Lets face it, not every dad has the luxury to buy tablets and smartphones for each and every members of the family. Sometimes, they just have to share these gadgets with each other. Even I had to share my smartphone with my sister when I first got one. Sharing electronic gadgets like tablets or smartphones can sometimes be difficult because you can’t share all your personal data stored in there. But there are ways that you can make things easier to share your tablet with the whole family, while keeping your personal data. Check out these tips.
Choose the Right Tablet
When it comes to buying a tablet, you have to be wise to choose the most suitable tablet for your whole family. Apple’s iPad is a great choice, but the price can be an issue there. Don’t even think about buying Windows tablets like Surface. They are good for office and personal use, but not for the whole family. Windows Store doesn’t even have many free apps either. So, the best choice would be an Android tablet.
Check for the Android version of a tablet before buying it. Latest version of Android, Jelly Bean provides the smoothest tablet experience. You don’t have to buy the latest and the most expensive tablet to get it. Go for a tablet like Google’s Nexus 10, which comes with all the latest software at a cheap price.
Register a Guest Account
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean comes with the ability to create multiple accounts. This is a great feature that allows your whole family to have separate accounts on the tablet, so they don’t have to mix each other’s work. This will give you freedom to share your tablet at any moment, even when sitting around the dining table having dinner.
If your tablet has an older version of Android, you could use an app like SwitchMe to create multiple accounts. Although, you’ll have to be extremely careful when using apps like that as they requires root permissions and can even sometimes harm the data.
Hide Apps
If you want to keep personal apps away from the kids, there are apps that lets you hide other apps and data. Hide It Pro is one of the best at that. And it’s free. Use this app to keep your kids safe. You could also keep away your personal apps by creating a separate folder in the home screen.
Clear Personal History
You must always remember to clear your browsing history when using the same browser to surf the Internet. And also keep in mind to log out of Google Play store, so your kids can’t spend your money on buying apps and game credits.
Use Different Apps
There are alternative apps for almost every app on the Play Store. For example, if you’re browsing the web using Opera, you could install Chrome, Dolphin Browser or Firefox to let other members of the family go online. This works of all the other apps like office suite apps, book reading or even social networking. This is a great way to keep your personal bookmarks and browsing history, while sharing the tablet.
If you’re using your own tricks to share your tablet, then let us know in the comments.
