With the Internet we became accustomed to parental control, ensuring our children do not fall prey to the large number of traps set by unscrupulous Internet users. Apple incorporated parental control functions into the iPhone, but called this ‘Restrictions’.

By making use of ‘Restrictions’ you will be required to make up a 4-digit password, which will allow you to place various restrictions on the usage of the iPhone. Restrictions allow the user to place restrictions in 3 different categories of the iPhone. They are:

Music / Sounds
By turning on Explicit, the iPhone will prevent playing songs or sounds that may contain explicit lyrics. This function, however only works with music acquired from the iTunes store.

Video / TV
This function also prevents displaying videos with an age restriction of PG13 and up. It will also block TV series whose rating exceeds TV-14.

Removing Icons
The user may also remove Icons altogether from the iPhone’s Home screen, which include Safari. iTunes, Youtube and Installation of Apps.

The restrictions placed upon an iPhone can simply be removed by visiting the restriction settings and choosing disabling the restrictions. The user will be requested to enter the 4-digit password and the settings will be disabled if the password is entered incorrectly.

The main reason for using restrictions are preventing minors from accessing potential dangerous Internet websites or other unwanted content. This function may also be useful in the event an iPhone is lost or stolen. Those illegally in possession of the iPhone will not be able to access the Internet.

Depending on your mobile plan, AT&T generally offers a limit of 200 SMS’s to users on a monthly basis, which include sending and receiving. For the majority of users this number is simply not sufficient, but surprises await your monthly bill when exceeding this limit.

Keeping track of messages sent and received
Unfortunately the iPhone does not keep track of the number of SMS’s sent and received on the phone. For American users the only manner in which this can be established is by visiting www.wireless.att.com and visit the ‘My Account’ section. Elsewhere in the world, the various service providers may have other means of displaying these statistics. Always ensure that you contact your service provider and request more information on viewing your usage statistics.

Free Messaging Options
For users intending to send and receive more messages than the restricted limit there are fortunately two free options in doing so.

Option 1 – Teleflip
Teleflip is a free service that converts e-mail into text messages. In joining this service you are not required to sign up for an account, pay any fees, sign any contracts or divulging any personal identifiable information.

The main aim of Teleflip was to send text messages from a personal computer to another user’s mobile phone. The iPhone opened a new generation to Teleflip as users can send an e-mail from their iPhone, which is totally free, to another persons’ mobile phone, which will arrive as a message, totally free.

In order to use Teleflip, you will create a new e-mail address for the person you wish to send a message to, which will look like this: 1245620288@teleflip.com. All messages sent to this number will be delivered as a text message.

Option 2 – AIM
The AIM chat program is yet another method of sending free messages. Here you simply create a buddy whose address is his mobile phone number. Any message sent to that address will be delivered as a text message at no costs to you.

The advantage of this service is that a buddy can reply to any message sent to him.