- A good iOS parental control app can help you keep your child safe against unwanted content and online threats.
- The top three best parental control iPhone apps include Qustodio, OurPact, and FamiSafe.
- Google Family Link is the best free parental control app for iPhone.
A good parental control app for iPhone can help you understand how your children spend time online. You can know what they do on their smartphones and tablets, which apps they use, how much time they spend on the screen, and what they do on social media. With children spending more time than ever on their smartphones, it has become important to keep them safe from inappropriate content, security threats, online scams, and other potential dangers. That’s why the best iOS parental control app is a must-have. To help you pick the best option, we’ve listed the top 7 parental control iPhone apps that should be on your radar. Let’s get going!
1. Qustodio
Qustodio is a feature-rich parental control app for iPhone that allows you to protect your child’s safety online in the best way possible. The app supports multiple platforms like iOS, iPadOS, Android devices, and more. So, no matter what device your child is using, you can protect your kids online and encourage a healthy digital presence.
Qustodio offers everything that you would expect from a parental control app like setting screen time limits, monitoring web activity, blocking apps and games, and enforcing safe search in Google, YouTube, & Bing. Also, you can set time limits for individual apps and devices. Furthermore, you can always know your child’s location, find his phone, share your location, or save favorite destinations.
What sets Qustodio apart from the crowd of parental control apps for iPhone is its advanced reporting mechanism. You get app download alerts and invite your partner to set rules for your child. What’s more? It’s one of the rare apps that lets you track your child’s texts and calls, view messages, and even block phone numbers.
At $54.99/month, the Qustodio app can be darn expensive. Fortunately, if you don’t want to go for a paid version, you can stick to the free version and access the important functionality like setting screen time schedules and blocking pornography or other unwanted content. So, if you want a comprehensive parental control app for iPhone that offers all the essential features for free, we recommend checking out the Qustodio app.
| Pros | Cons |
| Multi-platform support | Expensive |
| Call/text monitoring support | |
| Easy breezy interface | |
| Reliable content filtering |
2. OurPact
If you’re looking for a top-rated iOS app that offers complete parental control over your child’s online activity, OurPact is an absolute must-have. It’s a powerful parental control iPhone app that lets you set rules for apps, prevent access to certain websites, block internet or text messages at a touch, receive app install alerts, and do much more. You can also create GPS geofences around specific locations and get real-time alerts when your child leaves and arrives at home, school, or any other destination.
Talking about web filtering, the app does a pretty good job of blocking adult content. However, you filter other content. The basic features are available for free, while the advanced features are locked behind the paid version.
The Premium Plus plan offers screenshot views from the child’s device. You can also block texting apps even if you can’t read the messages themselves. With support for up to 20 child devices, you can easily monitor the online activities of your children on multiple devices without much hassle. To sum up, OurPact is one of the best parental control apps for big families.
Pros Cons Intutive and easy to navigate Limited web content filtering Supports up to 20 child devices Allows you to set custom schedules Supports geofencing
3. FamiSafe
For users looking for the best parental control iOS app for monitoring teens, make sure to check out FamiSafe. It’s a reliable app that’s brimmed with AI-powered features like a real-time location tracker, website blocking, detailed activity reports, and more. You can set rules for your kids and supervise screen time remotely. With live location tracking, you can know the real-time location of your child and even track the location history to know the past routine.
The standout feature of this parental controls iPhone app is the Drive safety feature that offers detailed reports about your child’s driving habits. It includes driving time, average speed, highest speed, total distance, and more. That’s not all. There’s a daily activity report that gives you a glimpse of your child’s app usage, recent installs, and uninstalls.
FamiSafe can also detect suspicious photos and provide instant alerts on the parent’s app. Besides, this parental control app for text monitoring allows you to customize sensitive word lists like suicide, addiction, depression, etc. to get early warnings for online dangers.
Pros Cons A great app to track online habits of teens Lacks certain features like uninstall protection Can detect suspicious photos and text Allows you to view YouTube/TikTok and location history Provides driving reports
4. Google Family Link
If your kids have Android smartphones or tablets, Google Family Link is the best parental monitoring app for you. It’s a useful and powerful app that gives parents control over the system permissions of each app that their child has on his Android device. Also, you can decide which kind of apps your child can download from Google Play. You can disable unapproved apps, block new installs, and even manage in-app purchases, which is one of the prime highlights of this parental control app for iPhone.
Besides, the app offers screen time scheduling so you can set daily screen time limits and bedtime for your child. Then there’s a device locator functionality, allowing you to view the most recently logged location on a map. Also, you can choose to receive notifications when your child leaves or arrives at a location.
Now, coming to the drawbacks. It’s worth mentioning that there’s no iOS version of the Google Family Link child app, so the app is of no help if your child uses an iPhone. Besides, the app doesn’t offer useful filters to block apps based on rating or category. Since Google Family Link is completely free to use, it’s difficult to complain too much. It does a pretty good job of restricting YouTube, Chrome, Search, Google Play Store, and more.
To sum up, your primary concern is to keep an eye on apps that your child uses, Google Family Link is the best free parental control app for iPhone that you can find today.
| Pros | Cons |
| Completely Free | Doesn’t work if your kids have iPhones |
| No limits on number of devices and accounts | Limited web content filtering |
| User-friendly interface | |
| Packs all the necessary features |
5. Kidslox
If your child plays a lot of games online and you want to make sure that he doesn’t splurge on in-app purchases, this app has got your back. Kidslox is the best iOS parental control app to track and block in-app purchases of your child. One parent account lets you control up to 10 devices so you can keep your child safe across devices.
You can see which apps your child is using, restrict certain apps, block in-app purchases, and even lock your child out of his device with a single tap. This parental control iOS app lets you set weekly schedules and also offers a unique Screen Time Rewards feature to encourage your child to do his homework on time and even help with household chores.
The Kidslox parental control iPhone app has a capable web content blocker that filters out gambling, violence, and other adult content for a safe browsing experience. Besides, it allows parents to disable certain apps individually and even view YouTube history. You can set a unique Kidslox Parent PIN to ensure that your clever children don’t change the restrictions from your phone. We like this app for its ease of use and the colorful interface that feels right at home.
Pros Cons Cross-platform compatibility The initial setup might be time consuming Allows you to add up to 10 devices Freedom to block in-app purchases A unique Screen Time rewards feature
6. Bark
Bark is one of the most trusted social media monitoring apps for iPhone that you need to try. What sets this app ahead of other parental control apps is the fact that it prioritizes your child’s well-being and safety over snooping and spying, which might irritate your child. Rather than constantly spying on your kid’s location and online activity, Bark recommends how to communicate potential issues to your child.
The app offers a pretty good level of content monitoring where you can monitor 30+ apps and social media platforms for issues like adult content, suicidal ideation, threats of violence, cyberbullying, sexting, and more. When the app detects any signs of such issues, it sends alerts via SMS, email, or directly to the parent’s app.
Also, the app allows parents to monitor their child’s texts, comments, replies, emails, and more. Overall, this parental control iOS app performs pretty well, offering app and screen time management, web content filtering, and some location monitoring. Besides, you can always know when your child arrives at a specific location via ‘check-in alerts’. It’s worth mentioning that Bark might not offer an advanced level of tracking as its competitors.
That said, if you just want to get started, the app has all the essential features so it won’t disappoint you. Also, starting at just $5.99/month, the pricing is quite decent when compared to others. All in all, if you need the best parental control app for iPhone with text monitoring, you must give it a try.
Pros Cons Lets you monitor Cyberbullying, Suicidial ideation, and more No geofencing support Support for over 30 apps and various social media platforms Not available in certain countries/regions Offers real-time alerts
7. Aura
Here comes an all-rounder parental control iPhone app that has everything you need to protect yourself and your family from financial fraud, identity theft, and other online threats. Aura is an easy-to-use parental control app that can help you prevent your kids from accessing offensive content, and offer detailed insights for parents, which is something you won’t find in all the apps. Of course, you can keep track of screen time, restrict certain websites/apps, and also customize what your children can access. For example, rather than blocking YouTube altogether, you can block certain channels on YouTube or set a timer.
Besides parental controls, the Aura app is packed with other useful features, including password manager, VPN, antivirus, and ID protection. Its award-winning technology closely monitors and sends you alerts if your personal information like passwords, credit card info, or financial account is at risk. You can also block your credit cards, see credit scores, and access annual credit reports with a single tap.
That’s not all. This app also requests the removal of your info from data brokers so you are not exposed to unwanted ads and possible spams or scams. Furthermore, you can link your financial accounts to this app, set spending alerts, and receive alerts on transaction thresholds. Putting it simply, Aura offers the most comprehensive and best parent controls for iPhone users.
| Pros | Cons |
| Packed with additional security features | Can be expensive for users who need a standalone parental control app |
| Request the removal of your personal information from data brokers | Not widely available |
| Alerts parents in case of cyberbullying and other online threats |
With any of these parental control iPhone apps, you can have peace of mind that your children stay safe online. Each app offers all the essential features and has special offerings to suit different needs. So, go ahead and pick the one that suits your requirements.
If you know any other iOS parental control apps for iPhone that deserve a mention, do let us know in the comments section below.
