Circle with Disney: Family Device Management Made Easy

*Disclosure: I was compensated from Best Buy for sharing this information and product review with you. Any opinions are 100% my own.

Circle with Disney: Family Device Management Made Easy

We invited a new guest into our home last week. Meet Circle with Disney:

In less than five minutes, Circle pairs wirelessly with your router and manages every device in your home — including smart phones, tablets, laptops and gaming systems — and provides a single view of the family’s online experience all from an app.

Using Circle allows families to:
• Set Time Limits — Create daily time limits on apps and sites
• Filter Content — Set individual filter levels by age
• Set BedTime — Choose a BedTime for your family’s devices
• Pause the Internet — With a single tap, pause Internet activity

How much does it cost?

The Circle with Disney device itself costs $99 and nothing more to set up and use on your home WiFi network.

Why Circle?

Circle with Disney has actually been on my radar for some time. As my kids are getting older, and wanting more screen time, I have been looking for ways to keep screen time under control and safe. I have had several friends recommend Circle so I was really excited to be able to check it out for myself. You’ll be happy to know (spoiler alert!) that my resistant children quickly came around after seeing how cool this whole Circle thing really is.

Right out of the box, Circle is easy (so easy!) to set up, and within minutes you are making the most out of your circle:

Here’s how it works. With just a few simple steps, you connect Circle to your home wifi system. It think quickly locates all devices in the household. This allows parents the ability to filter content, limit screen time and set a bedtime for every device in the home. It’s also a huge wake up call in terms of alerting you to the amount of screen time usage that is going on in your home. And on that note, a huge help in getting that under control and feeling great about it.
One thing that I love about Circle is that it instantly ends all debates. Screen time shuts off when each device/user has reached their daily limit. Parents can set a “bedtime” for devices which means that devices say goodnight all on their own. I have to say, it’s a pretty amazing thing.

As I mentioned earlier, set up is quick and easy. Here, you can see my 9 year old helping me to set up Circle for the very first time. You might also notice that while she interested (new technology!) she’s also a bit concerned by what Circle might mean in terms of restricting her screen time happiness.

I have to say, fears were quickly abandoned by all… even my kids started to embrace Circle once they realized that it actually just added some structure.

In fact, not only do they know how much screen time they have now, they also are able to be “rewarded” with more screen time. That means a win for mom because chores got done without any reminders on the very first day that we had Circle because both of my kids were anxious to test out the new reward system!
As you can see in the photo below of my son’s Circle account, all I have to do is click on the reward button to add more time to his screen time account:

Each account also includes the chance to set up a filter. Set individual filter levels for each family member that matches their age and interests. Do it once and it will apply to every one of their devices:

Things get out of control or mama looses her cool? No need to yell or throw a fit, mama can just press the pause button!

Yes, you actually get a pause button for the internet. Pause one of your kids because it’s time for homework or everyone because it’s game night. Either way, Circle has your back.

And probably the most valuable thing about this product is that Circle not only gives you some control, but it gives you insights into what is really going on in your home. Circle Insights gives you the ability to compare time online today, last week, or even last month. Per site or by interest. Forget about the kids, you can even find out where you waste time the most! It’s like one very big (and yet quite small) wake up call.

Circle Go

Ever wish you could manage your kids’ devices wherever they went? Circle Go go is an additional feature that you can purchase (annual subscription) that makes it possible to monitor and control your family devices outside the home. Circle Go takes all of the settings your kids’ devices have at home and extends them to 4G LTE and any other Wi-Fi network they join. Circle Go is available via monthly subscription at $9.95 for up to 10 devices.