Here’s an app that caught my attention today especially since it has to do with children and the inevitable bullying some receive from their peers. Word Bully is a text monitoring app that parents can use to flag certain text messages that may contain profanity, vulgar or threatening language, and other offensive communications. This is so a parent can be made aware if their child is being cyber-bullied. Cyber-bullying is a big problem these days considering a lot of children now carry mobile phones with them. Cyber-bullying can be as emotionally scaring as physical bullying so apps like this can come in handy.

However, apps like this wouldn’t even be necessary if parents and their children would just follow some simple common sense guidelines. First of all, don’t give your number out to anyone other than your close friends. Why would you give your number out to a potential bully? Second, talk with your child daily about how their day went. If you are an active parent, you will know if something is wrong.

If your child does happen to have a mobile phone, this wouldn’t be a bad app to get if you know that they might be prone to bullying. Word Bully even includes Trick or Track at no extra charge – a location retrieval service. The app is currently available for Android phones and will be available on iOS devices in the near future.

Click the read more link below for the complete press release and more information.

Press Release

Laguna Niguel, Calif., September 27, 2011 – Iconosys, Inc., a leader in mobile safety communication and life-style applications, today releases the latest app in its PunkBlocker™ line of Smartphone Apps: Word Bully™.

Word Bully™ allows a parent/guardian to customize a filter for profanity, vulgar or threatening language, and other offensive communications. This is all done with the protection of password-enabled access for the parent/guardian. If a message is sent with this type of language it is automatically sent to the parent/guardian’s phone stating what was said.

Cyber-bullying is an epidemic that carries with it great danger for the general population, not to mention our friends and family members.  In today’s society, where much of our discourse and communications are done via the Internet and text messaging, our loved-ones (children and adults) are easy targets for, and potential victims of, the harmful practice of cyber-bullying.

“We did it!… We did it!  We have been planning this app since the inception of Iconosys, and thousands of baby steps later, we’ve got it! ,” said Wayne Irving II, CEO and co-founder of Iconosys. “We are very pleased with the functionality of this app and feel that this important development in child and teen safety will give parents more comfort and peace of mind when purchasing Android OS phones for their kids, already 40% of the US Markets (in terms of the percentage of purchasers under 12 years of age).”

Word Bully™ Features include:

• Word Bully™ monitors for approximately 3600 words, acronyms, bulli-cons, and phrases that might be considered profanity, threatening and/or vulgar. The app also allows you to create and manage a custom list of monitored words (e.g.  Acronyms, abbreviations, cultural-isms, and gang-style lingo) that are used.
• Enable and Disable the Word Bully™ service using the protected access feature of a parental-controlled password.
• Word Bully™ monitors for inbound and outbound questionable communications and   forwards to the parent’s phone, identifying if it was “sent to” or “sent from” your child.
• Choose to monitor ALL of the text message communications with certain settable “Black Listed” individuals, such as those people you believe or suspect to be a significant threat
• Choose to ignore specific numbers or add numbers to a “White List”
• Locate your child anytime with Trick or Tracker® child location retrieval service, built right in!

Availability
Word Bully™ App is available until October 15 for free at http://wordbully.iconosys.com. It is available for only $9.95, for a lifetime license, in English on Android OS Smartphones Market Place, and an iPhone version is scheduled to be released by Christmas.