helped me so much with my laptop usage. But I don’t have filtering for the Nexus One. :( Please develop it!!!
To all those who want some form of accountability, I would recommend X3. It seems as if it is the only accountability software for Android right now. Although it is nowhere near as good as CE, it is something. The report isn’t very well organized and doesn’t assign ratings, so it takes a little bit more work from your accountability partner. It simply lists the websites you have visited as well as any web searches you have done. However, it has definitely helped me while I wait for CE to hopefully develop something.
@Lucas – Thanks for your recommendation. As of now X3 is the only thing out there for Android. While it has its limitations, it certainly is better than nothing. We’ll inform you as soon as we begin any development on an Android app.
So, it looks like X3 has the software that runs on the phone itself and collects browsing history, etc. Combining that with CE’s reporting technology would be perfect! Couldn’t some contract be worked out where X3 provides the monitoring software and CE provides the reporting software?
@Brian – We’ll look into that. We’ve never tried to merge their reports into ours, but because we gather every URL visited (not just the high rated ones) into our detailed logs, I’m not sure how compatible their information would be for our reports. One of limitations of X3 is the lack of “context” their report gives you. They simply give a list of URLs and the times they were visited, but the report offers no surrounding information about low rated sites visited directly before and after.
“We’ve never tried to merge their reports into ours,…. I’m not sure how compatible their information would be for our reports.”
That’s why I suggested making it a separate section in your report, because it just won’t follow your format. This is an interim solution, so “some info” is > none.
Also, I found later that they do NOT email directly from the phone to your accountability partner, it does go through a server of theirs. So I stand corrected on that point.
I will probably get a Droid Incredible soon (depending on their backlog), so I can be an alpha or beta tester. Nice thing is, I can use their system as designed, & cc you on the data just by adding you to the partner list.
I currently have a Android Incredible and have been struggling with it. Defiantly want an App ASAP. Has anyone found any other apps that filter or block content? I have been searching without success.
Any plans for iPad? The iPhone app works on iPad but small screen loses sharpness when stretched to 2x on iPad screen.
@Matt – No definitive plans yet. We would first like to get a new version of our iPhone browser and then move on to other devices.
Matt:
see these previous posts
June 8 by Luke Gilkerson of CE
June 9 by Lucas
June 9 by Luke Gilkerson
X3Watch (formerly known as DoubleAgent) is it for now.
I’m sure we’d all like to hear of other alternatives
Another vote for Android. Both my son and I have held off getting one until we found a filter. I’m not interested in IPhone – much prefer the droid.
@Matt “Any plans for iPad?”
FYI – I’ve got CE and X3Watch on my iPad, and x3watch has released an update making their app native for the iPad including tabs and bookmarks.
As a 3-4 year CE customer, I’m keeping CE installed so any future update will notify me in the App store.
You could check out http://x3watch.com/, they have an android app, but it only does accountability, not filtering.
Verizon’s safeguards content filters work with Android for free to provide some filtering (I can confirm it at least works on my Motorola Droid). However, you do have to set it on the YA17+ setting in order to download apps in the Android market. Another plus as a weapon for purity is the delay of several hours should you change the settings.
This has worked well for me in the absence of available accountability software along with coffee conversations with a mentor who receives my CE reports.
I’m about to add the accountability by testing out x3watch for Android mentioned in posts above. The website indicates questionable sites, searches, or installed apps are highlighted in red on their reports.
-a long-term CE supporter!
I’m about to download
Verizon’s Content Filters under their Safeguards (accessible online) work with Android. (I can at least confirm compatability with my Motorola Droid). You have to set it on “YA17+” to avoid blocking app downloads in the Android Market. A plus as a weapon for purity is the several hour delay should you choose to adjust settings. It has served me well coupled with coffee conversations with my mentor who receives my CE reports.
However, I am looking forward to adding accountability software to the arsenal by testing the new x3watch for Android. Their website says the reports highlight questionable sites, searches and app installations in red on their reports.
While I’ll continue to monitor for a CE Android app, this appears to be a promising combo.
- a longtime CE supporter
Another vote for droid…
another vote for Android software
X3Watch on Android does not appear to be working on my new Android phone – Samsung Galaxy S. It simply doesn’t turn itself on after reboot, or when I open a browser, therefore the accountability reports that have come in over the last 3 weeks say I’ve not been on the internet when I clearly have.
I’m also not a fan of X3Watch for the way they present their software in my phone’s status bar, or in email format. The changes they made to DoubleAgent when they purchased it were not popular with me!
I’d still love to see CE software for Android.
I would vote for Android, only if CE can be run in the proper fashion, where it has hooks deep into the system level. The iPhone app is unfortunately not a great solution. Offering a replacement browser in IOS has been an unfortunately not so great experience. If you can’t monitor all of the traffic on the device then there are too many loopholes around the monitoring ability or just a browser.
For those of you who need help with blocking the YouTube app:
Install App Protector Pro $2.99 or possibly $1.99 can’t really remember.
It is a program that was designed to protect apps from unwanted intruders. This is the best app lock program that I have used and is without any loopholes that I have discovered in other similar programs. It locks everything up instantly after reboot and keeps everything locked. This program allows you to pick and choose the apps you want to password protect. You will need to have an accountability partner, wife, or girlfriend make up a password (obviously, one that you don’t get to know). You need to protect these apps:
1. Any app killers
2. App protector pro
3. App market
4. Settings
5. Any app uninstall programs
6. YouTube
In addition to adding the app killer to be password protected, you will also need to add it to your app killers ignore list. Because any app killer can simply terminate the app protector pro. Thus the reason for having to password protect your app killer.
I love to use my app killer. so if you are like me (I use Advanced Task Cleaner) I set all of the apps on my phone to “Auto Kill” but instead of having it timed, I set it to “kill apps when screen turns off” so I don’t have to go into the app (because it is password protected now) to kill apps anymore. All I have to do is turn my screen off, then back on. bam! all unwanted tasks cleaned.
I personally had my girlfriend make the password for me. I’m with her a lot, so if I ever need to get into settings, or market I wait till I’m with her so that she can unlock the password for me.
Great job Adam! Thank you! Did it immediately! Already had x3 but that wasn’t enough. That’s great!
Thanks, Adam! You are awesome!!! :)
Thanks Adam! I’m trying out something called Perfect AppLock for Android. I can go to the task killer and kill it, and it comes right back. The issue I had with the App Protector is that I can’t lock the Settings, because I go to multiple wireless hotspots.
At second glance, App Protector Pro would probably work just fine for me, since I can use an app like WiFinder to connect to Hot Spots.
Oh and I pair the above strategy with x3 watch for internet.
I would love to have CE developed for Android though. I would still pay quite a bit to have the resources that I have on my MAC, also available on my phone.
Oh, I have HTC incredible.
Can anyone comment on how well the X3Watch app works? Specifically, how do the reports compare to CE reports? Does it seem to do a good job of catching inappropriate content? Do the reports give rankings for the different sites visited, and does it just list the “bad” sites or the entire history?
I’d really like to upgrade to a new android phone, and I’m pretty confident that CE will develop a quality app eventually, but I’m not sure how long that will be.
@ Douglas – I just noticed on androidzoom that they released a new version (1.2) on the 20th. Does this happen to fix the problem with the new Samsung phone?
i’ve had my pure for every week now and i nonetheless dont know what to do… like changing the message alert tone to no matter i want it not simply the fundamental ones on the phone… all the pieces about this phone is complicating.. i additionally wished to alter to that android software program as a result of windows is simply too slow and somebody please help me how to do this
Is it possible to have people from online ‘volunteer’ to help out with a CE android project? (I do wonder if it defeats the purpose to be working on a product you want to use…)
@Shorin – Actually it doesn’t defeat the purpose. When and if we are ready to start any sort of development we can let you know. We always run user-tests on every new product we create, so we’ll need help with that.
Another vote for an Android project for CE
@Luke Gilkerson – I was actually inquiring because I am a java software developer with a number of years of experience, although I’m not in your area. (not to mention lack of Android platform experience as well as lack of access to an android device to develop on… which I understand is not necessary for android development pretty much)
Anyone familiar with any option for accountability on a jailbroken iPhone?
What if you were to have a one time download fee of $5-10 for mobile devices. Would not that small fee help finance the development for new platforms? We’re paying for other apps, that shouldn’t be too hard of a pill to swallow.
ANDROID, please!
@Charles – This is something we’ve considered. Thanks for your comment.
I would also be willing to support the development costs through a download or app charge.
As would I and I am sure many others would too.
Luke, if CE does decide to develop a CE app for android phones, please consider developing a filter and not just accountability software. Thanks.
will probably end up canceling with CE. The computer isn’t my problem – my android phone is.
Many guys in my church have the Android as do I and currently I’m not useing it as CE is not available I started out with out and had to turn off the Droid and go back to lod phone, please make CE work with me Droid thanks and blessings Tim
Please make an app for Android and Blackberry phones. Blackberry currently holds the largest market share of smartphones at 35%. Android’s market share is quickly catching up to the iPhone’s.
Based on my experience and the comments I see here, smartphones are now the big battleground for many of us, and we need all the help we can get.
Please, please provide a filter for Android! We need it!!!
I am a youth pastor. Covenant eyes has been one of the best resources to help my youth. Please CE, make an app for Android. I am an iphone user and it is great to have one for my phone. But on the other hand most of youth have android phones. We’ll be expecting this APP. Thanks.
I agree. Charge the right price (I personally would pay top dollar), expand and hire the people you need. I’m sure the iPhone market is good but you are limited to one company, that’s at&t. If you were to get into the Android market you would be tapping into larger market and from a business perspective, make more money. This is especially true because we will pay whatever you ask. You can’t put too high of a price on our purity. I think CE has an obligation to develop the software for the android market because you are the only ones who can, so I’m respectfully calling you to the carpet. Get the job done. No excuses. Hire who you need. Charge what you need to charge. Expand and delegate. Sounds harsh but there is great need for what CE does.
Everyone!!!!! Check out Adam’s post on July 21, about x3 and the app locker. Great idea! They work great in sync!
Can’t wait for CE for Android – would love this to be a priority! Thanks CE for all you do!
I have 18 Adroid phones for my business and I’m worried about my guys abusing them. I really need something effective to keep them accountable.
Putting in my 2 cents worth on needing an app for Droid
You NEED an app or download for Android phones. I have ce on my personal laptop and i love it i never have the urge to look at porn while on it, but i always fall and turn to my phone to view things unpleasing to God. I’m paying over $100 dollars for your services i think me along with all the other fellow android phone users should be accommodated. This is purtiy and cleanliness of the heart, eyes, and mind were talking about. i would greatly appreciate an android app!
I will purchase a covenant eyes app if it’s made available on the android market.
I recently purchased a Droid X, not even thinking about the implications or the availability of the internet on this phone. This is an area I struggle in and don’t need that temptation everywhere I go. I am now faced with the decision of getting rid of the phone and paying excessive fees to do so or finding a program to install on it. A friend just told me about CE and I was very hopefull to find a solution here. I am planning on putting CE on my home computer, but I am left with few choices for the phone.
@Carl – You can try X3watch for now, but we are planning on developing one ourselves.
So what’s happening? It has been over ten months since CE started “thinking” about developing an app for the droid. Any news? We’re all very eagerly waiting for something. I check in a few times every week hoping to see the headline “New CE App for the Android is here!” but am let down time and time again. Please give us an update as to how the process is coming. I don’t mean to sound rude, I love CE, but there is no need to explain how important this is a lot of us and how extremely eager we are!
@Jake – Back in January we announced we were looking for outside developers, but after many months nothing materialized. So late this summer we announced that we would be starting the process ourselves. Sorry to leave everybody hanging. We are very aware of the need for this application. When we put it out, we want it to be top-notch.
Please reconsider prioritizing development of android application. I purchased my new phones without checking the covenant eyes website. I am stuck with a droid 2. Great phone but i don’t want this type of internet access after all of the progress that i have made with covenant eyes on all of my other internet accessiblr computers.
Sincerely,
Jacob
I’m another person who has CE installed on my laptop and desktop and have an Android phone. REALLY NEED CE for Android! X3 is worthless–it only tracks the native browser, is easily closed, and so is VERY easily circumvented. I, too, would pay a premium price for an Android version of CE. I believe it is imperative. I just heard the other day that by 2012 Android phones are expected to eclipse Blackberry and iPhone combined. If you have a Windows Mobile app and an iPhone app, you really should have an Android app!
@Scott – We are continuing to research the best way to create the app so it doesn’t have the problems X3 has. We’ll let you know as things develop.
Another vote for the droid app – just installed the x3 app, but use CE on all my other computers. Would be easier on my accountability partners to only get one report and based on my experience w/ the pc version of x3 watch, a CE app would be more secure/hard to get past.
Hello!
I really appreciate CE and your service. I’ve subscribed to CE now for probably about 5 years or more.
So, here’s another vote for staying current with the market. Specifically Android. And a really big vote for hurrying it. Or even blackberry. I’d pay more for the service and I’m sure that’s true for many people.
My current contract is up – I need to upgrade for work – and our provider only carries Android or Blackberry. No iPhones.
Android has – what – 40% of the market right now? And growing?
It must pencil out…
CE app update wanted. Please notify. Is development progressing?
@first post – Yes. We’ve been able to do more research on the development of an app.
Let me add my voice to the others asking for ce on the droid system. It would be great to have.
I have a few questions:
With the development of CE for Android, will it be a browser like the Iphone app?
Or will it monitor all internet use like the PC, MAC and Windows Mobile versions of CE?
Also, do you have an estimated time when CE for Android will be finished? Will it be finished in 1, 3, 6 months? Or more like in 1 year? Or later?
Thanks,
Thanks for your questions. Your comment comes at a perfect time. We’ve been collecting opinions from people about the development of new products for mobile devices. Please take this survey to help us out. Right now we’re trying to come up with the best way to approach many different mobile devices. Sorry I can’t give you a definite timeline. My guess is it won’t take more than a year, but that will largely depend on our research.
Link to survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MobileDeviceSurvey
Again the survey is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MobileDeviceSurvey
Luke,
You should update the main body of this FAQ with an “UPDATE” section. Most people won’t read all the way down to the bottom of the comments to figure out that you are doing some research into a solution now (which is different than what the main body says).
Blessings.
@Randy – Thanks for the thought!
Any updates on the development of this application? Has a possible timeline been established?
Best Regards.
@Willis – Leadership at Covenant Eyes is setting priorities for 2011 right now. We should have a concrete direction set by the end of this month.
I respectfully assert that your corporate priorities are misguided. you effectively said you are shoring up the left flank while leaving the right flank totally exposed to attack.the android market is a huge gap in the defense. I believe if you ask your customer base what the prorities are you will find a wider spectrum of protection desired much more than website usability. I also think a few people care about better accountability reports when their android has no protection whatsoever. the foundation of the system effectiveness is that someone else will see where you been, not how easy it is surfing your website or worrying about multiple user management. my humble opinion is that you have strayed from your core priority by leaving the android market unprotected.
@corey – I agree the Android market is extremely important, but if the very thing we deliver (i.e. the accountability reports) are not the quality or accuracy they need to be, then no application (on any platform, mobile or otherwise) will be worth anything. This is why we have devoted so much time to continually refreshing our reporting mechanism. With that said, you can expect to hear from us at the end of this month about some new priorities for 2011.
Another vote for CE for Android, its growing at a much faster rate than iPhone as of now…
Please develop it!
Another vote for CE for Android! We have had CE on our home computers for years and love it. Would definitely pay extra to have CE mobile.
Many thanks to Adam for his 7/21/10 post above about how to use App Protector Pro alongside X3watch for seamless protection in the meantime. Love the step-by-step instructions and explanations. You rock, Adam! We are just getting ready to upgrade to smartphones and thought we were limited to iPhone and a super-expensive monthly contract. Not so…Virgin Mobile now has an Android phone (Samsung Intercept) with 1400 min plus unlimited text & data for only $40/mo. That’s $80/mo for 2 lines with 2800 min plus unlimited text, e-mail, and data. Yeah, you read that right. :) Virgin uses the Sprint network, which gets great reception where we live. Woot!
I saw a couple of similar thoughts above. I know that I would be willing to.pay a.relatively high download fee for CE for.the Android (e.g.$100). I wonder if CE could determine the cost to either contract development or dedicate a staff person to development of an Android app and then ask for assistance. As an example, if of would cost $2,500 and there are 25 people like me willing to put $100 in the pot to male it happen, let’s do it. I know I need it and so do many of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I’d like to help male this happen!
@ Luke – in January you mentioned that CE would have a concrete direction at the end of the month? Just holding you to your word. Any updates?
I’ve tried the IPhone App, but lets just say that its easily circumvented (even with the strictest restrictions on , e.g., no app downloads, no safari, no youtube, etc…)
Since almost all phones now have some kind of internet access the only option for tight accountability is WM phone (6.5), BUT their OS is the worst.
I hope you can have CE for android in the same way you have it for WM.
Glad you asked. We currently working actively on an Android application as well as another update to our iPhone app. In addition, we are researching other devices that access the Internet and developing a comprehensive plan to tackle the mobile market. We don’t have a release date, but after talking with the developers, we really hope to have something released in the next three months. (Again, don’t take this as a “release date.” There are always technological surprises we may have to work around.)
I am a longtime CE home computer user and just bought a Nexxus S (Android 2.2). I was utterly disappointed to find out that CE does not have an app. I am actually quite sad. I have struggled with my new device; though it offers MANY advantages in helping me run my business/life, there are those moments where lust lurks around the corner incessantly. Sigh. C’mon, CE, make it happen. There’s a market. There’s a need. I’ll gladly pay $100 to download it. Hire more workers. Make it open source. Something. Anything. You will be making a huge impact in thousands of lives.
I just purchased the X3 app and am excited to hear that CE is Currently working on an app of it’s own. Keep up the great work CE! Thank You!! I am all for an android app.
I am waiting for the android CE app as well. I have X3 but it lacks accountability for youtube. It was good to hear something positive towards the progress. We appreciate it Luke, and look forward to hearing more updates. Craig
Craig,
See Adam’s solution above. You can use App Protector Pro or Perfect Applock (which is what I use) to lock apps like YouTube. The only catch is you need a second person for the PIN to unlock when needed.
Any word on the progress of the android application? Really hoping that one comes out very soon. I had a Droid and used X3 watch, but it was bypassed WAY to easily so i had to get rid of it. Would really like to get another one in the near future, but only if CE releases an app.
@Brennan – We are in process of working on an app. I’ll have some news about that in the next week or two. Stay tuned…
Luke — I am glad to hear that there is an Android app in the works. I hope you are able to deliver it soon. One feature that would be highly appreciated would be to have a single combined accountability report from the CE-Android and CE-Desktop apps to make it easier for accountability partners.
Thanks for your work in this area.
@Brad – Yes. When the beta of the app is out, the reports will be merged as one. I actually just spoke to the Developers yesterday about it and it looks like the beta will be released very soon, perhaps in the next couple weeks. More to come…
When the beta is released, will it be released to the public?
@Brennan – Yes. Anyone who has a Covenant Eyes account and an Android device that supports the app will be able to be a part of the beta test. We hope to release the beta some time late this week or early next week.
Hello everyone. Just a quick notice: We have made some upgrades to our iPhone app today. Check out version version 1.4.6 in the app store.
I am soo excited about CE for Android! Will we get an email when it is available or do we need to keep checking the website?
Luke will publish a blog post as soon as we’ve got something to announce.
Has the release been delayed? You said last week by early this week.
I don’t mean to sound impatient, but prefer to think of it as keeping the best accountability software people accountable. :)
@John – Yes. We were hoping the product would be ready for our alpha program this week, but we hit a snag. We really are trying to get this thing out the door ASAP. Thanks for your patience!
Thanks, was just wondering and figured other people might want a status update anyways.
Hello everyone. We just posted a video giving you a sneak peek of our Android app. We interviewed some of our developers and our VP of Technology to give you the most up to date answers. Enjoy!
What is the status now?
@JL – The same. Still doing some internal testing.
Hello everyone. Good news! You can now join our alpha test for the Android app. Go to CovenantEyes.com/AndroidAlphaSignup/
Hello everyone. I’m proud to announce the Covenant Eyes app for Android is no longer in beta and can be found on Google Play. Thanks to all our beta-testers for helping us make this app!