

Show HN: Famigo helps families find iOS and Android apps - codypo

As a parent, it's really hard to find good mobile content for your kids.  Not only is there an issue with quantity, with over a million apps between iOS and Android, but there's also a quality issue, in that so many of these contain ads, in-app purchases, or content that's not completely kid-friendly (looking at you, fart apps).  We're working on the solution to all of this at Famigo - http://www.famigo.com<p>At Famigo, we've built a system to help find and recommend great apps for families.  We approach this problem in a lot of different ways: our staff reviews every app on the site, our rankings are crowd-sourced based on what parents actually find helpful, and then we throw some machine learning in there based on app trends over time.  The result is that, if you want a free, educational, iOS app for a 5 year old, we've already got those identified.<p>We've learned so much from the community here at HN and would love to hear what folks have to say.  The URL again is http://www.famigo.com.
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CameronHickey
I've found a number of fantastic iPad apps for my 2 year old. Our favorites at
the moment are the ABC series by Peapod labs. I complete agree that it is hard
to find them -- in particular because Apple doesn't have a "Kids" category --
they have "Education" and "Entertainment".

I think Famigo is a great idea -- though it would help if you had a "How old
is your child?" prompt on the homepage, instead of burying it in the "Power
Search" because I could care less about great apps that aren't appropriate for
my kid.

I also feel like the most important thing I want to see in an app is some kind
of educational experience. I'm not going to give my kid the iPad just to
pacify him with a game -- I wish your site presented me with a straightforward
way to filter by educational value, as opposed to "free/paid" since I'm
willing to pay for an app if it is well rated and educational, but won't
download a free game. I know the power search gives you a checkbox for
educational, but that's not the same thing. Further -- does it count as
educational just because they say so?

Some other concerns I have with Famigo:

* I can't see how to rate an app on your site.

* If I could rate, I'd like to be able to rate by the quality of educational content i.e. does this app do a good job of teaching ABCs or Counting?

* I couldn't find our favorite app "ABC Music" by searching, nor could I find "Cat in the Hat" what gives?

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callmeed
This is very interesting. I have 4 kids, ages 3, 5, 6 and 17. Finding good
iPad apps and games for the 3 youngest is HARD.

I'll take a closer look later today but this is definitely a pain point for me
and (I'm guessing) other parents.

