Patent ID: 8799365

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a network device, authorization to install a blocker application on a user device that is linked to a customer account, wherein the authorization is provided from a source other than the user device, wherein the blocker application has a higher level of privilege than other applications residing on the user device so as to enable the blocker application to selectively prevent use of the other applications, and wherein the blocker application is configured to provide application usage data to the network device as a background operation that is transparent to a user of the user device; providing, by the network device and to the user device, the blocker application; receiving, by the network device and from the blocker application on the user device, a list of applications installed on the user device; providing, by the network device and to a customer terminal with access to the customer account, a settings interface including the list of applications installed on the user device, wherein the settings interface includes a section to solicit usage limits for each application in the list of applications installed on the user device; receiving, by the network device and from the customer terminal via the settings interface, customer-defined usage limits for at least one application from the list of applications; receiving, by the network device and from the blocker application on the user device, application usage data for the at least one application from the list of applications; comparing, by the network device, the customer-defined usage limits and the application usage data; sending, by the network device and to the blocker application on the user device, a blocking instruction to prevent use, by a user of the user device, of the at least one application when the application usage data includes times exceeding the customer-defined usage limits; and sending, by the network device and to the customer terminal, a notification when the application usage data includes times exceeding the customer-defined usage limits.