Broker-based management of mobile devices

A network device, comprising:

• a memory to store a plurality of instructions;
• and
• a processor configured to execute instructions in the memory to:
• receive authorization to install a blocker application on a user device that is linked to a customer account, wherein the authorization is 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,
• provide, to the user device, the blocker application,
• receive, from the blocker application on the user device, information identifying a list of applications installed on the user device,
• provide, to a customer terminal, 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,
• receive, from the customer terminal, usage time limits for at least one application from the list of applications,
• receive, from the blocker application on the user device, application usage data for the at least one application from the list of applications,
• monitor the application usage data received from the blocker application on the user device against the usage time limits received from the customer terminal,
• format the application usage data for presentation to a customer, and
• provide the formatted application usage data to the customer terminal.

A user device, comprising:

• a memory to store a plurality of instructions;
• and
• a processor configured to execute instructions in the memory to:
• receive, from a network device, a blocker application that is linked to a customer account, 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,
• identify, via the blocker application, the other applications residing on the memory of the user device,
• send, to a network device and via the blocker application, a list of the identified applications,
• record, via the blocker application, usage times of applications in the list of applications,
• send, via the blocker application and to the network device, the usage times of applications in the list of applications, wherein the usage times are sent as a background operation that is transparent to a user of the user device,
• receive, from the network device, a blocking instruction to prevent use, by a user of the user device, of at least one application in the list of applications, when the usage times of the at least one application exceed a customer-defined usage limit, and
• block access to the at least one application based on the receiving the blocking instruction.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, by a user device, a blocker application that includes a higher level of privilege than other applications residing on a memory the user device, wherein the blocker application is linked to a customer account;
• identifying, by the user device and via the blocker application, the other applications residing on the memory of the user device;
• sending, by the user device and to a network device, a list of the identified other applications;
• recording, by the user device and via the blocker application, usage times of the other applications in the list of identified other applications;
• sending, via the blocker application and to the network device, the usage times of the other applications in the list of identified other applications, wherein the usage times are sent as a background operation that is transparent to a user of the user device,
• receive, from the network device, a blocking instruction to prevent use, by a user of the user device, of at least one application in the list of identified other applications, when the usage times of the at least one application exceed a customer-defined usage limit, and
• blocking, by the user device and based on the blocking instruction, access to the at least one application when the usage time for the at least one application exceeds a corresponding one of the usage limits.