Parents want nothing more than to protect their kids and keep them safe – both in real life and in the online world. The best parental control apps for iOS and Android make it easy for you to know how your children are spending their time online. In addition to showing you what they do on their phones and tablets, many parental control apps come with Windows and Mac software for their computers as well.
We spend dozens of hours testing the programs below, installing them and uninstalling them on several phones, testing all the features, adding location, control and messaging of SMS, equipment and filtering programs and time control programs. Compared to prices, we notice how simple it is to install and uninstall each application and what wicks of an application would cover and reflect at the point of the controls provided.
Overall, We the Net Nanny is a perfect pick for maximum families: it has an intuitive, blank interface, a must-have for iOS and Android devices, and has a full set of features, adding location tracking and history, Internet cleanup output. And you can block programs on your child’s phone. You can create your own clear outputs, describe allowances and schedules, and can even delete content in programs.
If you’re looking for something a little less pricey, we liked Kaspersky Safe Kids which has a full set of features for both the free and paid tiers; those who want support for Amazon Fire tablets or Chromebooks should check out the popular Qustodio app. Our pick for those who are trying to support many devices in a household is Norton Family, while iOS dedicated users should opt for OurPact, and Android users will want to check out Google Family Link.
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Net Nanny must be for iOS and Android and has a very intuitive fashion interface. You can track your child’s location, block applications on your phone and have a correct Internet filter.
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Kaspersky Safe Kids is available for iOS and Android, as well as PC and Mac. It will allow you to track your child’s location, set screen time limits, delete internet content, and block apps.
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Qustodio is available for iOS and Android, as well as for Mac, PC and Chromebooks. It will allow you to track your child, monitor text messages and calls, delete internet content and block applications.
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The Norton family is available for iOS and Android, as well as Windows. It will allow you to track your child’s location, delete internet content, block apps and unlimited children and devices.
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You must have our PACT for iOS and Android, but it has more features on iPhone. It allows you to manage screen time, block apps, erase internet content, and track your child’s location.
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Google Family Link is only available for Android but it’s completely free. It lets you block apps, filter some web content and track your child’s location.
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Our opinion:
Net Nanny, that we, such as the most productive parental control application, have a fashion and intuitive design and the correct internet filtering generation that analyzes the pages instead of simply blocking them blindly and allows you to create their own filters.
Among the parenting apps we tested, Net Nanny is getting closer to presenting parity between its iOS and Android versions. You can track your child’s location, view their location history, and set time allocations and schedules similarly on either platform.
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 filtering that works in social media programs and services, adding Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube, being able to block or authorize them completely.
The only thing Net Nanny does on a smartphone is calls or text messages. No apps we tested can do this on iOS, but a couple still do it on Android.
Read our full Net Nanny review.
Our review:
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 media and provides location tracking and geofencing that works on iOS and Android, as well as Kaspersky’s internet tracking and device scheduling. But app control is limited on iOS to block apps that have age restrictions.
Similarly, a feature that should block YouTube express types search and review YouTube Seek History if a paid user, works on Windows, iOS and Android, adding the Android YouTube app, but not on Mac.
The drawbacks, and they are minor, are that the cellular programs are clumsily designed, the Internet portal can be slow, and the Internet filters may not paint paints with lesser-known browsers. However, if you don’t feel like reading your kids’ text messages, Kaspersky Safe Kids is worth considering.
Kaspersky Safe Kids also recently obtained an AV test pass certificate for the seventh time in a row. For those who don’t know, Av-Test is an independent German organization that evaluates and evaluates antivirus and protection programs for Android and Windows.
Read our complete Kaspersky safe kids.
Our expert review:
Qustodio supports iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire tablets, Macs, PCs and Chromebooks. It also lets you set time limits for individual apps and individual devices.
This service’s location tracking works on both iOS and Android, as do its geofencing and a Family Locator feature that shows you where all your kids are at once. You can manage about 6,000 apps on iOS, and all Android apps, but the web filtering doesn’t work that well on either mobile platform.
However, Qustodio is one of the few apps we’ve tested recently that can still record a child’s texts and calls, view the content of text messages, or block phone numbers, at least on Android, and if you want to download a special edition of the application. The Qustodio app to make everything work. But if those features are vital to you, then Qustodio might be the app for you.
The biggest drawback is that Qustodio can get darn expensive, costing up to $138 per year for 15 devices. (Tom’s Guide readers get a 10% discount.)
Read our full Qustodio review.
Our opinion:
The strength and features of the Norton family are ideal for Android (and Windows) families with lots of kids, providing almost all the features a parent could want from one of the most productive parental apps, recently adding geolocation added.
This service’s location tracking, time and internet filtering, and in-moment currency capabilities work on iOS and Android, but Norton’s time allowances are only for its Windows and Android software. App control does not work at all in the iOS app.
However, Norton’s circle of relatives has very strong internet filters, including on iOS, Hulu and YouTube monitors, and has a feature called Time School to keep kids on track while they learn remotely.
Norton Family is free if you opt for one of Norton’s more expensive antivirus suites, like Norton 360 Deluxe, which is discounted to just $50 per year. At this price, getting Norton Family with Norton’s perfect antivirus coverage is a no-brainer, unless your kids use Macs.
Read our entire Norton family or save to plans with our Norton promo codes
Our 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 reaches out to kids to manage the screen time they get, and makes it a smart task to plan. The premium plus plan lets you get screenshots of the child’s device, even on iOS, and you can block messages and even texting apps if they can’t read the messages themselves.
Yet its website filtering simply blocks adult content, 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.
Despite those disadvantages, hempact’s intuitive interface and functionalities are satisfying to use, especially if your kids have iPhones.
Read our full OurPact review.
Our expert review:
Google Family Link is the only option on this page that is absolutely free. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how sturdy and useful it can be, as long as your kids have Android phones or tablets.
Google Family Link allows parents to control the formula permissions that each individual app has on a child’s Android device. No other parental control app we’ve reviewed has this capability. It also allows you to what type of apps or any app your child can download from Google Play.
There is no iOS edition of the Childhood application of Google Family Link, but parents can use iOS or Android to monitor children’s devices. Anyway, we present Android for applications, since the Android editions of all these applications give parents many more data and control.
Some disadvantages: Google Family Link has only one Internet connection, unlike “adult sites”, and does not work perfectly. The same exclusive authorization is available for YouTube. The monitoring of the location is a bit primitive and there is no geographical label. But time control presents good paintings.
If you’re primarily concerned about the apps your kids use, Google Family Link may be everything you need. And if you want an app that can do more, Google Family Link will work well alongside one of the other options on this page.
Read our whole link from the Google family.
What you want from a parental control app is basically based on the era of your kids. If you are the parent of a child under the age of 12, you definitely want to block objectionable websites, however, you may also want an app on Amazon’s fire tablets.
However, if you have teenagers, you may need to let them see reprehensible things on the Internet, but only if you are aware of it. You can also see who your teens are talking to online on messaging programs, as well as where they’re behind on Friday nights. At the same time, you may also need a service that monitors your kids’ Windows and Mac devices in addition to their smartphones.
The most productive parenting apps offer, at a minimum, an online page filter, location tracking, screen time limits with a scheduler, and an app blocker that works at least on Android.
The other handy and useful features come with geofencing that alerts you if a child’s phone leaves a designated “safe” domain like their school or a parent’s space. Most of those programs allow you to monitor your child’s telephone from an Internet interface on your PC, as well as from your own SmartTelephone.
A couple of these apps also let you block and log the calls and text messages a child makes and receives, and even read a child’s text messages. However, they require extra steps to do so. Still though, none of the best parental control apps let you listen in on a call, as doing so is illegal.
See the table below what each parental application offers.
We focused on parental control apps that emphasize setting up filters and limits proactively before your child uses a smartphone rather than merely tracking activities after the fact. In our extensive testing, we took the following criteria into account.
Price: What is the charge of the service and how many youngsters / gadgets are covered?
Installation: Is it easy to install and configure the application on the device?
Application management: How useful is the application in monitoring, blocking or restricting smartphone use? Does the app allow you to see all other apps on the child’s device?
Filter: What types of output cleaning equipment does each application offer? To what extent does the application eliminate the content you consider inappropriate?
Time management: What type of equipment does the application provide to limit time in front of the screen?
Texting and messaging management: Does the app let you see the content of your child’s text messages? Are you able to create rules or block specific contact? Are you notified of new contacts? Does the control extend beyond the built-in messaging apps or can you block messaging apps altogether?
Location tracking: Does the app allow your child in case of emergency?Does the app allow you to create geofenced zones?
Our most recent test round was conducted on a Lenovo Yoga C940 running Windows 10, a Google Pixel 4XL running Android 11, and an iPhone 12 running iOS 14. 2. However, lately we are in the process of updating all of our existing parental control notices and adding new ones.
We tested each app on every supported platform twice, from installation to uninstalling it. We typically monitored activity from the Lenovo Yoga C940 but for apps that offered control from a smartphone, we tested those features from an iPhone.
Maximum productive Android parent apps are still significantly more physically powerful than their opposite iOS numbers in peak cases, with only the feature parity of the ourpact it provides to the other apps we’ve tested.
We observed spaces where there are discrepancies between the features presented on the platform, but we haven’t provided separate ratings and reviews for the iOS or Android edition of the app.
Regarding call and SMS tracking, Apple and Google have done this task for almost any application. Questodio feels this challenge by providing a special edition of the Android app that users can download.
To learn more about how we verify security software and other products, check out Tom’s Guide.
Anthony Spadafora is the security and furniture editor of the Tom’s Guide home office, where everything is headed, from knowledge violations to password administrators and the most productive way to probe all your house or business with Wi -FI. It also reviews state desks, chairs in the workplace and other accessories in the workplace of the house with an inclination to create configurations in the workplace. Before joining the team, Anthony wrote for ItProportal while living in Korea and then for Techradar Pro after returning to the United States. Hauston, Texas, when you are not writing, Anthony Tinkers with PC and games consoles, manages cables and improves your wise house.
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