What I learned from my first summer with a Sigenergy home battery

As temperatures soar, my first summer with a Sigenergy home battery vindicates my decision to go large but, on the very hottest days, it still can’t go the distance.

Last winter, I took the plunge and invested in a Sigenergy home battery, taking advantage of Australia’s home battery rebate to slash my power bills. 

Like many early adopters, I decided to go large, opting for a 24 kWh Sigenergy battery rather than 16 kWh. While it’s admittedly overkill in the milder months, it’s still not quite enough to cover our needs in the extremes of summer and winter – but that was always the plan.

After crunching the numbers, I decided it wasn’t worth spending more on an even larger home battery to completely eliminate our reliance on the grid. This means I still end up paying for power on the handful of days the battery falls short in the middle of summer and winter.

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How I chose a home battery and saved money on electricity

Of course, with Australia’s home battery rebate set to drop in May for larger batteries, the calculations will change again, and each household needs to make their own decision when it comes to choosing the right size battery.

Time-of-use pricing unlocks your home battery’s full potential 

Like many home battery owners, I take advantage of time-of-use (TOU) pricing, which varies the cost of power during the day. This helps with topping up the battery from the grid, curbing my Tesla Model Y’s charging bills and reducing the extra power costs of working from home full-time.

My OVO Victorian TOU electricity plan offers free power between 11 am and 2 pm every day, a benefit that every household will soon enjoy in some states. Plus, I get cheap off-peak power between 12 am and 6 am. It’s worth noting OVO has discontinued this plan, likely because it was proving a little too popular with battery owners, but plans are always in flux so it’s worth shopping around.

I use the Charge HQ scheduling app to automatically charge the Tesla for free if it’s home in the middle of the day, plus top the car up off-peak after midnight if it’s running low. I also keep 10% of the home battery in reserve to cover the house in the event of a power outage.

My very flexible power plan really helps with the battery’s return on investment, considering that my small roof can’t fit enough solar panels to always fill the battery on its own.

Instead, I rely on a combination of solar and free midday grid power to fill the battery every lunchtime, when I also run power-hungry appliances. If it doesn’t look like there’s enough juice to get through to the 11 am free-charging window the next day, I top up the battery on the cheap in the middle of the night.

I know I’m still reliant on the grid, so I pay the extra green power fee for my electricity, to ensure my retailer buys my grid power from green sources. Mostly, I’m soaking up the excess solar power that my neighbours without batteries are selling back to the grid.

The combination of a free electricity window and a Sigenergy home battery means that it costs me practically nothing to charge my Tesla Model Y. Image: Adam Turner.

My first winter with a Sigenergy home battery

Starting out in the middle of a Melbourne winter, I quickly determined that I needed to top up the battery to 50 per cent overnight at the cheap off-peak rate. Otherwise, the heating in the mornings drained the battery before we made it to the lunchtime free-power window when I could refill the battery.

The aim of the game is to top up with just enough cheap off-peak power overnight to avoid buying expensive peak power in the morning. It’s smart to be a little cautious, considering that peak power is almost four times more expensive.

Playing chicken with your battery top-up level certainly provides extra motivation to optimise your home’s power usage.

For example, by monitoring my home’s temperature, energy consumption and battery level, I calculated that I could reduce the drain on the battery without leaving the house too cold by turning down the winter heating from 20°C to 19°C.  

Leaping into spring

As temperatures climbed, skies cleared, and the sun rose earlier, I gradually reduced the overnight battery top-up percentage each month – keeping meticulous notes to see when I fell short, so in future years I can stick to a schedule rather than micro-manage the battery every day.

In September, I reduced the overnight top-up level to 40 per cent and then a further 5 per cent every month until I reached 25 per cent in December, which has served me well over summer. I’ll have to start dialling it up again around March or April.

Spring was naturally the sweet spot, with no need to run the heating or cooling most days, and my power bills were almost zero. There was so much juice left in the battery overnight that I could afford to put a bit in the car, which I should be able to do again in autumn.

Some people might argue that I should switch to an electricity provider like Amber, which lets you sell back your excess power at better rates then the pitiful standard feed-in tariffs, but I don’t think it’s right for me.

Firstly, the Amber plans don’t offer both a free and off-peak charging window. Secondly, in summer and winter I often don’t have a lot of power to spare. Thirdly, it would increase the wear and tear on the battery. Finally, it doesn’t feel right to try and make a profit from my battery, but that’s a decision everyone needs to make for themselves.

My 24 kWh Sigenergy home battery is overkill in the milder months, but earns its keep in mid-summer and winter. Image: Adam Turner.

My first summer with a Sigenergy home battery

Coming into my first summer, I knew the early sunrise would ease the load on the battery. That morning sunshine really helps cover the power spike as everyone makes breakfast and gets ready for their day.

As an added benefit, on all but the most extreme summer days, there’s no need to turn on the air conditioning in the early mornings. This is where the location, construction and layout of your home dictate your cooling needs and how you’ll use the battery.

We live at the bottom of a valley on the east side, meaning the house doesn’t cop much sun until late morning. This drives up the heating costs on winter mornings, but keeps down the cooling costs in summer before lunch.

To make things more complicated, it’s a narrow three-storey house with full western exposure on the top two floors – so it gets blasted on long, hot summer afternoons. This has always made the house difficult to keep cool when temperatures soar.

Similar to winter, I calculated we could save power by setting the cooling to 21°C rather than 20°C and still be comfortable (although the house struggles to stay that cool on very hot days). On hot days I turn the cooling on at 11 am when the power becomes free, even if the house is still cool, because it’s more efficient than waiting until the house heats up and then trying to cool it down.

Thankfully, my solar’s 5 kW output is more than enough to cover the AC during the day. That’s great, but it means, once the battery is full, I find myself selling power back to the grid for a paltry 1c per kWh (which can still be enough to make a profit some days). At least it ensures the battery stays full until the sun gets low in the sky.

As an added bonus, the battery automatically kicks in during evening brown-outs on super-hot days, which keeps all of our appliances running (except the aircon) while protecting them from power fluctuations.

Up to around 35°C, the 24 kWh battery is enough to run the aircon until bedtime (relying on ceiling fans overnight). Any hotter and we end up buying peak power for the aircon in the late evenings, after the battery runs flat, but that was to be expected.

This January, we spent $29.30 on electricity, not including the daily connection fee. Last January, we spent a hefty $173.36, so I’m very happy with the savings.

Most of the $29.30 this January was spent on just a handful of 40-ish degree days when the battery drained well before midnight. Most other days, I only spent around 10 to 30 cents.

My monthly power bills start on the 14th, so it’s difficult to show all of January, but the graph below from mid-December 2025 to mid-January 2026 highlights a few interesting things.

You can see how rarely we bought peak evening power (red bar), but how much we were forced to buy when it reached 42 degrees on January 7: costing $6.11 for the day because the battery ran flat in the evening. The next day has a large off-peak spike (blue bar), due to topping up the flat battery in the middle of the night.

You can also see how much solar we’re selling back to the grid in the afternoons (yellow line), once the 24 kWh battery is full. If we could hang onto it, we’d pay even less for power, but the numbers don’t stack up.

A 24 kWh Signenergy home battery means we only use peak (red) power on the very hottest of summer days. Image: Adam Turner.

Feel the heat 

One frustrating discovery is that, on extremely hot days, the aircon actually works harder after the sun goes down – I can see the house’s real-time power usage in the Sigenergy app. Without sunshine, the air conditioner quickly drains the battery, and we end up buying some peak power before hitting the midnight off-peak window (like on January 7).

At first, it didn’t make sense that the house somehow got hotter after dark, but we figured out it’s a result of something called “Thermal Mass Lag”.

Basically, the fully exposed west side of the house absorbs a lot of heat during the afternoon and then gradually radiates that heat into the house over the next few hours, after the sun goes down. It would be less of a problem if the east side of the house soaked up morning heat and then radiated it into the house in the afternoon, while the AC was still running on solar.

This frustrating but unavoidable quirk of our house is costing us money by forcing us to buy peak evening power on extremely hot days to cool the house, even though we’d been selling back power for a pittance in the afternoon. It also means that on extremely hot days, we need to run the aircon on low all night or else the house heats up again – now we understand why.

Thankfully, because we stepped up from a 16 kWh to a 24 kWh battery, this problem of needing to buy peak power only happens on a handful of days each year – not enough to justify having spent more money on an even larger battery.

Looking at my first summer with a Sigenergy home battery, I’m happy to say we’re on target to save a bit more than I anticipated on our power bills throughout the year. A 24 kWh battery is the sweet spot for our home, even though it can’t quite go the distance when it’s a real scorcher.

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My family grew fond of the handy Mova 1000 robot lawnmower

A few months ago, I attended a robotic vacuum launch where they discussed the yearly advancements in technology, to the point that robotic vacuums now use the same technology in self-driving cars to help navigate around your home.

I saw 2025 as being the year for robotic vacuums, and I anticipate that 2026 will be the year for robotic lawnmowers. To that end, I recently took a look at the Mova 1000 robot lawnmower to understand if this new breed of mowers is up to the task.

To test the Mova 1000, I decided not to use my lawn but instead my parents-in-law’s lawn. They currently pay a family member $100 each time they mow their lawn. The Mova usually retails for $1,999, which means this robot would pay for itself in 20 cuts.

My mother-in-law has named the robot “Toby”, and she gives me regular updates on what Toby is up to. I can see we will have to buy Toby as she has become very attached. I do not, however, need the updates as I can see not a camera view from Toby but rather a map of the mowing area, a location and a log of what Toby has been up to on the Mova app from my house. Toby also calls me for help when his base station has mistakenly been disconnected.

The adventures of Toby the robot lawnmower

To get the Mova started, you assemble the base station, charge the mower, and set up your app. You then manually control the mower around the boundary of the lawn. Once you return to the start, a mowing area is established. A no-go zone, such as a garden bed, is set up within the mowing area in a similar fashion.

You can set up additional mowing zones using the same technique, as well as mapping the path the mower must follow to commute. If this distance is too great, Mova recommends purchasing an additional charging station. You will need access to mains power for each charging station.

The Mova 1000, known as “Toby”, connected to its charging station. Photo: Angus Jones.

The mower works by regularly cutting the lawn, in this case, every second day. Razor blades, which must be replaced regularly ($39 for 12 blades; uses four and should last a year), trim the tips of the grass and let the clippings fall to be mulched. The app keeps a record of mowing time and will recommend when blades need to be changed, as well as indicate whether you need to clean the camera or the cutting deck.

The robot’s high-tech radar not only accurately maps your garden for navigation, but also ensures the mower does not approach animals, people, or outdoor objects like a play set or outdoor furniture. Beyond its built-in smarts, it also has a big red stop button on the top. This technology does not require any guide wires or a GPS base station.

3D Mapping

3D mapping and various sub-menus. Screenshots: Angus Jones.

Mow heights and custom mowing patterns can be adjusted if you want to customise how your lawn looks, but for me, I want a lawn that looks neat, and the Mova certainly does that. Being super quiet in its operation, you can even have it mow at dawn and dusk so the lawn mower is not in the way during the day. Mova says the mower will work up to a 45-degree incline. A rain sensor will send the mower back to its dock during rain to improve cut quality.

Photo: Angus Jones.

What robot mowers will not do is edging. The whipper snipper will still need the occasional run. My mother-in-law has come up with a solution in her garden long before Toby came on the scene; she uses Roundup to kill the grass around the edges.

Aside from the Mova 1000 my family tried, there’s also a cheaper $1,799 Mova 600 robot lawnmower, which has a 600 square metre mowing capacity. This will suit most suburban Australian lawns.

With the Mova 1000, you get a robot that supports up to 1000 square metres and has a larger battery, faster charger and more aggressive drive wheels. An optional garage or charging station cover is available for $139, which will help protect the unit.

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Anker’s huge capacity portable power station doesn’t skimp on juice

The 4WD industry has been a real boom in Australia over the last 10 years, with many people spending half as much again as they paid for a new car on accessories that, to be honest, they may use a few times a year.

One such improvement is a power system to run lights, a fridge or perhaps an induction stove. These power solutions can be expensive and, once integrated into your car, are not easily removable. It involves chargers, inverters, batteries, a control panel, and numerous wires, fuses, and plugs. Did I mention an expensive installation bill unless you are very tech-savvy and confident?

Why would you do this when you can have an Anker Solix F3000 all-in-one portable power station?

A big and versatile source of power

At an RRP of $4,999, the price may seem high, but consider that this battery is two-to-three times the size of other portable power stations and more cost-effective than a fixed custom solution in the long run.

Additionally, with a battery capacity of 3,072Wh (256Ah, 12V battery equivalent), it becomes value for money. This power solution will run a 190W home fridge for 42 hours or a 40W camping fridge for a week. You could charge your smartphone almost 200 times. These times may seem overkill, but when you factor in multiple devices you want to power while remote or during a blackout, you will be glad you have the extra power.

Image: Angus Jones.

Something you need to know about all power stations is that, even when not powering anything, they consume power and eventually drain the battery. They use even more power when the AC is on. Anker has minimised this drain compared to other brands, and in standby with the AC turned on, it will last for up to five days. Battery efficiency will also improve if you run 12-volt DC appliances rather than AC 240-volt appliances (e.g. a 12-volt fridge).

Those wanting more power, expansion batteries can be plugged in with an additional 3kWh capacity up to a total of 12kWh, which is equivalent to home solar battery solutions. The F3000 can also be used as an uninterrupted power supply: plug it into the mains, then connect your appliance to it. If mains power is lost, your appliance continues to run. This is useful for critical medical devices and computers.

Image: Anker.

Having the big battery means the F3000 weighs 41.5kg, so the unit includes wheels and a suitcase-style handle to move it wherever you need it. The power station will provide 240-volt AC and 12-volt DC power, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports. In addition to its size, the Solix F3000 delivers up to 3,600W of power simultaneously, allowing you to run a hair dryer and a toaster at the same time. This also means that on a job site, there is no standard power tool you cannot run, and you can even charge your EV to extend your range (using a granny charger).

30A Anderson socket and cig lighter socket. Image: Angus Jones.

Back to our hardcore four-wheel drivers, they will ask, “Does it have an Anderson plug?” For those who don’t know, an Anderson plug is a robust plug that will not disconnect on rough roads. A cigarette lighter plug will loosen. This is critical if you are running a fridge, as you don’t want to arrive at your destination to find your beer warm and your meat smelling. Yes, the Anker has a 30A Anderson plug, which is smaller than the industry standard 50A plug, but you can buy a conversion cable for $30 from Jaycar.

To charge the power station, you will need some solar panels, a mains supply or a car alternator charger. Anker also shows charging via an EV charging cable, but the cable is not currently available in Australia.

A feature I appreciate is that this power station supports two DC charging sources. If you have a car with an alternator charger and a mounted solar panel, you can plug both in, eliminating the need to switch cables between the two sources and enabling faster charging. Included in the box you receive a mains power cord and a solar charging cable.

Dual DC input. Image: Angus Jones.

Beyond a nice big display that monitors your battery capacity and power usage, a smartphone app allows you to monitor and control your power station from afar, even from your sleeping bag if you forgot to turn off the AC inverter.

I often promote a small portable power station as a good starting point for understanding the versatility of these products. In this case, the Anker Solix F3000 with its 3,000Wh battery, you go straight to the top and get all the power you might need now or in the future.

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Refreshingly cool, Shark’s wireless fan is incredibly convenient

I don’t really think I can overstate how handy the Shark FlexBreeze Pro Mist fan is, especially during these warmer months. I’ve spoken about its gentle water misting features before, but it’s just as good when used as a standard pedestal fan.

A big reason behind that is its wireless design. With the fan speed set to ‘low’, it’ll last up to 24 hours on a single battery charge. That means you can place it anywhere you like, without worrying about trip hazards or finding a nearby power outlet.

But if you forget to charge the fan, you can simply plug it in, just like any traditional appliance. Plus, if you’re outside, that nice misty water spray is pleasantly refreshing!

In Australia, you can grab the Shark FlexBreeze Pro Mist for $399.99 from Shark’s online store or major appliance retailers.

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Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max review: Pool cleaning convenience

8.4

Buy on Amazon

When you think of a quad-core processor, you don’t usually think about it at the bottom of a swimming pool. That’s exactly what powers the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max robot pool cleaner.

Does such a processor make a difference when used in an appliance designed to keep your pool clean? Let’s take a look at one of Aiper’s top robots to see how it goes.

Table of contents

• Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max features
• Specifications and price
• Using the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max
• Who is the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max for?

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max Pool Cleaning Robot, Pool Mapping, Adaptive Path, 32000LPH Power, Double Filtration, Smart Surface Parking, Pool Vacuum for All Inground Pools

Buy on Amazon

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max features

The Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max is a cordless pool-cleaning robot that maps the floor, walls, and water surface, then cleans them.

What you get in the box. Image: Angus Jones.

The Max can map and clean a swimming pool with a volume of up to 300 square metres or about 30m long, which is more than three times the size of an Australian standard pool. Using 40 sensors and a quad-core processor, Aiper’s robot will map and navigate your pool in a set pattern, ensuring every centimetre is covered as efficiently as possible. The benefit is that this is not a random cycle, so cleaning is quicker and areas are not missed. For that matter, the Max knows if it has missed a section and will go back to that spot if it was missed as part of the cleaning pattern.

Nine brushless motors power the Aiper X1 Pro Max, which moves up to 32,000 litres of water an hour. This is almost 30 per cent more than Aiper’s next model in the range. More power equals better cleaning, especially on the scum lines on the walls at the water surface. This power means the Max can get higher out of the water on the side wall to clean as well as propel itself in a vibrating sideways motion, resulting in a better clean. The wall at the surface exposed to air, water, and sunlight is where most bacteria and algae will thrive.

Image: Aiper.

A 5-litre basket inside the Aiper collects everything from leaves to twigs, pebbles, sand, and even dust and algae. The basket is lined with a replaceable micromesh filter that captures particles down to 3µm (that’s fine enough to capture algae).  

The filter box can be used with or without a micromesh filter. Image: Aiper.

A downside of this robot is its weight at almost 15kg, which is fine when it is in the water, but the unit does need to be removed for recharging. A neat feature is that the Max will surface when cleaning is finished, or the battery drops to 15 per cent. You then lift the Max onto its included wireless charging station. Previous models required the unit to be retrieved from the pool floor with a hook attached to your pool pole. This model still comes with the hook accessory, just in case it’s needed.

The 262Wh battery takes four hours to charge from empty. The cleaner will run for up to 300 minutes on one charge. 

Using its sensors, the X1 Pro Max can determine how strong its suction needs to be based on cleaning requirements in its auto mode. Alternatively, you can set ‘eco’ to save power, or ‘max’ for the most powerful cleaning. You can also choose to clean all surfaces, clean the floor and walls, or skim the surface.

The Aiper app allows you to set schedules, download software updates, and change between the modes mentioned above. You can also change modes via buttons on the cleaner itself. The cleaners’ brush, tank treads, and mesh in the basket will need replacing periodically, and the app also tracks their use and recommends when to replace them. 

Aiper app.

Note that the app can only communicate with the robot when it is out of the water or on the surface. An optional $670 Hydrocomm Pro underwater communication station (also included in a bundle) will enable in-water relay communication. Incorporating a smart monitor enables chemical analysis of your pool, providing information to help you decide which chemicals to add to keep it pristine.

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max specifications and price

Obstacle avoidance	Optical sensors
Battery life	5 hours
Basket capacity	5 Litres with 3μm Fine Filter Mesh
Dimensions	50 x 43 x 30 cm 14.7kg
Price (RRP)	$3,499.99
Website	Aiper Australia
Warranty	3 years

Using the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max

The basket needs to be emptied regularly, and you can remove the fine filter and skip using it during every clean. You should rinse the basket in clean tap water after each emptying, which helps remove the collected finer particles. A full basket sensor seems to be a valuable omission.

Image: Angus Jones.

The Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max has been working hard in my friend Bernard’s pool for the last couple of months. His commentary is as follows:

“The Aiper pool robot is a comprehensive cleaning machine. Having an all-surfaces cleaner for pool floors, walls, and surfaces provides peace of mind that one device can do it all.”

“I was pretty impressed to see the smarts at work as the robot methodically adjusted its trajectory to climb the wall without leaving a gap.”

“The return-to-surface function is great, as the previous robot cleaner I was testing required you to fish it off the bottom of the pool to take it out.”

Image: Angus Jones.

“The app has clear alerts, you can monitor charging, and the cleaning setups are clear and easy to access.”

“The warnings on the app work well; I had forgotten to remove the sock with the stabiliser in it, and the cleaner sucked it in. Fortunately, the app sent an alert straight away, so I was able to go out and remove it.”

“It took a little while to learn all the functions available and get the settings right for my pool, but once I was sorted, it did a good job.”

“The charging dock is great, really convenient, unlike the previous robot cleaner I used, which you had to fiddle around with the cap that protected the socket and plug in at the bottom of the device. Aiper’s robot is simple: put it in the dock and away it goes, charging up for the next clean.”

Wireless charging stand. Image: Angus Jones.

“The robot is pretty heavy, so it’s not really a device you want the kids to handle.”

Bernard also recently tested the Aiper Surfer S2 pool skimmer and commented that the dedicated skimmer does a much better job at skimming the pool than the X1 Pro Max. The Pro Max will do it all, but both will do it better.

Is a pool cleaner worth the money?

If you have a 10-metre pool and clean it three times a week in summer over the three months, you will save up to 53 hours of manual labour by using a robot cleaner. According to the ABS, Australia’s median hourly wage is $42.90. If you assume pool owners earn more, say $50 per hour, that’s $2,650 worth of labour you’ve saved.

At the time of writing, the Aiper X1 Pro Max was on special for $2,700. In other words, it’d almost pay for itself, in terms of hours saved, after just one summer.

Who is the Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max for?

If pool cleaning is your therapy, then don’t buy a robot pool cleaner. However, if it is a chore, this top-of-the-line Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max can pay for itself in one summer, thanks to the hours of manual work it will save you. If you buy directly from Aiper, they offer a 45-day return, which allows you to test the unit out.

Paying top dollar gets you handy features that help protect your back and make recharging easier. You also get a robot cleaner that can clean the surface of your pool.

We all dreamt of smart robots helping in our homes, and it turns out they are already here, making our lives easier.

GadgetGuy occasionally uses affiliate links and may receive a small commission from purchased products.

Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max

The Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max makes cleaning the pool easier and more ergonomic, saving you hours of maintenance.

Features

9

Value for money

7

Perormance

9

Ease of use

9

Design

8

Positives

Return to surface function

Skims pool in addition to cleaning floor and walls

Superior wall water level cleaning

Negatives

No indication of a full waste basket

8.4

Buy on Amazon

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RGB lights aren’t enough, this gaming PC has holograms

As if gaming PCs weren’t flashy enough, ROG went ahead and put three holograms in its G1000 desktop PC at CES 2026.

It’s not uncommon to see programmable RGB lights — which this PC has — but built-in holograms take things to another level. Within the tower are three holographic fans: a large one on the side, and two smaller fans on the front. You can program them to show your own text and images, so you could really turn the PC into a true Cyberpunk 2077 machine.

On the inside, the ROG G1000 will include up to an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card, and 64GB of RAM. That’s a powerful gaming rig. We’re waiting on Australian release details, but we can enjoy the flashy lights for now.

Valens Quinn attended CES 2026 as a guest of Samsung, LG, Hisense, Belkin, Ecovacs, Asus, TP-Link, Reolink, Roborock, and Aiper.

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Tech’s biggest safety feature is largely ignored, but it shouldn’t be

Keeping children safe online is a complex topic. Australia’s contentious social media ban is seen as one piece of the puzzle, but it only scratches the surface of protecting children’s digital lives. Alarmingly, parental controls, one of the biggest tools dedicated entirely to that mission, remain vastly underused.

Countless apps and devices provide parental controls in some form, allowing families to curate age-appropriate experiences across different platforms. Managing screen time limits, blocking access to inappropriate content, and disabling unknown contacts are among the common settings housed under the parental controls banner.

However, research shows that many parents don’t use these tools. A 2025 study commissioned by Snapchat found that 57 per cent of Australian parents don’t use in-app or online parental controls.

Similarly, only 51 per cent of US parents use parental controls on tablets, dropping to 47 per cent on smartphones, according to the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). FOSI’s data also shows that the adoption rate of parental controls reduces further across PCs, TVs, and video game consoles.

The eSafety Commissioner’s 2022 Mind the Gap report found that 59 per cent of parents set rules about when children can go online, but only 43 per cent use parental controls to filter online content.

These statistics beg the question: why is the use of parental control features so low? A perception of difficulty is a big one, according to Dr Joanne Orlando, an author and researcher in digital wellbeing.

“A lot of parents think it’s in the way too hard basket, ‘there’s too many steps’, ‘I don’t really understand’, it’s that kind of thing,” Dr Orlando said. “And family life is so busy that, amongst that, the idea of taking what they probably think is two hours to read the manual is too hard.”

Dr Joanne Orlando presented at a recent Apple briefing. Image: Supplied.

Making parental controls easier

“Not a huge proportion” of parents use the family safety settings on offer, Dr Orlando added, agreeing with the existing research.

“There is an uptake, but I think if we can make [parental controls] really simple, two or three steps, and then they get that protection that they need.”

Some tech companies are trying to make it easier to make child-friendly experiences during the setup, reinforcing Dr Orlando’s belief that using parental controls is “not as complicated as you might think”.

Apple prompts users during the setup stage of its devices to input an age range, which automatically provides some out-of-the-box protections for children. Likewise, Google also supports child accounts on Android devices, providing a similar level of protection.

Image: Apple.

There’s also a myth encountered by researchers that parental controls are only useful for young children, that they quickly outgrow the limitations placed upon them. But that’s not what the experts say.

“What [parental controls] can do is they’re this amazing space that you can actually teach your children about safety,” Dr Orlando said.

The researcher — who previously argued for social media literacy education, as opposed to an outright ban — suggested that parents use device settings as a prompt to teach kids about digital safety. Instead of setting blocks and limits and walking away, she recommends explaining to children why the limitations are in place.

Shedding the “terrible guilt”

With how quickly technology changes, there’s also an element of parents feeling guilty about not knowing how to protect their children’s digital lives.

“A lot of parents always feel like ‘I’m not doing enough, I don’t know what to do’,” Dr Orlando said. “We have this terrible guilt that we’re not doing enough.”

Aside from the settings and instructions from tech companies, families can access resources, including those from the eSafety Commissioner, to stay informed about digital safety.

As long as parents acknowledge that “no one’s ever going to be 100 per cent up to date” with every technology and every risk, Dr Orlando believes that regularly checking in with children is a good place to start.

“If you keep your reading, keep trying to keep up to date a little bit, but having lots of conversations with your kids, just trying to see what they’re seeing that they think might be dangerous, start with those points and have a conversation.”

Chris Button attended a briefing with flights provided by Apple Australia.

The post Tech’s biggest safety feature is largely ignored, but it shouldn’t be appeared first on GadgetGuy.

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