Must-Have Parental Control Apps for Safe Screen Time

Children are getting smartphones and tablets at young ages, and there’s a growing requirement for teens and pre-teens to go online for school assignments and classroom projects. Add in gaming and kids are targets pretty much everywhere, so savvy parents use safety measures wherever possible.

Fortunately, parental control apps and services can limit screen time and phone usage while filtering the websites your child can access when surfing the web. Here are our favorites this year (many have free trials or complete versions you can use.) Stay safe!

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Best Free Parental Control App: Google Family Link

What We Like

A child tracker and censorship tool all in one.
All features and functionality are free.

What We Don't Like

Can take up to 30 minutes to set up.
Basic web content filtering.

The Google Family Link app is a free tool that parents can use to control the apps their child downloads on their mobile phone, how much screen time they’re allowed each day, and the content they can purchase.

Once it is set up, the Google Family Link app, which is available on iOS and Android devices, can also track the location of the connected smartphone, making this service a solid child tracking app.

Google Family Link is a fantastic tool with almost all the features that other apps charge a monthly membership fee for.

Price: Free

Download For:

iOS

Android

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Best Parent Monitoring App: Qustodio

What We Like

Available on smartphones, tablets, and PCs.
Filters web content on all browsers.
Free trial available.

What We Don't Like

The annual fee starts at $54.95 for five devices.
iOS version can’t limit video game playtime.

While it requires a bit of an investment, Qustodio is a popular monitoring app for parents, and for good reason. The app is available on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Kindle and allows parents to receive daily reports on the apps their kids are using and how much time they spend on their devices.

Parents can set specific screen time windows, outside of which the device becomes unusable, and the advanced web filtering limits the content minors can view while surfing the web, whether they use Safari, Firefox, Edge, or another browser. A free account can offer basic protection on one device, but multi-device monitoring requires a membership.

Price: Free; Premium plans start at $54.95.

Download For:

iOS

Android

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Best App for Parents of Xbox Gamers: Microsoft Family Safety

What We Like

Can limit screen time, video games, and apps.
Free to use with Xbox, Windows, Android, iOS.
Generates activity summaries.

What We Don't Like

Web filtering is limited and easy to get around.
No social media monitoring.
Difficult to set up.

It can be difficult for parents to monitor their children’s gaming, but the Microsoft Family Safety app is a free set of tools to monitor and limit what their children do on Xbox One, Windows 11, and Android devices using Microsoft Edge.

This app includes free web filtering, app blocking, and scheduling for up to six family members. The app’s content filters create a safe environment for children of any age by designating suitable sites that are always allowed and never allowed.

Price: Free with in-app purchases available.

Download For:

iOS

Android

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Best Parental Control Service for PlayStation Gamers: Family on PSN

Sony PlayStation 4's Family on PSN settings. — Sony

What We Like

Filter game and media content, including DVDs.
Parents can limit how long children play games.

What We Don't Like

Fully managed on PS4 and PS5; no smartphone app.
Confusing for parents who don’t use PlayStation console.

Sony’s PlayStation 4 doesn’t have a standalone app solution for controlling kids’ screen time like the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but it does feature some solid settings built into the console that can be accessed in Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > Family Management.

Once activated, these parental control settings can limit how much time children can spend playing video games each day and between what hours. Parents can also select which age ratings they’ll allow for video games, digital media, and DVD and Blu-ray discs, which can bring peace of mind whenever the kids play alone.

Price: Free.

Visit PlayStation Parental Controls

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Best App for Nintendo Switch Gamers: Nintendo Switch Parental Controls

Nintendo Switch with the parental controls app connected. — Nintendo

What We Like

Full reports on times used and games played.
Disable the console at specific times.

What We Don't Like

The app can be installed on only one smart device.
Inability to set unique play limits for individual users.

Nintendo’s Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app is a free app for iOS and Android that connects directly to your Nintendo Switch. After it's connected, the app monitors play time limits, what games are played, and who's been playing. All the data displays within the app in an easy-to-understand fashion, making monitoring video game screen time incredibly easy.

The true power of the app lies in its ability to restrict how much family members can play the Nintendo Switch per day. Parents can set time limits in the app in just a few seconds and suspend the console completely after bedtime.

Price: Free.

Download For:

iOS

Android

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Best Social Network Monitoring App: Bark

What We Like

Two plans for families.
Monitoring for social media, emails, and texts.
Seven-day free trial.

What We Don't LIke

Many alerts.
No safe-driving features.
Somewhat pricey.

Bark comes in two plans: Bark Jr. ($5/month or $49/year), designed for families with young children, and Bark Premium ($14/month or $99/year) for families with kids of all ages. Both plans cover families of every size, have location-sharing features and alerts, screen time management features, and filtering for the websites your children can visit.

In addition, the Bark Premium parental control plan gives busy parents peace of mind by monitoring more than 30 social networks 24/7. The app also monitors YouTube usage, texts, emails, cyberbullying, online predation, and suicidal ideas.

Price: Bark, Jr. is $5 monthly/Bark Premium is $14 monthly after a free trial.

Download For:

iOS

Android

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Best Content Blocker Service: OpenDNS Family Shield

What We Like

Affects every device in the home.
Completely free.

What We Don't Like

Only works with your internet connection, not mobile.
Setup is fairly complex and can take a while.
It's a service. Not an app.

OpenDNS FamilyShield is a free service that prevents everyone who connects to your internet connection from accessing adult or inappropriate content when online.

What's particularly impressive is how the security settings affect every single device in a household, from personal computers to smartphones and tablets.

Price: Free.

OpenDNS FamilyShield isn't an actual app you download to your iPhone or Android smartphone, but it's a service that can help control what content the mobile devices in your house can access.

Visit OpenDNS FamilyShield

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Best Parental Control Android App: ESET Parental Control

ESET Parental Control app on Android. — ESET

What We Like

A lot of functionality in the free version.
Monitors web, app, and other usage.
30-day trial of premium features.

What We Don't Like

$69.99 annual subscription needed for all features.
The web filtering is good, but isn’t foolproof.

While many parental monitoring apps on Android require a premium fee to unlock all of their features, ESET offers a surprising amount for its free version.

Once parents download and install the app on a tablet or smartphone, they can monitor the websites their children visit, limit what apps they can install from the Google Play Store, set time limits for certain apps, limit how much money they can spend on digital purchases, and view a basic activity report.

The yearly premium subscription unlocks web filtering, which restricts what kids can see online, and also provides a tracking tool for parents to pinpoint where their children are in the real world—but these are features offered elsewhere for free.

Parents can also monitor all activity from the ESET website, which is convenient for households with only a few smart devices.

Price: Free; Premium version for $69.99 annually.

Download ESET Parental Control

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Your Secret Weapon: The Must-Have Parental Control Apps Every Parent Needs