The Best Child Phone Monitoring App of 2022

According to studies, 75 percent of children under the age of eight use mobile devices, and the number is growing. Apps can be informative and entertaining (for example, keeping their children occupied while waiting at the doctor’s office), but some can also be destructive.

The best child phone monitoring app can protect minors from content that is improper for their age. Pornography, websites involving violence, and websites advertising the sale of alcoholic beverages are all examples of website content that parental control software may normally ban.

Part 1 : How We choose and Rate the Best Child Phone Monitoring Apps

We analyzed and ranked some of the top parental control applications based on essential features, compatibility, user experience, real-time location, price, corporate website, customer support, etc. We’re confident that you’ll find something that works for you. As a result, we’ve compiled a list of the top ten child phone monitoring apps.

Part 2 : 10 Best Apps for Monitoring Child’s Phone

You may have a quick review of the ten app from the table first.

1AirDroid Parental Control: Overall Best

AirDroid Parental Control is the best all-in-one parental control program for families. It enables parents to remotely monitor and manage their children’s Android mobile devices. Some excellent monitoring features make it stand out in the market, like screen time limits, game and app restrictions, location tracking, questionable call tracking, etc.

Pros

Know where your loved ones Are in real-time

Watch and listen to kid’s phone surroundings remotely

The rank of the app use time–Phone activity Timeline

2Bark: Best For Monitoring

The bark is an Internet security solution for both parents and schools.

Bark notifies parents and school administration when Bark detects possible risks and signs of danger, such as cyberbullying, internet predators, depression, suicidal tendencies, and sexting. Parents can see problems without intruding into their children’s personal lives. The software costs $9.00 per month for parents, and children under 13 cannot use it without written permission from their guardians.

Features:

Computer monitoring

Email monitoring

Social media monitoring

Text message monitoring

Text and email alerts

3Net Nanny: Best For Families

Net Nanny, the best parental control program, features a modern, accessible design and excellent web-filtering technology that analyzes pages rather than merely blocking them and allows you to develop your filters.

Features:

Automatic content filtering on the internet

Time management with screens and apps

Remotely control the device

Filtering of the entire internet

Pro

It can track your child’s whereabouts, display their location history, and establish time allowances and schedules. Instead of blocking or enabling social media apps and services entirely, Net Nanny adds content screening that works within them, such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Con

On a smartphone, the one thing Net Nanny can’t do is monitor calls or messages.

4Webwatcher: Best for Social Media

Standard parental control options include text message monitoring, internet tracking, and social media chat monitoring in the WebWatcher app. You can monitor what your child is doing on TikTok, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Kik, Snapchat, and Tinder. Webwatcher sends rapid alerts to their parents’ phones when children get around the controls.

GPS tracking, app usage monitoring, and audio recording monitoring are valuable advanced aspects of the app.

Cons

At $39.95 per month and $59.95 per 3 months, WebWatcher is very much on the expensive side of the scale.

5Google Family Link: Best for Families

Google Family Link allows parents control over which apps have system rights on their child’s Android device. That’s a feature that no other parental-control tool we’ve tested provides. It also allows you to control which apps your child can download from Google Play.

Google Family Link may be all you need if you’re primarily concerned about your children’s apps. If you want a more versatile app, Google Family Link will complement one of the other solutions on this page.

Pro

It is entirely FREE is Google Family Link. If your children have Android phones or tablets, you may be pleasantly surprised by how powerful and valuable they can be.

Con

Google Family Link only provides one web filter, which blocks “adult sites,” It isn’t foolproof. For YouTube, the same single filter is offered. There is no geofencing, and location tracking is a bit rudimentary. The time-management features, on the other hand, are excellent.

6MamaBear: Best for Restricting Content

This app has a variety of essential functions such as social media monitoring, location tracking and notifications, and more. It’s recognized as a worry-free all-in-one app. One of the most valuable tools is social media monitoring. MamaBear allows you to track the activity on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to see when users add new tags, check-ins, or upload photos.

By creating a restricted terms list, you can also be alerted when inappropriate language or signs of bullying are uploaded to their profiles. You can also receive reminders if your teen exceeds your specific speed limit.

Pros

Social media monitoring

Location tracking

7Norton Family: Best Budget

The power and capabilities of Norton Family are significant for Android (and Windows) families with many children, featuring practically every feature a parent could want from one of the top parental control apps, including the recently added geofencing.

Features:

Monitoring of mobile devices

Instantaneous locking

Report on the alert and the location

Supervise the use of an app for remote learning.

8Kaspersky: Best for Kids Protection

Kaspersky Safe Kids allows you to monitor and control your children’s activities on PCs, Macs, and cellphones. The subscription plan monitors social media and includes location tracking and geofencing for iOS and Android and Kaspersky web monitoring and device scheduling.

If you’re a premium user, a tool that lets you block specific types of YouTube searches and examine your YouTube search history works on Windows, iOS, and Android, including the YouTube Android app – but not on Macs.

Features:

Set a screen size restriction.

Access to a website is restricted.

Keep an eye on your surroundings.

Pro

Kaspersky’s subscription tier is only $15 per year for an unlimited number of child devices (with a 7-day free trial), and its free plan lets you set screentime limits, filter websites, and control other apps.

Con

The mobile apps are poorly built, the web portal can be slow, and the web filters may not operate with lesser-known browsers, although these are minor flaws. Still, if you don’t need to see your children’s text messages, Kaspersky Safe Kids is a good option.

9Canopy: Best for Older Kids

It can be challenging to parent teenagers and young adults, especially when it comes to social media and the internet. You want to give children autonomy while keeping them protected from lousy content.

As a result, we advise parents of adolescent children to use Canopy. It doesn’t limit or invade their privacy excessively—you can’t read the substance of their texts, for example—but it does watch them during virtual interactions. If necessary, inappropriate content such as “sexted” photos, pornography, and other types of visual data is flagged to your device. You, as the parent, can choose whether or not your child has access to the images or videos.

Pros

It concentrates on removing nudity and pornography.

Sexting is detected and prevented by analyzing photographs.

You can pick which apps are authorized on different devices.

Location tracking in real-time

Data is encrypted

Cons

No screen time limits

Can’t filter or block content within apps

9OurPact: Best for Managing Screen Time

OurPact is yet another excellent parental control tool with a wealth of options. Block texting, online filtering, and screen time-out are all included in the app. It enables you to restrict or prohibit app access. You can track your child’s position using the family finder feature on your phone.

Features:

Texting is prohibited.

The Family Locator App is great

Internet filter

Time spent in front of the screen is limited.

OurPact is helpful software for keeping track of and controlling your child’s mobile device activity. On the other hand, the free version has restricted features that may not be enough to manage and monitor your child’s mobile screen usage.

Part 3 : Helpful Tips for Monitoring Child’s Phone

When you offer your kid a phone, you’re presenting them legends to a grand world. Along with child phone monitoring apps, we have other valuable tips.

Have an Open Talk: Technology would only advance, so there’s no getting rid of it. So, have a dialogue with your kids rather than try to control or outright reprimand them. Explain the pros and cons and the importance of finding a balance.

Know More about the Popular Social Media and Game Platforms: the best way to know what to curb is to understand what they are about. Since kids follow trends, finding out about popular apps is a Google search away and would go a long way.

Lead by Example: Kids of these days are brilliant. It’ll be challenging to put a foot down if you’re on your phone all day. It makes it easier for them to do as you do than as you say.

Part 4 : How to Prepare Your Child’s Phone For Monitoring

Here’s the step-by-step guide on how to prep your child’s phone for monitoring;

• Have physical access to their phone.
• Download any software or app you like, including the ones described briefly above.
• Make sure you have enough battery to finish installing and configuring the app.
• Register an account so that you can track your progress.
• Link the phone being monitored and the phone used for monitoring, i.e., the parent phone, after completing the preceding stages.

Keep in mind that the procedure will differ depending on your software.