Top 5 Best Parental Monitoring Apps 2024
Are you looking for the best parental monitoring app? How to see everything on your children’s phones?
If you’ve got young kids or teens, you know it’s hard to see what they’re doing online. Do they have Snapchat, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger installed on their phones? Or have you ever seen your children hide their phones as soon as you walk into their rooms? If so, they may be hiding something from you, and you definitely need a professional parental control app. A powerful parental monitoring app for Android and iOS lets you know what your kids are doing online, which gives you peace of mind.
In this article, we’ve reviewed the top 5 parental monitoring apps for Android and iPhone. Read on to choose the ideal app to protect your kids on the internet.
How to Select the Best Parental Monitoring App?
How to choose the best free parental monitoring app for your kids? It will depend on what you want to do, your concerns, and how much you want to monitor and control your children’s internet usage.
There are many monitoring apps on the market, and you need to learn to identify them. Here are the three most important factors to consider when choosing a quality parental monitoring app.
Feature Availability
First of all, you need to check what features these parental monitoring apps provide. A good parental control app must be a powerful app that meets a variety of monitoring needs.
Does it monitor text messages and calls? Does it support monitoring phone surroundings? In addition to the monitoring features, some apps also provide control functions to limit your children’s cell phone activities.
If the parental control app meets your monitoring needs, you should continue to check its price. Does it offer a free plan for you to try? Is the price reasonable? Remember to consider these factors before making a decision.
Customer Support
Good customer service means responding quickly to service requests, responding to all customer feedback (positive or negative), having self-service help documentation, and a smooth process to get in touch with the support team.
A monitoring app that meets all of the above conditions can be considered a qualified app. Otherwise, you need to reconsider.
Vendor Reliability
Is the vendor reliable? Can you find any contact details on the official website? Does it offer live chat support, email support, or phone numbers? If you can reach the support team, then you can rest assured.
Is it updated regularly? When was the last update? If the website has not been updated for a long time, it may be shut down.
1. iKeyMonitor Free Parental Monitoring App
iKeyMonitor is a free parental monitoring app that works on Android and iOS devices. It monitors SMS text messages, call history, websites visited, photos, videos, contacts, social chat apps, and so much more. In addition to basic monitoring features, it also provides control functions such as app blocking and screen time limiting. As the best parental control app, it offers a free plan for you to try before purchasing.
Features:
- text monitoring
- Social media spy
- Photo spy
- Video spy
- Screen time limit
- Keylogger
- Geo-fencing
- GPS history
- Web history
- Screenshots
- Call recording
- Surround recording
PROS:
- Easy to use
- Excellent customer service
- Support multiple languages
- 30-day Money-Back guarantee
CONS:
- Need to jailbreak your device to get all the features
2. Google Family Link – Parental Monitoring App for Android/iOS
Google Family Link is a free parental control app that can be downloaded on your iPhone or Android phone to manage your children’s Android phones. It allows you to manage the apps your children can use and download, set screen time limits, lock their devices, and even track their location.
Features:
- View activities
- Manage apps
- Set time limits
- Lock devices
- Track location
PROS:
- Free
- Available for Android and iPhone
CONS:
- Works only with newly created Google accounts
- Only for kids on Android who are under 13
- No SMS and call monitoring
- Troublesome installation
3. ChildMonitor – Parental Monitoring App for Smartphones
ChildMonitor is a parental monitoring app for smartphones that allows you to monitor and control your children’s Android phones. It limits screen time, blocks inappropriate apps/games by names, monitors visited sites, sends alerts on inappropriate activities, etc. It also offers top activity reports to help you find out the top activities on your children’s phones or tablets.
Features:
- Monitors visited sites
- Set time limits and schedules
- Block inappropriate apps/games
- Alert words
PROS:
- Free to use
- No root required
CONS:
- Limited features
Download: Android
4. iCloud – Parental Monitoring App for iOS
iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service from Apple. As a free parental monitoring app for iOS, it allows you to access photos, notes, contacts, emails, calendars, reminders, keynotes, and more. If you want to monitor your children’s activities with iCloud, you need to get their iCloud accounts and passwords.
Features:
- Photos
- Notes
- Calendars
- Contacts
- Emails
- Reminders
PROS:
- Free and easy to use
CONS:
- Can’t monitor text messages and calls
- Not available on Android phones
- iCloud account and password required
Download: iOS
5. Microsoft Family Safety – Parental Control App for Cell Phones
Microsoft Family Safety is a parental control app for cell phones that helps you better understand your children’s online activities. With Microsoft Family Safety, you can filter inappropriate apps and games, set browsing to kid-friendly sites, help your children balance their screen time activities, set limits for specific apps and games on Android phones.
Features:
- Activity reports
- Screen time limit
- Content filters
- Family location tracker
- Driving reports
PROS:
- Free version
- Runs on Android, iOS, Xbox, Windows
CONS:
- No calls&texts monitoring
- No social media monitoring
Conclusion
The above are the top 5 best parental monitoring apps. Figuring out which parental control app is the best depends entirely on your own needs. If you need help with advanced functions to monitor your children’s every move, iKeyMonitor is your best choice. Google Family Link is a good option if you only need simple and basic parental control capabilities.
Tags: best free parental monitoring app, best parental monitoring app, free parental control app, free parental monitoring app, free parental monitoring app for iOS, parental control app for cell phones, parental monitoring app for Android and iOS, parental monitoring app for smartphones, top 5 best parental monitoring apps, top 5 parental monitoring apps for Android and iPhone
Category: Parental Control Tips
