6 Best Apps to Monitor Kids Text Messages

XNSPY is the most prominent app to monitor kids text messages. The app has been in the industry for over 10 years. It is an extensive app that gives remote access to messages, calls, social media, location, installed apps, and multimedia of your child’s phone.

Once installed, XNSPY works in stealth mode, allowing you to monitor kids' SMS messages. You can easily open the app’s dashboard from any browser and view phone text messages and social media chats of over 13 apps.

You have to click on Phone Logs and tap on Text Messages. Here, you can track all the text sent and received by your child. The app provides two ways to view the texts. The chat view displays messages to and from particular contacts along with timestamps. Clicking on a contact opens the conversation thread. You can easily scroll through the chat history and also view any shared media or links.

The list view shows the messages as they are sent or received. You can even track the location where the message originated with the given GPS signals. There is a search icon that helps you enter a particular contact name or number and look for messages. You can further filter the search by clicking on ‘Today, This Month, This Year.’

XNSPY Compatibility

XNSPY is compatible with all devices running Android 4 or 11. Similarly, the app is supported on phones and tablets running iOS 6 to the latest 17. An exclusive compatibility page is present on the website. You can enter the child’s phone name or model, search, and confirm compatibility.

XNSPY Pricing

Basic: $4.99/month

Premium: $7.49/month

XNSPY Pros and Cons

Eyezy is one of the newer apps for text message monitoring and is gaining popularity quickly. What sets it apart isn’t just the sleek, vibrant design – it is how creatively the features are named. For example, instead of just listing text messages and social media tracking separately, Eyezy combines them under a feature called ‘Social Spotlight.’

The dashboard is modern and initially displays the overall activity of the child’s phone. Here, you will see a graph showing browser history, text messages, GPS locations, and WhatsApp in different colored lines. At the bottom, there are also tabs showing top messaging and calling contacts, as well as the most visited websites.

Text messages are the top option in the social spotlight section. The chats are shown according to contact. You can open the conversation and see the incoming and outgoing texts. The app does provide the date and timestamps of each message and you can view and download the media that is shared.

Eyezy Compatibility

Eyezy operates on smartphones running Android 4 or above and on iPhones running on iOS 13 and later.

Eyezy Pricing

1-Month: $47.99/month

3-Months: $27.99/month

Eyezy Pros and Cons

FlexiSpy is another capable app and probably the veteran of all the other apps on the list. It is among the few apps that work on smartphones, tablets, and computers. The app also has positive reviews from critics and customers.

Being in the industry for such a long time gives FlexiSpy a few advantages, one of which is that it offers a variety of tools and options. However, the design and colors of the dashboard are not modern. The interface and navigation options are in grey. It shows account and device info and the latest messages, calls, and keylogs.

The SMS tracker is present in the Data section. You can view the chats from various contacts. However, there is an option to monitor kid’s text messages in Group or List view. In the group view, you can see shared texts and media. In the list view, you can monitor just single messages. All the texts are saved with the corresponding date and time.

FlexiSpy Compatibility

FlexiSpy is compatible with a wide range of devices and operating systems. There is a dedicated compatibility page. You can specify the brand name, model, variant, and Android version. The app is supported on Android 4 or higher. Similarly, you can check iPhone compatibility, supported on iOS 16 and below.

FlexiSpy Pricing

Lite: $49.95

Extreme: $419/month

FlexiSpy Pros and Cons

If you are looking for how to monitor kids text messages without them knowing, Phonsee is a solid choice that has been in the monitoring industry for more than 10 years. The app is a trusted name for parents who want to monitor their child's text messages and other phone activity.

Phonsee projects itself as a modern app that offers almost all the monitoring features parents seek. The app gives you access to messages, calls, social media activities, browser history, and media files. You can click on the Demo tab on the website to open the dashboard, which has a nice and simple design.

The text message monitoring can be accessed from the General Features. Here, the interactions are presented in a chat-like view. It is easy to view the texts, any photos or videos, and the time stamps.

Phonsee Compatibility

Phonsee is supported on target devices running Android 4+. Conversely, the app runs on iOS devices with OS 7 or above.

Phonsee Pricing

1-Month: $42.51

3-Months: $24.79/month

Phonsee Pros and Cons

Hoverwatch is a reliable text monitoring app for parents. It states itself as a ‘Free mobile tracker’ on its website, but it is far from a free app to see child's text messages. In fact, you have to subscribe to the app and install it on the target device.

The personal plan of the Hoverwatch lets you monitor one device. However, with the professional plan, you can track 5 devices. There is no demo version available on the website, so you need to get the app and then see the dashboard design and monitoring options.

The SMS tracker app lets you see all the sent and received messages. Hoverwatch lets you filter the messages, whether incoming or outgoing, and even label them as ‘Favorite’ if you want to access them quickly.

Hoverwatch Compatibility

Hovewatch is compatible with phones running Android 7 or above. However, the app is not functional on iPhones or iPads.

Hoverwatch Pricing

Personal: $29.95/month

Professional: $199.95/12-months

Hoverwatch Pros and Cons

Spyzie is another app that can work as a parental control app. It may not be as popular as other apps to monitor kids text messages but offers almost all the basic and advanced features.

The app’s website and dashboard design is modern and easy to use. Once subscribed, you can view the target device model name and OS version. You can also view the 5 most frequent callers, GPS location, the 5 recent messages, and report on phone activity on the dashboard.

Once you click on Messages, you get all the SMS logs. As the interactions are in chat view, you must click on the contact to open the conversation. You can then view all the shared SMS messages which are saved with date and time information.

Spyzie Compatibility

Spyzie is functional on Android phones running on OS 4 or higher. The app works on iOS devices, but there is little information on the version the app is compatible with.

Spyzie Pricing

Basic: $39.99/month

Premium: $199.19/12-months

Spyzie Pros and Cons

FAQs

Do message monitoring apps show multimedia like photos and videos?

Some apps allow you to view photos and videos shared via SMS, while others may only display text content. Apps that do offer this facility do so through various means like screen recordings, media monitoring, etc. Therefore, choosing an app with multimedia support, like XNSPY, is important to get a proper picture of your child's messaging activity.

Will my child know when I monitor their messages?

No, most advanced text message monitoring apps run discreetly in the background without alerts, icons, or visible activity on the phone. Upon setup, most of these apps tend to hide and not appear in the app drawer, home screen, etc. This allows parents to stay informed about their child’s messaging habits without them knowing.

Are there text monitoring tools that let you search specific messages?

Basic monitoring tools lack advanced search capabilities. However, robust solutions offer filtering options that allow parents to sort messages by contact name, phone number, or time period. These features improve navigability and make it easier to locate specific conversations without manually scrolling through message logs.