Best Parental Control Apps of 2024 for Android & iOS Devices

The best parental control app allows you to monitor your child’s online and offline activities, giving you unique insights into their interests and habits. These apps can be invaluable for every parent, as they can track your child’s screen time, GPS location, and even messages.

Some parental control software can also give you remote control of your child’s device to help you set and enforce boundaries. In this article, you’ll find out what the best parental control apps can do for you, how much it costs to use them, and how they compare to other solutions.

The Best Parental Control Apps of 2024

1. mSpy — Best parental control app for iPhone monitoring
2. Eyezy — Best child phone monitoring app for location tracking
3. uMobix — Best parental control software for social media spying
4. Cocospy — Best parental control app for Android devices
5. Spyic.pro — Undetectable phone monitoring app with remote controls
6. KidsGuard — Easy-to-use parental control software with activity reports
7. Norton Family — Best parental monitoring app for content control
8. Qustodio — Best parental control solution for multi-device monitoring
9. FamiSafe — Best parental control app for teenager monitoring
10. ESET Parental Control — Best parental control software for setting limits on gaming

The Best Parental Control Software Reviewed

To ensure we recommend only the best parental control apps, we’ve thoroughly tested dozens of solutions and included the ones that are easy to use, accurate, and feature-rich. In this section, we’ll explore the features and best use cases of each parental control app on our list to help you make an informed decision.

1. mSpy – Best Parental Control App for iPhone Monitoring

mSpy is a lightweight parental control app that has a minimal impact on your child’s iPhone battery and allows you to track their messages, browsing history, location, and more. It’s also easy to install since you only need your child’s iCloud credentials to set it up remotely.

Features

One of the defining features of mSpy is its stealth mode, which keeps the app completely hidden if you want to spy on your child’s activities without them knowing. That means your child won’t have a cause for rebellion as they won’t get notifications from mSpy, and there won’t be any indication that you are tracking their GPS location.

Besides tracking their location, mSpy lets you read through their messages sent via iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and other apps. Furthermore, you’ll see the videos and images they send, receive, or save on their device.

Although mSpy doesn’t have a dedicated feature to monitor your child’s screen time like ClevGuard’s KidsGuard, it will periodically take and upload screenshots of their device to your dashboard, giving you a glimpse into their current and past activities.

Who It’s Best For

mSpy is ideal for parents who want to monitor their children without them knowing, which lets them act naturally. Monitoring your child without their consent is legal in most countries, and mSpy excels at monitoring iPhones discreetly.

2. Eyezy – Best Child Phone Monitoring App for Location Tracking

Eyezy is the best parental control app for location tracking, as it lets you find out your children’s whereabouts in seconds and even alerts you if they aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Additionally, it’s budget-friendly and easy to use, making it ideal for beginners.

Features

Eyezy offers geofencing and keyword tracking to help you keep tabs on your child’s activities without continuously checking up on their location or browsing history. Geofencing lets you create borders on your map and label them “Safe” or “Dangerous.” If your child crosses them, Eyezy will immediately notify you, allowing you to react quickly.

For example, marking their school as a safe location can help you discover if they’re skipping classes. Keyword tracking works similarly, but with the words they type on the target device. You can flag certain words as inappropriate, such as words related to pornography or drugs, and you’ll be the first to know if they look them up online.

Additionally, Eyezy lets you read through their messages, track their calls, and even block websites. However, it doesn’t offer as many iPhone features as mSpy, making it a better pick for Androids.

Who It’s Best For

Eyezy is an excellent phone monitoring app for busy parents who would prefer to receive notifications that update them on their child’s activities. It’s also one of the best picks for parents on a budget, especially if you opt for its annual plan.

3. uMobix – Best Parental Control App for Social Media Monitoring

uMobix is the best social media monitoring app, as it tracks more than 15 instant messaging and social media apps, including Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and others. Additionally, it can track your child’s activities on Reddit and Tinder, unlike many competitors.

Features

uMobix is an ideal pick for concerned parents monitoring their children, especially teenagers, who spend too much time on social media apps and are exposed to inappropriate content on them. It also lets you remotely block their access to any app if you deem it too time-consuming or potentially dangerous.

Besides giving you an insight into their messaging, multimedia sharing, and other activities on social media apps, uMobix provides a plethora of remote controls. It lets you block your child’s access to websites, calls, or even their device entirely. You can also block their access to the internet during their studying sessions or bedtime.

Although it can’t track the location of iPhones, making it a worse choice than mSpy if your child uses iOS devices, it’s hard to find an app that offers as many social media monitoring features as uMobix.

Who It’s Best For

uMobix is ideal for parents who want to help their kids avoid the dangers of social media apps and get directly involved in managing their screen and online time. Although it’s more expensive than most competitors, it justifies its price with its advanced remote control features.

4. Cocospy – Best Parental Control App for Android Devices

Cocospy is the best child phone monitoring app for Androids, as its features work without rooting your child’s phone, which some competitors require. Additionally, it gives you a 360-degree view of your child’s activities on these devices and tracks their location precisely.

Features

Like our previous picks, Cocospy lets you track your child’s GPS location in real time, which can help you confirm or dispel any doubts about their whereabouts. However, unlike most, it also lets you track their location using their cellular network.

Its dashboard has a tab dedicated to SIM monitoring, where you’ll find a history of all the places they’ve visited, their current location, and more. Your children won’t be able to fool Cocospy even if they change their SIM card, as the app will notify you and keep tracking them.

Besides GPS and SIM-based location tracking, Cocospy lets you monitor their calls, social media activities, browsing history, and more. Although it doesn’t monitor as many apps as uMobix, you’ll have no issues accessing your child’s messages on WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, and similar apps.

Who It’s Best For

Cocospy can spy on any Android device, making it one of the best parental control apps for Androids and an ideal solution for parents seeking an undetectable, easy-to-use solution. It’s also excellent for location tracking, as it can show your child’s phone’s location on your map even if they turn their GPS off.

5. Spyic – Undetectable Phone Monitoring App With Remote Controls

Spyic is a parental control software app ideal for covert monitoring, as it is undetectable and offers numerous features that can track your child’s activities in real time. It’s also one of the only spy apps that can track your child’s activities on TikTok, an app that’s often dangerous for teens.

Features

Spyic has all the traditional surveillance features popular spy apps offer, including calls, messaging, location, and browsing history monitoring. However, it goes further than most competitors with its video and audio streaming feature, which lets you see and listen to your kid’s surroundings in real time.

These features remotely activate your child’s device’s camera and microphone, letting you eavesdrop on their conversations. That way, you’ll listen to what they’re talking about with their peers, and if there’s any sign of danger, Spyic can show you their location so you can reach them.

However, most of its features are exclusive to Android monitoring, making mSpy the better pick for iPhones. Although it can’t track as many apps as uMobix, Spyic can monitor your child’s activities on TikTok, which is facing addiction lawsuit claims.

Who It’s Best For

Spyic is ideal for parents looking for an undetectable solution that can monitor TikTok and has an easy-to-use interface. Additionally, it’s the best parental control app to monitor your kids in real-time, as it shows you their online status and lets you block their access to apps and listen to their surroundings.

6. KidsGuard – Easy-to-Use Parental Control Software With Activity Reports

KidsGuard is ClevGuard’s cheapest solution, designed to track your children’s activities and help you restrict their screen time. It also features an advanced web filter and numerous remote controls to help you minimize your child’s distractions while they study or do house chores.

Features

KidsGuard is one of the only parental control apps with an activity report feature, which you can use to evaluate your child’s daily, weekly, or monthly smartphone usage. When your child opens an app, KidsGuard will log the time spent using it and list it in the report.

You can use its reports to see how much time your child spends in each app daily and how many hours they spend on their phone throughout the day. Additionally, you can block harmful and inappropriate apps, such as dating apps or apps your children spend too much time using.

KidsGuard has a modern, slick interface that we found easier to use than Cocospy’s dashboard, and its customer support is knowledgeable and answers quickly but isn’t always available. It also features Web Block, a unique feature that lets you simultaneously block all websites that fit categories like drugs, violence, or pornography.

Who It’s Best For

KidsGuard is excellent for beginners, as its modern interface makes it easy to use, and its features require no technical expertise. It’s also ideal for parents looking to evaluate their child’s progress in reducing screen time over days, weeks, or months.

7. Norton Family – Best Parental Monitoring App for Content Control

Norton Family is ideal for large families or if your children use numerous devices, as there’s no limit to how many devices you can monitor. Besides smartphones, Norton Family can monitor your children’s activities on Windows computers without slowing them down.

Features

Norton Family can help you monitor and control your child’s online activities with its numerous content-controlling features, including Instant Lock, which remotely locks your child’s computer or phone.

Our favorite Norton Family feature is School Time, which restricts your child’s access to educational sites only during school or homework hours. In testing, we found that Norton Family blocks any ads that appear on educational websites while School Time is on, eliminating distractions for your children while they study.

You can also block websites manually, and Norton Family will send you an email if your children try to access them. The app also features standard parental controls, such as location tracking and browsing history logs, but if you wish to monitor their social media activities, uMobix is a better choice.

Who It’s Best For

Norton is the best parental control app for parents who need to monitor many kids and devices, especially if you want to teach them healthy habits and exercise control over the content they consume. Additionally, it’s one of the cheapest parental control apps, making it ideal for parents on a budget.

8. Qustodio – Best Parental Control Solution for Multi-Device Monitoring

Qustodio is a feature-rich parental control app that covers five devices with its entry-level plan and unlimited devices with its Complete plan. It’s one of the only parental apps with a free plan you can use to test some of its features before subscribing.

Features

Qustodio supports Mac supervision, unlike most competitors, making it an invaluable asset if your kids use Macs. It lets you set game, app, and social media time limits on all devices, including computers, to reduce your child’s screen time.

One of our favorite Qustodio features is its remote device locker, which lets you specify how much time needs to pass before it unlocks. Besides its screen time controls, Qustodio can track your child’s location via their iOS and Android devices, and you’ll have access to their calls and SMS logs.

Although it doesn’t offer as many phone monitoring features as uMobix or Eyezy, Qustodio delivers an excellent all-around performance, as its apps are lightweight and work on all popular platforms.

Who It’s Best For

Qustodio is a perfect choice for parents seeking a solution that monitors numerous devices running different operating systems. It’s also ideal for screen time management and one of the only apps with a free plan that lets you explore its interface and limited features.

9. FamiSafe – Best Parental Control App for Teenager Monitoring

FamiSafe has no features you won’t find with other providers for kids and tweens monitoring, but its Driving Report is a feature every teenager’s parent will love. Additionally, it offers activity reports and a highly customizable web filter to help keep your teenagers away from inappropriate content.

Features

FamiSafe can give you peace of mind knowing your teenagers are safe while driving with Driving Report, a feature that helps you monitor their driving habits. You can use this feature to review the last three weeks of your child’s driving habits by reading about their average driving speed and time and the total distance they drove.

Additionally, FamiSafe will alert you if it detects that your teenager is driving faster than you’d want them to. Similarly, its activity report will show you what they do on their phone, from the apps they install and open to the websites they visit.

Although FamiSafe won’t let you monitor as many apps as uMobix, you can use it to monitor your child’s activities on TikTok and YouTube. There’s also a “Suspicious Filter” option to toggle to have FamiSafe inform you if your child views inappropriate images.

Who It’s Best For

FamiSafe’s unique Driving Report makes it an invaluable app for parents concerned with their teenagers’ driving skills or habits. It’s also an excellent choice if you’re seeking a solution that will alert you if your child encounters violent, pornographic, or other inappropriate content online.

10. ESET Parental Control – Best Parental Control Software for Setting Limits on Gaming

ESET Parental Control is an Android-only solution that offers all the traditional parental control features at an affordable price. For just $2.08/month, ESET Parental Control lets you monitor your child’s location, app usage, and browsing habits.

Features

ESET Parental Control can help you put a limit to your child’s game time with its Application Guard feature. This feature allows you to label each app your child downloads with “Unlimited,” “Blocked,” and “Time-Limited.” Setting a daily time limit on gaming and entertainment apps will help with your child’s focus on more important things, like studying or sleeping.

The app also features an accurate GPS tracker and a unique feature to help preserve the target phone’s battery when your child is away. With Battery Protector, ESET will automatically block access to apps that significantly impact the target device’s battery life to ensure you can track their location uninterrupted.

Additionally, ESET offers geofencing to help you stay informed about their location and web filtering to prevent your child from accessing inappropriate websites. However, it lacks social media monitoring features competitors like Spyic offer.

Who It’s Best For

ESET Parental Control is ideal for parents seeking a solution that allows them to limit their child’s game and screen time without invading their privacy. Additionally, it can track your child’s location accurately and without breaking the bank.

The Best Parental Control Apps Compared

Here’s a master table to help you compare the parental control software apps head-to-head based on their features, compatibility, and pricing.

What are Parental Control Apps?

Parental control apps help parents track their children’s online and offline activities to ensure their safety and manage excessive screen time. Whether you opt for an undetectable parental control app or install one with your child’s consent, these apps will give you unique insights into their browsing habits, interactions with friends, and app usage.

Besides giving you a general overview of what they do on their phones, some parental control apps can help you spy on their conversations on social media apps, track their location, or even remotely activate their device’s microphone to listen to their surroundings.

Some apps offer unique features, such as FamiSafe’s Driving Report, which can tell you if your child is driving recklessly. Overall, parental control apps can help create a safer environment for your children and assist you in supervising their activities.

How does Parental Control Software Work?

Parental control software requires you to install it on your child’s device so it can monitor and manage the device’s activities. Once installed, parental control apps integrate with various system functions to track app usage, browsing history, GPS location, and similar activities.

These apps then transmit the information they obtain to a secure server, and the app’s provider gives you access to that information via an online dashboard. You can use the online dashboard to review your child’s call logs, text messages, social media interactions, and more. Additionally, some parental control apps allow you to block the target device’s access to inappropriate websites, remotely block apps, or lock their phones entirely.

It’s worth mentioning that most parental control apps require physical access to the target device during installation. However, you can install some apps remotely, including mSpy, by providing the target device’s iCloud credentials.

Do I Need an App to Track My Kids?

The risks to kids online are growing, and parental control apps, among other stringent measures, are nearly mandatory today. Children today have access to numerous social media, dating, and instant messaging apps that can get them in contact with strangers, some of who could be predators, drug dealers, or scammers.

Parental control apps can give you peace of mind knowing your child isn’t contacting a potentially dangerous person and allow you to put a quick end to it if they are. Likewise, they can track your child’s location, allowing you to immediately react if you notice that your child is in a potentially dangerous part of the city.

These apps can also help control your child’s game and screen time, which can be invaluable if games and social media apps negatively affect their sleep schedule and performance in school. With that said, whether you choose to track your children ultimately depends on your parenting style and requirements.

What Can a Parental Control App for Android or iPhone Show Me?

No parental control app for Android and iPhone monitoring is a one-size-fits-all solution, so that depends on the app you choose. However, they share some of the features found in the best spy apps, which allows them to show you who your child contacts, what they talk about, what apps they use, and more.

Here’s what the best parental control apps for Android and iPhone can show you:

• Screen time usage
• Browsing history
• Call and SMS logs
• GPS location
• Social media and instant messaging app activity
• Installed apps
• Stored images and videos

Will Parental Control Software Block All Inappropriate Content?

Parental control apps do an excellent job of blocking most websites that contain adult content, drugs, violence, and gambling, but they can’t guarantee 100% effectiveness. That’s because there’s a constant influx of new content on the internet, and parental control app algorithms require time to identify inappropriate material.

In addition, children can sometimes bypass the restrictions by accessing content indirectly, such as through social media or instant messaging apps. That’s why staying informed about your child’s online activities and engaging in open communication about internet safety is essential.

However, most parental control apps offer screen recording and social media monitoring. You can use these features with web filtering tools to ensure you don’t miss anything.

Which Devices Can I Track with Parental Control Apps?

Depending on your parental control app, you can track your child’s activities on Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac, and Chromebook devices. However, their capabilities vary, so you shouldn’t expect the best parental control app for Android phone monitoring to perform equally well on Macs or other devices.

Similarly, due to Apple’s privacy policies and app sandboxing restrictions, even the best parental control app for iPhone monitoring will have fewer features than their Android counterparts. However, you’ll still have access to your child’s location, call and SMS logs, social media activities, and more.

Although Windows, Chromebook, and Mac monitoring apps aren’t as advanced as smartphone monitoring solutions, some parental control apps can help you monitor your child’s online activities and screen time on these devices.

Free Parental Control Apps vs Premium Tools – Which is Best for Me?

Investing in a premium parental control app offers numerous benefits that free options can’t match. From geofencing alerts and accurate GPS location tracking to stealth mode and social media monitoring, premium apps won’t miss any details.

In contrast, free parental control apps are often inaccurate while tracking target devices, receive infrequent updates, and rarely offer remote control functionalities. Furthermore, finding a trustworthy and functional free parental control app is near-impossible, as most providers use their software to store, share, and sell your data to third parties.

Paying for parental control software means it will get frequent updates, such as a more sophisticated algorithm for content filtering, and you’ll have access to customer support, which can help you resolve any issues you encounter.

Knowing that your parental control app uses cutting-edge features can give you peace of mind and improve your child’s online safety, making premium solutions a better choice.

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