It is such a joy to give your child an iPhone. However, this decision comes with an added responsibility. If you're a responsible parent, it's your job to keep your child safe as they become exposed to the dangers of the world wide web.
One effective thing that you can do is to install some of the best parental control apps for iPhone. Here's a list of the eight best parental control apps for iPhone, to help you compare the different options available.
1. FamiSafe
FamiSafe comes with different monitoring features—such as real-time GPS location and history—that can assist parents in tracking their kids' smartphone activities and protect them from any potential harm.
FamiSafe can also monitor the screen usage of a specific device, also letting you set a usage limit. It has a Smart Schedule that can set up various phone usage plans for particular places or occasions.
The FamiSafe parental control app can block apps according to age range, and this can prevent kids from accessing inappropriate apps. It can also filter websites and block them via categories or by specifically adding target website addresses. When it comes to YouTube content, parents can create alert keywords and receive notifications when detection of those keywords occurs.
Famisafe includes an algorithm that helps detect photos containing nudity or pornography, where parents will get automatically notified when these inappropriate photos are displayed.
The FamiSafe parental control app for iPhone has seven built-in website databases containing harmful websites, which can help prevent your kids from accessing the bad side of the internet.
Download: FamiSafe (Subscription required, free trial available)
2. Screen Time
Screen Time is one of the best parental control apps for iPhone as it has a highly-efficient monitoring tool for parents who want to check their kids' smartphone activities.
It also offers the benefit of providing different screen time usage rules. Among the features of Screen Time is the ability to pause apps directly. Thus, any parent who would want to monitor their kids closely has the option to pause the internet and the apps on their iPhones instantly.
Download: Screen Time (Free, subscription available)
3. Boomerang
Boomerang is another one of the most reliable parental control apps for iPhone. Its primary focus is to limit the screen time of a kid using the device, with other features such as location tracking and safe browsing also available.
Parents also have the option to hide and restrict iPhone apps according to age ratings and generate an activity report that can assist parents in assessing the phone usage of their children. Hence, if a child deletes this app, the parents will instantly get a notification.
Download: Boomerang (Subscription required, free trial available)
4. Kaspersky Safe Kids
This app was created by the same Kaspersky famed for its antivirus software. It offers a more focused solution than other options on this list as it primarily features screen time management and app use management.
With Kaspersky Safe Kids, parents can keep track of their child's public Facebook activity. It also offers YouTube SafeSearch to help monitor the safe browsing of videos while on YouTube.
This app can also block games and other apps that can potentially compromise a child's exposure to inappropriate content.
Download: Kaspersky Safe Kids (Free, subscription available)
5. Net Nanny
Net Nanny is among the most popular parental control apps for both iPhone and Android devices. Recent reviews have regarded this app as one of the best parental control apps that works smoothly on iPhones.
The most highly regarded features of Net Nanny are app and web filtering. With this, parents have the option to receive alerts for websites or apps that showcase provocative content inappropriate for their kids. They can also choose manually which sites to block or let the real-time scan of Net Nanny specify which websites are inappropriate.
Net Nanny extends to social media sites as it can cover Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter. This app also offers a 30-day log of web history, screen time, and location history.
Download: Net Nanny ($54.99/year)
6. Norton 360 Deluxe
Norton 360 Deluxe provides a formidable antivirus that includes parental control in its package. It offers a menu of 40 web-filtering categories that will warn kids about websites they mustn't be on.
The range of categories covers sites themed around explicit content, drugs, and more. This parental control option even covers online chat and file sharing, with safety features revolving around personal data and malware threat detection.
Norton also provides protection from the dark web to ensure your child's personal information is not just floating around.
Download: Norton 360 Deluxe ($104.99/year)
7. Mobicip
Mobicip is one of the best parental control apps for iPhone as it offers parents a convenient option for tracking the smartphone usage of their kids.
It can block websites according to the category for your kids’ protection. It can also provide four weeks of online history so that any parent can review their child’s online preferences.
Download: Mobicip (Subscription required, free trial available)
8. OurPact
OurPact is arguably the easiest parental control app to use. Parents can utilize this app to track their children and also limit their smartphone usage.
One of the coolest features of this app is that parents can block messages on a particular device, which is a welcome addition to your child's protection. You can block apps on your child's phone for a specific period of time as well.
Download: OurPact (Free, subscription available)
Choosing the Best Parental Control App for Your iPhone
The eight apps mentioned above offer the best features for parental control. Upon choosing one from the list, you should consider how strict you want to get. Some apps provide stricter features such as blocking messages, while some apps only feature basic monitoring options. Parents should decide based on their preferences and their specific situation with their kids.
Nevertheless, safety should always be the priority, especially for your kids. Thus, if you plan to give your child an iPhone, it should be a necessity to install the best parental control app on that device. Protect your kids from the bad side of the internet by being a prolific advocate of parental control.
Image Credit: belchonock/Depositphotos
