Best parental control apps for your phone in 2022. These are the best parental control apps to keep your kids safe on their smartphones and tablets. This article contains the best parental control apps you can use on your iPhone and Android.
If you want to keep your kids safe online, you need a parental control solution that monitors all their devices. These apps are the top cross-platform performers in our testing. Similar post – Phone Tracking, how to track a phone number
What is the best app to monitor your child’s phone without them knowing? mSpy – 100% discreet (as advertised). As the name suggests, mSpy is a leading parental monitoring software/app and the best choice when looking to view the activities of your kid’s devices without them knowing through your personal smartphone or computer.
How can I see everything on my child’s phone? For free text monitoring on Android, try the Phone Tracker app from Spy Phone Labs. This free app lets you keep tabs on up to five phones. You can track GPS, phone calls, text messages, and even web activity. You just install it on your kids’ phones and set up an account. Similar post – How to set up DStv parental control and how to unblock PG on DStv
What is the best parental control app for cell phones? No parental-control app is perfect, but Net Nanny consistently delivered the best mix of web filtering, location tracking, and app management on both Android and iOS devices. It also works on Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, Windows, Macs, and Chromebooks that support Google Play.
The best parental control app you can get today
Net Nanny – Best for social media monitoring
Net Nanny, which we think is the best parental control app, has a modern, intuitive design and excellent web-filtering technology that analyzes pages rather than just blindly blocking them and lets you create filters of your own. Among the parental-control apps we tried, Net Nanny comes closest to having feature parity between its iOS and Android versions. It can track your child’s location, display their location history, and set time allowances and schedules equally well on both platforms.
The iOS version lets you block more than 100 apps on your kid’s phone; the Android one lets you block them all. The built-in App Advisor gives you a heads-up on which new apps you should watch out for. Net Nanny also includes content screening that works within social media apps and services, including Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, instead of blocking or allowing them entirely.
The only thing Net Nanny can’t do on a smartphone is monitor calls or texts. No apps we tested can do that on iOS, but a couple still do on Android.
Kaspersky Safe Kids – best bargain among the best parental control apps
Like Net Nanny, Kaspersky Safe Kids lets you monitor and control your kids’ activities on PCs and Macs as well as on smartphones. Even better, Kaspersky’s paid tier is only $15 per year (there’s a 7-day free trial) for an unlimited number of child devices, and its free plan lets you set screen-time limits, filter websites and manage other apps.
The paid plan monitors social networks and offers location tracking and geofencing that work in both iOS and Android, as do Kaspersky’s web monitoring and device scheduling. But app management is limited on iOS to blocking apps that have age restrictions.
Likewise, a feature that lets you block specific kinds of YouTube searches, and review YouTube search history if you’re a paid user, works on Windows, iOS and Android, including the YouTube Android app — but not on Macs.
Norton Family – Best for monitoring child’s activities on Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS devices.
Norton Family’s power and features are ideal for Android (and Windows) households with many children, offering nearly every feature a parent could want from one of the best parental control apps, including recently added geofencing.
This service’s location-tracking, time-scheduling, and web-filtering and -monitoring capabilities work on both iOS and Android, but Norton’s time allowances are only for its Windows and Android software. App management doesn’t work in the iOS app at all.
However, Norton Family has very strong web filters, even on iOS, monitors Hulu as well as YouTube, and has a new feature called School Time to keep children focused during remote-learning class time.
Bark – Best for monitoring social media, apps, text, and email on kids’ iPhone, Android, and Amazon devices.
Bark is one of the best-rated screen monitoring tools for parents. You can use the parental control app to monitor social media activities, emails, and text messages on your kid’s phone. Bark is one of the few parental control apps that monitors emails and PC-based online activity so there are fewer ways for kids to sneak around the app.
We do think Bark has one minor flaw: “screen time management” is more like “internet management.” The remote time-out function only turns off the phone’s internet access. If your kid is a text-aholic, they might still be glued to their screen when they’re supposed to be taking a break.
At $99 per year, Bark is on the expensive side. There are more affordable options for managing screen time or blocking dangerous apps and websites, but Bark is the best way to go if you want social media and email monitoring or have lots of devices to monitor.
Qustodio – Best for supervising and managing your child’s macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Kindle, and Chromebook devices
Qustodio is the best parental control app you can use on desktop and mobile devices. The app allows you to view and manage access to apps and webs on your child’s devices. It also supports extended activity reporting, allowing you to monitor your child’s screen activity in detail.
- SMS/Call tracking
- Child locator
- App blocking and time limits
- YouTube/Facebook monitoring
- Panic Button
Qustodio offers affordable price packages for monitoring your child’s activities on phone and desktop PC devices. Experts at PCMAG and Softpedia recommended the parental control app. It has also been featured in The NY Times, CBS News, Wired, and several other news media outlets.
Parental Control Apps FAQ
What Are Parental Control Apps?
Parental control apps are used to keep an eye on kids both online and offline and can help you find out what they’re doing on their smartphones and tablets. The apps can track your kids’ physical locations, set limits on screen time, monitor phone and app usage block them from viewing and using certain websites and apps, and allow you to see who they’re communicating with online.
How Do Parental Control Apps Work?
Parental control apps work in several different ways, depending on the type of app. Some apps are content filters, which limit access to inappropriate content or specific websites and apps. Others control the usage of your child’s phone or tablet by setting time limits or restricting phone usage after a certain time.
Some apps monitor your kids’ physical locations, text messages, social networks, emails, and other activities. For apps that monitor social media, you’ll need your kids’ account names and passwords. Monitoring apps may search through texts, social media posts, photos, and videos and send alerts to parents about any potential dangers.
How Much Do Parental Control Apps Cost?
Although some parental control apps have a free version, most require a monthly or annual subscription to access the most helpful features. Prices can range from approximately $5 to $10 per month, depending on the type of services and the number of devices you want to monitor.
How Can i Turn Off My Child’s Android Phone at Night?
Google’s Family Link app allows you to schedule a span of time for the phone to be off, such as bedtime. But you can also completely lock the device so kids can’t even get into it. Family Link requires two downloads, one for your phone and one for your kid’s.
- Download the Family Link for Parents app on your phone (available for iOS or Android).
- Download the Family Link for Children & Teens on your kid’s phone (available for Android only).
- On your phone, create a family manager account.
- Once your kid’s profile is set up, select Bedtime and set the span of time your kid can’t use their phone.
- If you want to completely shut down your kid’s device, go to their profile and tap “lock.”
How Can i Turn Off My Child’s iPhone at Night?
You can cut your kid off by enabling Downtime in the OS. Located in the Screen Time settings, Downtime makes an iPhone more like a regular phone: Kids can still call, text, FaceTime, and use any apps that you allow, such as a music-streaming app. But you can also turn off everything but the calling feature if you wish. You can enable Screen Time on your kid’s phone and protect the settings with a passcode, or you can remotely manage your kid’s phone by setting everyone up on Family Sharing.
- Go to Settings on your kid’s phone.
- Tap Screen Time.
- Tap Use Screen Time Passcode and enter a pass code (this locks the setting so kids can’t change it back).
- Tap on Downtime, toggle it on, and set a Start and End Time.
- If you want to turn off messaging and FaceTime during Downtime, go to Screen Time/Always Allowed/Allowed Apps and remove them.
- If you want to manage your kid’s phone using your own phone, first set up Family Sharing and then enable Screen Time settings.
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