Being a parent, getting worried about your child is obvious and we can do anything literally to ensure our child's safety. Since the craze for social media is increasing, it becomes challenging to abstain your child from using it. Instead, you can try to install some trustworthy parental control apps on their device to monitor their phone activity and ensure that they do not fall prey to cyber predators or other online threats.
Now, selecting the best parental control app may be difficult, as you may have various choices. However, in this article, we will enlist some of the best parental control app for iPhone, Android and other operating system, and their pros and cons, which will, in turn, help you in selecting the app you prefer.
1. Budget-friendly
The parental control app that you opt for must be budget-friendly. All the features offered by the app should be available at a minimal cost to take advantage of all the features, and the money you put in seems like an investment.
2. Privacy and Security
The best iPhone parental control app must be such that it doesn't invade your child's privacy, steal their data, or leak it somewhere else. You are installing a parental control app for security purposes. If this app breaches your security, there is no point in downloading one.
3. Flexible
You will need an app that is flexible to use. You won't search for a separate app for your kids from different age groups. You will need an app that suits your preferences and can be flexible enough to cover different requests.
4. Easy to use
As a parent, it isn't easy to spend a lot of time understanding the technicalities. Therefore, the app you select should be easy to use so that you don't need to spend much time trying to understand the usage of the app.
Once you check all the four points mentioned above, you can select the parental control app that best fits your needs. Install the app on your device and keep an eye on your kid, thus protecting them from evil.
Website blocker: You can add the websites you allow your child to visit in the whitelist and block inappropriate ones by categorizing them into customized groups.
Screen time limit: You can limit kids’ screen time by setting timers and smart schedules. This way, your child won't spend much time on their mobile devices and focus on their studies.
Porn blocker: You never know what your child searches on the internet when they are alone. However, you can block porn from their device and heave a sigh of relief.
Live location tracking: At any time, if you are worried about your child's whereabouts, you can check their live location through FamiSafe and also learn about their location history.
Block inappropriate apps: You can block certain apps from your child's device that you find unacceptable. Also, you will receive a notification if your child installs a new app.
Blocking explicit content: FamiSafe allows you to monitor social apps and YouTube to detect any explicit or offensive words. Parents will get alert when explicit content are detected on your kid's device.
Safe Search: You can set specific keywords that you wish your kid to stay away from. If your child searches for any of these keywords anywhere on the internet, you will receive an alert notification.
Pros
Pros
Pros
Pros
Pros
Now, selecting the best parental control app may be difficult, as you may have various choices. However, in this article, we will enlist some of the best parental control app for iPhone, Android and other operating system, and their pros and cons, which will, in turn, help you in selecting the app you prefer.
What to consider while selecting a parental control app
Before selecting the right parental control app, there are several things that you may look into to be sure that you are making the proper selection. A list of all these things you need to look after while selecting an app include:1. Budget-friendly
The parental control app that you opt for must be budget-friendly. All the features offered by the app should be available at a minimal cost to take advantage of all the features, and the money you put in seems like an investment.
2. Privacy and Security
The best iPhone parental control app must be such that it doesn't invade your child's privacy, steal their data, or leak it somewhere else. You are installing a parental control app for security purposes. If this app breaches your security, there is no point in downloading one.
3. Flexible
You will need an app that is flexible to use. You won't search for a separate app for your kids from different age groups. You will need an app that suits your preferences and can be flexible enough to cover different requests.
4. Easy to use
As a parent, it isn't easy to spend a lot of time understanding the technicalities. Therefore, the app you select should be easy to use so that you don't need to spend much time trying to understand the usage of the app.
Once you check all the four points mentioned above, you can select the parental control app that best fits your needs. Install the app on your device and keep an eye on your kid, thus protecting them from evil.
Top 5 Parental Control Apps for iPhone and Android
1. Wondershare FamiSafe
As one of the best iPhone parental control apps, FamiSafe offers a wide range of features to safeguard your kids, along with an easy-to-use interface. Check its key features below:Website blocker: You can add the websites you allow your child to visit in the whitelist and block inappropriate ones by categorizing them into customized groups.
Screen time limit: You can limit kids’ screen time by setting timers and smart schedules. This way, your child won't spend much time on their mobile devices and focus on their studies.
Porn blocker: You never know what your child searches on the internet when they are alone. However, you can block porn from their device and heave a sigh of relief.
Live location tracking: At any time, if you are worried about your child's whereabouts, you can check their live location through FamiSafe and also learn about their location history.
Block inappropriate apps: You can block certain apps from your child's device that you find unacceptable. Also, you will receive a notification if your child installs a new app.
Blocking explicit content: FamiSafe allows you to monitor social apps and YouTube to detect any explicit or offensive words. Parents will get alert when explicit content are detected on your kid's device.
Safe Search: You can set specific keywords that you wish your kid to stay away from. If your child searches for any of these keywords anywhere on the internet, you will receive an alert notification.
Pros
- Available on Android and iOS, Windows, Mac, Kindle Fire, etc.
- Allow you to set Geofences and receive instant alerts when kids enter or leave the specific zones.
- Provides a wide range of features like a website blocker, intelligent scheduling and control of screen time, live location access, blocking explicit content, and more.
- You are able to monitor several phones from inside the FamiSafe app, as well as place restrictions on those phones.
- It provides a 3-day trial for free to explore full functionalities. And after the trial period, it provides flexible purchasing plans to meet your needs.
- Because it does not function in a secret manner, your children can easily identify that FamiSafe is installed on their phones.
- The use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or software developed by a third party may bypass the website's screening.
2. Bark
The Bark app can act as a website blocker app and an app that helps to monitor your child's online activities. Bark app sends updates to your mobile anytime it senses the following dangers:- Cyberbullying
- Risky app installs
- Change in account activity
- Sexual content
- Violence
- Depression
- Inappropriate content
Pros
- Provides the option to monitor more than 30 apps.
- Compatible with Android and iOS.
- It also provides tips for parents to start honest conversations with their kids.
- There are a lot of alerts and notifications from this app.
- Installation of Bark on iOS is tricky.
3. Net Nanny
Net Nanny will provide you a full control over your child's online activities. You can regulate what they watch online, restrict specific keywords, block unwanted apps, and also get notified every time they install a new app. The only shortcoming is that this app will not allow you to set screen time and schedule apps on your device.Pros
- Real-time location tracking
- Appropriate time management on kids’ mobile devices
- Easy-to-use interface
- Expensive as compared to other apps
- It lacks some of the features like setting screen time limits for iOS users
4. Norton Family
With Norton Family, you can set screen limits, data limits, restrict websites and more on your kids’ mobile devices. This app also sends you notifications if your child enables the incognito mode. Norton Family also offers a location tracking feature, through which you can access the live location of your kids.Pros
- The app comes at an affordable rate.
- You can monitor multiple devices at once.
- Easy setup and configuration
- Comprehensive dashboard
- It does not support Mac.
- Norton Family is not able to block individual apps and games on a PC.
- Disabling the browser extension for this app is very easy.
5. OurPact
OurPact has got many unique features. Some of the features that OurPact offers are an option to regulate screen time, apply filters for online searches, block explicit content, track location, etc. Although learning to use and set up the app is a rather complicated and tricky task, which involves lots and lots of technical knowledge.Pros
- Covers 20 devices
- User-friendly interface
- Kind of expensive, compared to other competitors
- Complicated installation
- Limited website filtering feature
