Even if you have discussed with your kids and set some ground rules about screen time limitations and responsible online behavior, managing their online activities is still tough when you are not around them. Banning technology altogether is not the solution to the problem, but rather to develop a healthy environment in which your kid can maximize the value of the device while controlling its downsides and misuse. The foremost and tranquil solution to the problem discussed above is parental control apps!
Parental control apps can help you restore your sense of control. These apps merely control and monitor the online activities of your kids, from the amount of time they spend online to filtering the content they see when you are not around them. As there are plenteous apps available in the market, choosing the best parental control app has become a hectic task. But, here we have provided you a brief guide to all the top parental control apps and how you can use them to ensure the safety of your kids. Our evaluation criterion is based on some basic factors, including pricing, ease of usage, functionality, compatibility, and customer support services.
Most parental control apps offer a variety of functionality, including:
Most parental control apps for Android and iOS offer their services by charging monthly or annual subscription fee ranging from $10 to more than $100. Most commonly, these apps work by installing the app onto the child's devices. Parents are provided a secure online web portal to monitor and control all the digital activities of their kids. Offered features may vary from platform to platform, so make sure you choose the best parental tracking app that can work on your child's device and provide you with every possible information you need.
Apps
Rating
Features Offered
Price
XNSPY
9.4/10
30+
Basic: $4.99/month
Premium: $7.49/month
UnGlue
8.5/10
20+
Limited: $5/month
Premium: $6.99/month
mSpy
8/10
20+
Limited: $29.99/month
Premium: $69.99/month
Web Watcher
7.8/10
18+
$19.98/month
Family Time
7.4/10
18+
Per Device: $19.98/month
XNSPY
9.4/10
30+
Basic: $4.99/month
Premium: $7.49/month
UnGlue
8.5/10
20+
Limited: $5/month
Premium: $6.99/month
mSpy
8/10
20+
Limited: $29.99/month
Premium: $69.99/month
Flexispy
6.8/10
15+
Premium: $68
Extreme: $349
Norton Family Premier
6/10
15+
$49.99/year+tax
Secure Teen
5.5/10
15+
Premium: $49.99/year
Premium Plus: $79.99/year
Qustodio
5/10
12+
Small Plan: $54.95/year
Medium Plan: $96.95/year
Large Plan: $137.95/year
Net Nanny
4.3/10
10+
Starter Plan: $54.99/year
Advance Plan: $89.99/year
Web Watcher
7.8/10
18+
$19.98/month
Family Time
7.4/10
18+
Per Device: $19.98/month
Flexispy
6.8/10
15+
Premium: $68
Extreme: $349
Norton Family Premier
6/10
15+
$49.99/year+tax
Secure Teen
5.5/10
15+
Premium: $49.99/year
Premium Plus: $79.99/year
Qustodio
5/10
12+
Small Plan: $54.95/year
Medium Plan: $96.95/year
Large Plan: $137.95/year
Net Nanny
4.3/10
10+
Starter Plan: $54.99/year
Advance Plan: $89.99/year
Xnspy is an all-in-one monitoring solution that enables you to keep track of the digital activities of your kids, even when you are not around them. Its ease to use and vast array of functions make it the best app to monitor kids. Xnspy lets you filter inappropriate content including pornography or adult content by simply blocking sites or apps remotely, without letting your kids know. Xnspy lets you set virtual boundaries for your kids to make this world a safer place for them. Its user-friendly controls and advanced functionality make this app one of the best invisible parental control app.
Subscription Plan
Basic Xnspy
Premium Xnspy
Monthly
$29.99/month
$35.99/month
Quarterly
$41.99/quarter
$59.99/quarter
Yearly
$59.99/year
$89.99/year
Xnspy offers bounteous powerful and unique features, including:
Xnspy provides 24/7 online customer support service.
If your kids are always glued to their devices, and you want to teach them how to balance their online time, Unglue is the best parental control software you need. Unglue enables you to set screentime restrictions and internet schedules for your children. You can get an instant alert if your kid's screentime limit is consumed. You can teach your kids how to manage their entertainment time as kids can view their own screentime, check their usage schedules, earn more time by doing chores, and even add up their unused minutes for next day or any particular day of their choice.
Plans
Limited
Premium
Monthly
Free (Only usage reports)
$6.99/month
Yearly
$5.00/month
Unglue doesn’t provide customer support service. You can only get assistance from the online support articles available on their website.
mSpy is one of the popular apps to control kids phone. It makes your digital monitoring task easy. Its hustle-free installation, easy functionality, and advanced parental controls have made it popular among parents. It enables you to track the whereabouts of your kids, anytime and anywhere. With the help of this monitoring app, you can reach out to your kid timely if they need help.
Subscription Plan
Limited
Premium
Monthly
$29.99/month
$69.99/month
Quarterly
N/A
$119.99/quarter
Yearly
N/A
$199.99/year
mSpy offers 24/7 customer support service through live chat.
Next on the list of top parental control apps is WebWatcher. It is another widely-used child tracking app that lets you monitor location, calls, and messages of your kids. It allows you to control the online activities of your kids in stealth mode. You can become a responsible digital parent by protecting your kids against different kinds of online and offline dangers. It may have its shortfalls, but if you look at it from different perspective, then you’ll find out why it is one of the best android parental control app around. WebWatcher is a multi-featured app that covers as many parts of your kid’s life as possible. By letting parents monitor their children’s phone details, including contacts, photos, messages, bookmarks, and others, WebWatcher ensures that your kids are safe from the digital perils.
Subscription Plans
Anroid/iOS
Monthly
$19.98/month
Quarterly
$59.95/quarter
Yearly
$129.95/year
WebWatcher offers customer support service, but it is based on the ticketing system.
FamilyTime offers a variety of comprehensive monitoring features. You can track and control the time your kids spend on their devices. Any best parental phone monitoring software should be easy to install and set-up and FamilyTree is no exception. It is a flexible screen time parental control app that prevents kids from wasting time on the internet, apps, and games.
Compatible with all Android and iOS devices
Subscription Plans
Price
MyFamily (1 child device)
$19.98/month
MyFamily2 (2 child devices)
$59.95/quarter
MyFamily3 (3 child devices)
$129.95/quarter
MyFamily5 (5 child devices)
$69/year
FamilyTime offers 24/7 customer support service.
Flexispy is a powerful monitoring tool that is easily installed on any Android or iOS device hence making it a worthy contender in the list of best parental phone monitoring software. It can be used to ensure your kids digital and real-life safety. Once installed, Flexispy takes control of the device and enables you to keep tabs on all the communication and activities from any computer with a web browser. No matter where you are, you can know everything that is happening on your kid’s device.
Subscription Plan
Premium
Extremece
Monthly
$68/month
N/A
Quarterly
$99/quarter
$199/quarter
Yearly
$149/year
$349/year
Yes, Flexispy also offers online customer support service.
Norton Family Premier enables you to keep track of your kids’ activities and their whereabouts by providing you an impressive range of parental control and monitoring features. It lets you make the web safer for your kids; helps your kids balance their online time; provides insights into the search terms; flags unsafe behavior, and provides summary reports on their online activities. Like any other best android parental control app, Norton Family Premier enables you to monitor social network activities so you can talk to your kids about smart social media habits.
Subscription Plan
Price
First-year subscription
$49.99 + tax/year
First-year subscription for $49.99 (plus Tax)
Renewal price depends on the features you opt.
Norton Family Premier does not offer an online customer support service.
SecureTeen is one of the most commonly used apps to control kids phone, developed especially for parents. It assists parents to know where their kids are and what they are doing. With this powerful app, parents can know everything about their kids’ SMS messages, GPS location, web searches, and activities on social media. With the help of this invisible parental control app , parents can protect their children from bad stuff on the web, including pornography, violence, gambling, etc.
Subscription Plans
Price
Premium
$49.99/year
Premium Plus
$79.99/year
SecureTeen offers online customer support service.
Qustodio is another extensively-used parental monitoring software mostly preferred by Android users. It is not the best iPhone parental control app around but on Android phones, it enables you to regulate your kid’s online activities by staying patient and friendly. Nowadays, kids spend more time connected than ever before. Qustodio lets you schedule their screen time to help them refocus on other activities.
Subscription Plans
Price
Small Plan (5 devices)
$54.95/year
Medium Plan (10 devices)
$96.95/year
Large Plan (15 devices)
137.95/year
Qustodio doesn’t offer customer support service.
Flexing its muscles next as one of the best iPhone parental control app is Net Nanny. It makes your parenting task easy by providing you an overview of all your family’s online activities at the tip of your fingers. This information assists you in making informed decisions about your child’s phone usage and keeps them safe and protected online. With the rising concerns of cyberbullying, sexting, and suicide among teens, parents can monitor their children’s Internet use and filter out inappropriate content to ensure their digital safety.
Subscription Plans
Price
5 Devices Family Protection Pass
$54.99/year
20 Devices Family Protection Pass
$89.99/year
Net Nanny doesn't offer online customer support service. It offers a ticketing system. You can enter your query details, and the help desk will contact you based on the ticket.
Due to the dynamic nature of most of these apps, we have had a pretty hard time making a decision as to who should get the title of best parental tracking app. But if you could look from our perspective, you will also see why Xnspy is the best parental control software.
If you didn’t notice, most of the apps discussed above are aiming at controlling the screentime of your children, not realizing that both Android and iOS have their own built-in parental controls. Therefore, Xnspy doesn’t focus on providing the same or tweaked version of something that parents could already use and that too for free. Xnspy helps parents look into a different side of children safety. It helps you look for signs that could tell if your child is depressed, if he had been making bad friends, or visiting dangerous places. And Xnspy gets you all this information in time with its email notifications. Xnspy also gives parents a certain level of control over their children’s smartphones, like when to lock their phones.
Our suggestion: If you need a screentime app, use the built-in parental controls; if you need something more than that, then try Xnspy! It’s affordable and works great all the time.
Yes, all iOS devices come with built-in parental controls. However, the nature of those parental controls is limited to just screen time checks. For a more extensive parental monitoring experience, we recommend using a third-party app like Xnspy.
It’s contingent on the app that you are using. Most parental controls allow for overt monitoring only. You can try a discreet parental control app if you wouldn’t like your child to see it on their phone.
Yes, many monitoring apps offer discreet monitoring. However, you might need one-time access to install and set up the app.
Always get your parental control app from a reliable company. You could look for online reviews, check how long the company has been in business, and how their support assists you in making your purchase decision.
Apps like Xnspy work in stealth mode and hide any shortcuts of the app on the phone. Your child won’t be able to locate the app or delete it. However, if they ever factory reset their phone, that will remove all third-party apps from their phones, including Xnspy.
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