5 Of The Best Parental Control Apps For iPhone In 2023
As technology plays a central role in our lives, ensuring the safety and well-being of children becomes increasingly challenging. With smartphones becoming a ubiquitous part of their daily routines, parents face the daunting task of monitoring and managing their children's online activities. Enter parental control apps.
These apps have emerged as essential tools for concerned parents seeking to grant their children the independence to explore the digital world and protect them from its potential dangers. They provide an array of features and functionalities designed to empower parents with the ability to regulate and oversee their child's smartphone usage effectively.
Typical parental control apps for iPhones offer a wide range of capabilities. From filtering inappropriate content and monitoring internet browsing history to setting time limits on device usage and restricting access to specific apps or websites, these apps allow parents to tailor their child's digital experience to align with their values and age-appropriate boundaries. Some parental control apps also provide location tracking, enabling parents to ensure their child's safety in the physical world.
This article will explore some of the best parental control apps available for iPhones in 2023. These apps have cutting-edge features, intuitive interfaces, and robust security measures, ensuring parents can navigate the digital landscape effortlessly while safeguarding their children.
Qustodio
With its unique features and user-friendly interface, Qustodio stands out as an excellent choice for parents looking to monitor and manage their children's digital activities. Case in point is its robust content filtering capabilities. It allows parents to block inappropriate content, enforce safe search settings, and receive alerts when their child encounters potentially harmful websites or apps. Additionally, Qustodio provides screen time limits and scheduling options, allowing parents to manage and control the amount of time their child spends on their iPhone.
The app also offers advanced reporting features that give parents full visibility into their child's online activities. Parents can access detailed reports on their child's app usage, web browsing history, YouTube monitoring, call tracking, and even shared supervision. These comprehensive reports enable parents to converse meaningfully with their children about their online behavior and establish healthy digital habits.
Regarding pricing, Qustodio offers both free and premium plans, giving parents flexibility in choosing the level of control and features they require. The premium plans offer additional features such as advanced Facebook monitoring, social media time limits, and SMS monitoring.
Norton Family
The Norton Family iOS app is a powerful and comprehensive parental control solution that offers a range of features to ensure the safety and well-being of children on iPhone devices. While its capabilities may be more limited on iOS than Android, it still provides robust functionalities that make it a great choice for parents.
One of the standout features of the Norton Family iOS app is its ability to block apps, allowing parents to control and monitor the apps their children can access on their iPhones. Additionally, the app offers web filtering, enabling parents to block or allow specific websites and protect their children from potentially harmful content while browsing the internet.
Time management is another key feature of the Norton Family iOS app. Parents can limit their children's time on their devices, ensuring a healthy equilibrium between screen time and other activities. The app also provides location tracking, allowing parents to keep track of their child's whereabouts and ensure their safety outside the home. It also offers features like emergency contacts and School Time, which allows parents to limit access to distracting websites during school hours, fostering a productive learning environment.
In terms of pricing, the Norton Family iOS app offers fair and affordable subscription plans, ensuring that parents have access to its comprehensive set of features without breaking the bank.
Kaspersky Safe Kids
One of the key features of the Kaspersky Safe Kids iOS app is its website filtering capability. In addition, the app offers YouTube search blocking, allowing parents to prevent their children from accessing unsuitable content on the popular video-sharing platform.
The Kaspersky Safe Kids iOS app is also known for its games and app control functionality. Parents can manage and monitor the usage of games and apps on their children's iPhones, ensuring that they are age-appropriate and promoting healthy screen time habits. The app provides device usage time control, allowing parents to limit their children's time on their iPhones, ensuring a balanced and responsible use of technology. Kaspersky Safe Kids iOS app also offers GPS child location tracking, allowing parents to track their children's whereabouts in real time.
The app separates itself from other parental control apps with another standout feature which provides advice from child psychologists. This can be valuable for parents who want guidance on fostering healthy digital habits and promoting responsible online behavior in their children.
In terms of pricing, the Kaspersky Safe Kids iOS app is available for free with in-app purchase options for premium features. The premium version includes additional features such as YouTube search history and real-time alerts.
Google Family Link
One of the key strengths of the Google Family Link iOS app is its ability to set screen time limits, allowing parents to regulate the amount of time their children spend on their devices. By establishing healthy boundaries, parents can moderate screen time and other activities, promoting better overall well-being for their children. This feature helps parents address excessive device usage and screen addiction concerns.
Moreover, the app enables parents to manage privacy settings, ensuring their child's safety online. Parents can guide their children to age-appropriate content through the Family Link app and exercise control over app downloads and permissions.
Pricing for the Google Family Link iOS app is an important consideration for parents. While some parental control apps on the market require a subscription or have premium features locked behind a paywall, Google Family Link offers its core functionalities without any upfront cost. This affordability aspect enhances the app's appeal and contributes to its popularity among parents.
However, it is worth noting that the Google Family Link app has certain limitations. It is primarily designed for Android devices and is only available for iOS devices in a parental app format, lacking complete support for iOS child devices. Additionally, while it provides basic web filtering options to block mature sites and enable SafeSearch, its web filtering capabilities are limited compared to some paid parental control apps.
Net Nanny
The Net Nanny iOS app is a highly rated and comprehensive parental control app designed specifically for Apple devices, making it an excellent choice for parents seeking to protect their children's online experiences on iPhones. The app offers a range of unique features and functionalities that contribute to its effectiveness and reliability.
The app excels in web filtering by analyzing web pages in real-time. It offers customizable filters and pre-configured categories, allowing parents to tailor the web filtering to suit their family's needs. Another notable feature of the Net Nanny iOS app is its app-blocking functionality. The app also provides effective screen time management, allowing parents to set limits and schedules for their children's device usage. The app has location-tracking capabilities, as well. Net Nanny includes a Parent Dashboard and Family Feed, providing parents with an easy-to-use interface to manage and oversee their children's online activity. The Parent Dashboard allows for customization and reporting, giving parents valuable insights into their children's digital behavior.
Regarding pricing, the Net Nanny iOS app offers various options to suit different family needs. The Family Protection Pass covers multiple devices, including iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows. Pricing starts at $79.99 per year for five devices, offering cost savings compared to individual licenses. This pass simplifies device management through a web-based dashboard, making it convenient for busy parents.