Vodafone 360

What is Vodafone 360?

Convergence is key when it comes to developments in the technology arena – it’s about making it easier for you to communicate, be entertained and to synchronise information you have stored on various devices; it’s about empowering you when you’re at home or on the move.

Vodafone 360 is a set of internet services for mobile, PC and Mac that does just that, by bringing your friends, communities, entertainment and personal favourites (like music, games, photos and video) together in one place. It offers the following features:

  • Bring all your contacts together in a single connected address book – no more having different address books for texting and instant messaging, for example
  • Get status updates from friends – if they update their social networking status, you’ll know straight away
  • Locate friends on a map and be located yourself
  • Share your favourite places
  • View and search maps
  • Download applications, such as music and games, from the Apps Shop
  • Take, tag and share photos
  • Synchronise and access your contacts, messages and pictures from your PC, Mac or compatible phone

At its heart is a single address book for all your contacts from your phone, Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk.

Vodafone 360 is available to everyone, not just Vodafone customers, and you can register for it from a mobile, PC or Mac.

What do I need to know about it?

The Vodafone 360 service is available to anyone aged 14 and over so, if you’re the parent of an older teenager, they could use it to do all of the above.

Vodafone takes mobile and internet safety very seriously so, if your child registers for Vodafone 360, other members won’t be able to see their chosen profile name and picture unless they change the default settings. We set this to invisible by default for under 18s to help protect their personal information.

Members can also choose to keep a history of their chats, IMs, texts, emails and, just like any other real or virtual community, Vodafone 360 has some rules to help everyone get along with each other. They’re called Community Guidelines and, together with our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement, they help us to make sure everyone has fun and stays safer when using Vodafone 360.

What can I do?

  • Talk to your child about some of the potential risks they face in the digital world, such as cyberbullying, identity theft and online contact with strangers
  • Explain why it’s important that they think before they post information, messages about, or photos of their friends and family – consider whether they might get upset or whether it might be invading their privacy
  • Read our Vodafone 360 Terms and Conditions, Community Guidelines and Privacy and Safety information to get a full picture of the service before your child signs up to it – see below
  • Ensure that your child sets up a strong password (a combination of letters, numbers and symbols) on their account and, most importantly, doesn’t share it with anyone
  • Discuss why your son or daughter’s Vodafone 360 profile is set to invisible by default – it’s to ensure that other members can’t see their personal information or find it during a search by name or mobile number
  • Check the privacy settings on your child’s mobile to control the visibility of their location and their presence status. Read our article about location services for more information
  • Just as you teach your kids how to behave responsibly and protect their reputation in the real world, talk to them about their online behaviour. Is a social networking site really the place to have an argument with someone? Are they sure that the places they download music are legal? Should they think twice before sending a text that might upset someone?
  • Read our articles about exploring sexual identity, managing reputation, mobile costs, privacy and social networking

Where can I go for more information and support?

How old are your kids?

What you need to know to get started

  • 5-7 years old

    Technology is part of your child's life before they start primary school. They're probably using the computer, the internet and interactive TV for fun - watching programmes on the CBeebies channel and website or taking part in the Club Penguin chat rooms...but they still need adult guidance and supervision.

    Read more

  • 8-11 years old

    If you have 8-11 year old children, your house is probably full of technology - PlayStation, Nintendo, iPod...the list goes on. In fact, research shows that 8-11 year olds in the UK have an average of four media devices in their bedroom.

    This is a crucial age for young people to embrace new technologies and develop their ICT skills both at home and at school...and it's a crucial time for you to take control when they start exploring the digital world as well as the real world.

    Read more

  • 12-14 years old

    They're at secondary school and growing up fast. It's a time of change and their digital world might seem as important as the real world to them. They might spend their evenings on Bebo, Facebook or MySpace ; watching videos on YouTube and uploading their own for others to watch; or doing research for their homework.

    You want to encourage their technology and social skills, of course, so it's useful to understand what they're doing with technology and to get involved with it.

    Read more

  • 15+ years old

    Once your children are teenagers, it might be tempting to think that they're tech-savvy and dealing with everything the virtual world can throw at them. You probably watch in awe as they switch from chatting with friends on Facebook to updating their Twitter profile; playing against someone on the other side of the world on their games console to downloading music on their mobile.

    It's all great fun but, as they get older, the things you need to help them to cope with in their digital world are ever more challenging. Far from leaving them to it, you really need to keep communicating with them.

    Read more

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