Best parental control software

The best parental control apps for iOS and Android can also help you find a child's physical location or tell you if the child isn't in school during school hours. They can also tell you who your kids talk to online, schedule and limit kids' internet-access time and block inappropriate websites. A couple of these apps can log calls and texts or even show you the content of texts and instant messages, although Apple and Google now make it more difficult to do so.

Overall, these apps work best when they're part of a comprehensive approach to teaching kids how to behave responsibly both online and off. Talk to your children about how to act online and to be wary of uncomfortable situations.

Listen to them if they think your approach is too heavy-handed. And be clear with them that you'll be monitoring what they do online. One note: We don't review any parental-control app that can run in "stealth" mode so the child doesn't know it's there. Such apps are often used not to monitor children, but to spy on spouses or other adults, and this so-called " stalkerware " can be a factor in domestic abuse. We also stay away from apps that can record phone conversations.

Doing so without the consent of at least one party involved is illegal throughout the United States , and several states require all parties to consent.

There's no parental exception to phone-recording laws. Courts have ruled that a parent cannot record a child's conversation with another person unless the parent truly believes the child is in immediate danger. 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.

Norton Family offers almost all the features a parent could want, including recently added geofencing, although its app-management abilities don't work on iOS. Along with smartphone and tablets, it also monitors Windows PCs but not Macs.

Many antivirus products, including some from Norton and Kaspersky, have parental controls built in. To see how well those stack up against the stand-alone services, please see our overview of the best and worst antivirus software for parents.

All these parental-control apps can see and do more on Android than on iOS, due to Apple's tighter app restrictions and system control. If you're really serious about keeping tabs on what your kids do online, get them Android phones. Just be wary of any Android parental control app that you need to "sideload" on your own.

There's usually a good reason that app isn't in the official Google Play store. We'll make an exception for Qustodio, whose sideloaded version has abilities the Google Play app doesn't.

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 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.

Read our full Net Nanny review. 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.

The drawbacks, and they are minor, are that the mobile apps are clumsily designed, the web portal can be slow, and the web filters may not work with lesser-known browsers. Still, if you don't feel a need to read your kids' text messages and in which case you'd need Qustodio , then Kaspersky Safe Kids is well worth considering. Read our full Kaspersky Safe Kids review. 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.

At that price, getting Norton Family along with Norton's excellent antivirus protection is a no-brainer, unless your kids happen to use Macs. Read our full Norton Family review. Once the most powerful parental-control app for iPhones, OurPact's abilities have been whittled down a bit by Apple, which temporarily threw OurPact out of the App Store. However, it can still manage or block any iOS app, just as it can on Android.

OurPact also gets kids involved in managing the daily allowance of screen time that you give them, and it does a good job of scheduling. Its Premium Plus plan lets you get screenshots from the child's device, even on IOS, and you can block messaging and texting apps even if you can't read the messages themselves.

Yet its website filtering simply blocks porn, and the time-management interface is a bit clunky. OurPact will tell you where your child is, and its geofencing will tell you when a child arrives or leaves specific locations, but it can't tell you where your child has been. If you use iOS, macOS, Windows, Kindle, or Chromebook, then Mobicip is a slightly more affordable alternative to Qustodio but without the info-heavy reporting dashboard. OurPact offers a free version that lets you block apps and set up one schedule for screen time.

At that rate, you might as well pay for Bark and get social media monitoring and email monitoring. Read more about our testing experience in our in-depth OurPact review. We think web filtering is the more useful feature, but you can always install Google Family Link in addition to Kaspersky or Qustodio if you want. In our original roundup of the best parental control apps, Net Nanny earned a spot among the top four.

Net Nanny is one of the most expensive options and offers no trial period. It took our tester an hour to set up Net Nanny for one device, and they were able to get around the web filter. We think Bark is the best app for parental control in terms of screen-time management and internet safety. If you want location tracking, geofencing, and location history, try FamilyTime or Qustodio.

Some parental control apps also monitor calls and social media activity. Exact features and reports vary by app. We recommend Bark for comprehensive phone and internet monitoring. We like the free version of Kaspersky Safe Kids or Qustodio. Google Family Link is free too. By the time your child is old enough to join social media, you might want to switch over to Bark.

We also consulted with other online safety experts. Three members of our team tried out the different apps, looking for how well each performed in these specific areas:. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

Certain content that appears on this site comes from Amazon. Anyone found anything like that? Teens spend an average of seven hours and 22 minutes on their phones a day, and tweens — ages 8 to 12 — are not far behind, at four hours and 44 minutes daily, according to a new report by Common Sense Media. Nowdays technology in homeschooling is a must. But we cannot forget about disadvantages of the screen time. If child is spending several hours in front of the computer or tablet, even only for school activities, there has to be a counterpoint.

In my opinion the best offline tool is chess. Of course chess is the best logic game in every aspect. The longer time it takes to focus, the more difficult it is for the child and the results are worse. Hello, what would you say is best Android parental control app to prevent hacking or work arounds? Do any of these apps prevent that? Thanks so much! Bark offers all you asked for and more, I am a single dad of 1 daughter and very happy with the results. I need something to download to a MAC and iPad to block pornography.

I can pay for it. Please tell me what. I am raising a teenage grandson. Home since March due to covid. Do you have information on which, if any of these, can also be installed on a Windows Laptop for additional monitoring? Great question. One that does is Kapersky Safe Kids. Qustodio also works with Windows XP and higher. Good luck, I hope that helps!

Kapersky safe kids is easy to get around, from personal experience, look for more comprehensive like bark or qustodio. Bark does offer windows device monitoring as well as android, chromebook and apple IOS.

It has the best monitoring algorithyms as well as AI artificial intelligence and keeps up to date with all slang, and workaround prevention. For Android device The best app is Kids Dashboard in play store.

It alo got Knox security on Samsung devices. Click here to cancel reply. Name required. Email will not be published required. About Contact Press Blog. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. This is not a guarantee.

SafeWise is an independent review site. We may earn money when you click links on our site. Learn more. The Best Parental Control Apps of After comparing 16 parental control apps and testing their performance, we believe Bark is the best option. Best overall. Excellent social media monitoring. Text message monitoring. Unlimited devices. View Packages. Read review. Best for younger kids. No social media monitoring. Up to 10 devices. Best for budgets. Kaspersky Safe Kids. Some social media monitoring.

No text message monitoring. Best for iOS families. Up to 5 devices. Best reporting dashboard. Your email address will not be published. Reviews Guides Menu. Probably because our kids are exposed to a range of threats online, some of them being: Sharing personal information online Cyber identity theft Cyber bullies Adult content Improper communications In order to prevent your kids from accessing inappropriate content, having a good parental control software is the need of the hour.

Remote Reporting Whenever you are looking to get the ideal parental control software for your home, it is best to go for something that facilitates remote reporting. Time Management Time management is offered only by certain parental control software, but it is a really useful feature to have at your disposal.

Activity Record This is one feature that is present in almost all the parental control software. Messaging and Social Media After a certain point of time, simply filtering online content for your child might not be sufficient.

Pricing and Platforms The pricing mainly depends upon the functions and features offered by the particular parental control software in question. Parting Thoughts With this in mind, we would highly recommend you to take some time out to actually research the various parental control software available and make the right choice!

Parental App. Read Review. Our top parental control app pick: monitors a huge range of social media, SMS messages and even emails. Pros: Easy to use, Gets kids actively involved, Affordable. Pros: Easy to use, Affordable, Wide compatibility. Monitor SMS, social media platforms, enjoy location tracking and even geofencing! Supported Platforms: iOS, Android devices.

Pros: Easy to use, Undetectable. We love the up to 6-months trial period, as well as the location tracking and web filtering. Pros: Easy to use, Good customer service, Has a free trial version. No description has been added yet. Pros: Many Features, Wide compatibility. Pros: Powerful call, text monitoring, Has a free version. Pros: Wide compatibility, Has a free trial version. Pros: Affordable, Has a free trial version.

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