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Everyone wants to protect their kids online, and parental control software sounds like a no-fuss solution. Why not install an app to keep your kids safe? In the real world, this approach can be complicated—even problematic. Experts say that installing invasive software to spy on kids without their consent can be counterproductive. Also, most of the restrictions imposed by parental control software can be defeated by a curious or rebellious child. Finally, most of the third-party apps we've tested collect and store troubling amounts of data from your child's phone. Water Softener For Home
For these reasons, we no longer assign ratings to third-party parental control products. Instead, we recommend checking out native OS apps, such as Apple's Screen Time, Google's Family Link, and Microsoft's Family Safety for comprehensive, free child-monitoring software. We also recommend enabling the built-in parental control features within gaming and chat apps with your child's consent.
If you still prefer to go the third-party route, however, we have everything you need to know about popular parental control and monitoring utilities below, followed by information about common features in these apps.
Norton Family encourages parents to talk to their children about online safety rather than just spying on their online activities. The company's approach to parental control emphasizes cooperation and open dialogue between parents and children with the House Rules and Request Access features.
Norton Family lets adults monitor all child activity from the web or from a parent option on the mobile app. The app features a quick setup and installation process, screen-time limiting features, geofencing tools, and content-blocking capabilities.
Norton Family costs $49.99 annually. Each Norton Family subscription includes support for unlimited kids and unlimited devices.
Qustodio has nearly every feature an anxious parent wants, including robust content-blocking options and a detailed activity log. You handle all configuration and monitoring via Qustodio's online dashboard or the parent mode on its mobile apps.
Qustodio is one of the more expensive parental control software options. Premium coverage starts at $54.95 annually, which includes app and game blocking, screen time-limiting options, web content filtering, geofencing, and the ability to shut off access to the internet for your child's device. For $99.95 per year, parents can get all of the above, plus custom alerts, time limits for games and apps, unlimited device monitoring, and call and message monitoring.
Parents can keep tabs on their child's location, monitor the YouTube videos they watch, and manage their screen time limits. Mobicip's app filters web content and allows parents to create screen time schedules for their kids. Other features include social media monitoring and app blocking.
Mobicip's plans start at $2.99 monthly for the Lite plan, which includes support for five devices, app blocking, screen time limits, device locking, YouTube activity monitoring, location tracking, and website blocking. A Standard plan is $4.99 per month and adds support for 10 devices. A Premium plan is $7.99 per month and, in addition to the above features, allows support for 20 devices, app limiting, social media monitoring, and parenting tips.
Bark's app uses AI to scan your child’s emails, social media profiles, texts, and media saved to their phone's camera roll for content that parents may find harmful. You can set up customized content monitoring to determine which apps and websites their children can access. Parents can also set up screen time schedules and use the app's geofencing capabilities to monitor their child's location throughout the day.
Bark Premium costs $14 per month or $99 annually. Each Bark subscription includes support for unlimited kids and unlimited devices.
Most kids use phones or tablets, so you need parental control software that can monitor your child's web browsing history, device usage, and location on mobile platforms. Boomerang also lets you construct geofences, monitor YouTube app activity, log calls and texts, and set up always-allowed actions for emergencies. That said, many of its most useful features are Android-only, such as new app approvals, app blocking, and YouTube history and search monitoring.
Boomerang is $15.99 per year for a single device, or you can bundle ten devices in the Family Pack plan for $30.99 annually. Boomerang is available for Android and iOS.
In the mobile era, parental monitoring includes keeping track of your kids' location, what apps they use, and who they contact. FamilyTime is strong in those areas. The current version includes a web filter, an app blocker, and the ability to monitor calls and text messages. Parents can also establish screen time schedules for their kids with FamilyTime.
FamilyTime has four tiers of subscription plans. For $2.25 monthly, you get coverage for one device, and for $2.92, you get coverage for two devices. $3.75 ups the number to three devices, and for $5.75 a month, you get coverage for five devices. FamilyTime is only available for Android and iOS.
Locategy offers geofencing capabilities, app blocking, activity reports, and an easy setup process. Locategy offers a free version of its service that is usable but not as full-featured as the Premium app. With a free account, parents can only define two places (for geofencing purposes) and can block or schedule time for just one app on a child’s device. Reports only save up to five days (including the current day) worth of activity data. The free version also limits parental monitoring to two devices at a time.
According to our contact at Locategy, the cost of the Premium tier varies by geographic region. The annual charge for customers based in the US is $29.99 for up to three device licenses, $39.99 for up to five device licenses, and $69.99 for up to 10 device licenses. If you want to monitor more than ten devices, you have to contact Locategy for a custom rate.
Net Nanny started as a web filter service for parents, and the latest version of the software features robust screen time management tools and location tracking, as well as YouTube and social media monitoring. Parents who want to keep tabs on what their children are doing online may appreciate the comprehensive Net Nanny Family Feed, which shows their activity as it happens. It also offers some social media protection when it comes to monitoring child activity on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Tumblr.
For $39.99 annually, parents can use Net Nanny on a desktop computer. For $54.99 per year, Net Nanny offers a Family Protection Pass, which offers coverage for up to five devices. For 89.99 yearly, coverage extends to 20 devices.
Experts say that kids who feel like they have some agency in the use of parental control apps are less likely to try to disable the software or get around restrictions. Not looking forward to hard talks with your kids? Take time to learn how your child uses technology. As tech addiction increasingly becomes a problem, it's important children learn the value of good device habits for themselves.
Check that any product you choose doesn't place restrictive limits on the number of child profiles or devices covered by your subscription. Large families, for example, will appreciate an app that works on an unlimited number of devices. Most parental control software operates as a subscription service, so pricing tiers tend to align with device limits, though some offer free versions for basic protection on a limited number of devices. If your kids are strictly smartphone users, take a look at our roundup of mobile parental control apps.
If getting parental control coverage installed on each of your family's devices starts to seem too difficult, consider a whole-network solution. These systems perform content filtering at the router level, so your settings affect every device on the network. Naturally, you don't get the same fine level of control and detailed monitoring you get with a local agent on each device, but this is a much broader solution.
Some parental control utilities use VPN technology, running internet connections through a local app to enable content filtering. You'll see the VPN icon when such a utility is active, but it doesn't mean the child's connection is secured by a full-scale virtual private network, nor that the device's IP address is masked.
Some kids spend more time on gaming consoles than any other device. The parental control services in this roundup don't cover this situation, but we show you how to enable parental controls on gaming consoles elsewhere.
Parental control tools usually offer content filtering, which is the ability to block access to websites matching categories such as hate, violence, and porn. This type of filtering only works if it's browser-independent and works with secure (HTTPS) sites. With no HTTPS filtering, a smart teen could bypass the system using a secure anonymizing proxy website or even an uncommon web browser in some cases. Using a VPN or the Tor browser often breaks even the strongest protections, too.
Most apps also have the option to permanently enable SafeSearch, though those settings are often limited to Google, Bing, and sometimes YouTube. Your child can thwart most SafeSearch restrictions by using a privacy-focused search engine such as DuckDuckGo.
Access scheduling is another very common feature. Some services let parents set a daily or weekly schedule for device usage. Others specifically restrict the amount of time your kid spends on the internet. This is particularly useful for children who have a habit of playing games or using social media apps when they should be doing homework. The most helpful time-based settings apply to all your kids' devices, so they just can't switch between them to evade limits.
Check out our coverage of additional ways to manage your child's screen time on all of their devices.
As kids get older, content filtering alone may start to seem pointless. At some point, you start to worry more about their interaction with the wider world. Sure, if their friends come over in person, you can at least meet them, but what about friends on social media and other contacts your child never mentions? Who are they, really, and what are your kids discussing with them? Although some supervision is acceptable, you still need to respect your child's basic right to privacy and encourage open discussion rather than using parental control software as spyware.
Some services let you monitor contacts and messages and keep an eye out for potentially dangerous or unsanctioned situations. You can even block new contacts or view message content with some parental control software. Keep in mind that this primarily applies to SMS texts; messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Signal do not fall under the same scope. Most of the services we've tested have given up on monitoring social media for now.
You can use parental control software to block access to video streaming apps and sites, as well as limit how much time your child can spend using them. However, if you are looking to restrict what your child can watch on Netflix, Disney+, and other video streaming services, none of these parental control tools provide that capability. Instead, you need to dive into the settings of each video streaming service.
The parental control capabilities of video streaming services vary widely. Some do not offer any options to restrict content, while others may simply offer a kid-friendly mode that broadly limits the streaming library to content appropriate for young children. The best services allow you to set rating restrictions on individual profiles and prevent your kid from simply switching to an unmonitored profile without a password or PIN.
Most kids are on mobile devices at least some of the time, and many are almost exclusively accessing the internet on their phones. Fortunately, many parental control services offer a companion app that lets you view your child's activity, set basic rules, and view notifications as they arrive. This kind of companion app is particularly useful for responding to access or time-extension requests on the go. Otherwise, you manage everything online or locally on the PC, where you have fine control over activity reports and restrictions. Any changes you make should propagate to your children's devices when they connect to the internet.
When your child tries to visit a blocked site, makes a post using iffy language, or otherwise bends the rules, the best parental control services send you a notification to your preferred channel, such as via the app, web, email, text, or some combination of those options.
Some parental control systems have advanced features to help them stand out from the crowd. Among these standout features are YouTube monitoring, geofencing, and remote device locking. Microsoft's Family Safety app even keeps track of your teens while they're driving to encourage better habits on the road.
You'll also find advanced versions of standard features with paid parental control apps. For example, the best content filters don't just use a database of categories. They analyze page content, filter profanity, and allow you to add custom keywords and categories you want to block. We also like those services that support multi-factor authentication for account logins. Generally speaking, the more advanced features you want, the more you can expect to pay.
At PCMag, we believe parental control apps are only effective when installed with a child's consent. Otherwise, the kid will simply find ways to get around the restrictions you're paying to put in place. That's why we recommend free parental control apps from Apple, Google, and Microsoft instead of paid third-party solutions.
Talk to your kids about online safety and why some of the behavior, content, or relationships they witness on the internet need to be off-limits for now. The internet wasn't created with kids' safety in mind. Remember that fact, and help create a safer online space for your family through open, compassionate, and engaged communication with your kids.
As a PCMag security analyst, I report on security solutions such as password managers and parental control software, as well as privacy tools such as VPNs. Each week I send out the SecurityWatch newsletter filled with online security news and tips for keeping you and your family safe on the internet.
Before joining PCMag, I wrote about tech and video games for CNN, Fanbyte, Mashable, The New York Times, and TechRadar. I also worked at CNN International, where I did field producing and reporting on sports that are popular with worldwide audiences. Yes, I know the rules of cricket.
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