Are you wondering how to set up parental control on Android? Do you want to know what is the best app to monitor kids phone? If your answers to these questions are yes, you’re at the right place. With more and more kids having mobile phones these days, parents often want to be able to monitor their child’s phones. And while there are several tools available online, not all of them are reliable or even safe.
However, we have tested the best Android parental control apps available today, which we’ve listed in this detailed guide. Individual apps are a great way to monitor your kids’ activities without them knowing. You will be able to:
✔️ Know their location at all times;
✔️ Monitor their social media activities;
✔️ View phone media;
✔️ See who they call or text
✔️ Track their social media passwords, and much more.
And, all of that, for only a fraction of the price that you would pay to hire a sitter. Let’s learn more about these parental controls, how they work, and their pros and cons and see what the best parental control app for Androids is.
What Are the Best Parental Control Apps for Android?
When it comes to choosing a perfect parental control app for Android, there are a couple of essential factors to consider.
Those include price, features, reliability, reviews, and customer service.
In this article, we have chosen the top seven spy apps that are the best on the market. We will analyze their features thoroughly to ensure that you have enough information to make an educated choice.
Without any further ado, let’s see what’s the best Android parental control app for Android devices.
mSpy: The Best Parental Control App for Android and iPhone
The first on our list of the best parental control apps for Android is mSpy. The app possesses one of the best, fully customized interfaces, catered to target objects with the apps you choose.
This parental control app is compatible with both Android and iOS devices, including Android tablets and iPads. This also makes it one of the best iPhone parental control apps.
You can also connect a larger number of devices. No matter if you run it on your phone or tablet, you’ll enjoy the opportunity to filter out any apps you dislike.
Among the available premium features, parents will enjoy:
- Reading every text message – you can view all SMS messages from the control panel, to ensure that your kid isn’t communicating with strangers.
- GPS Location tracking and accessing location history – you can track your kids in real-time and see whether they’re honest about their whereabouts
- Viewing call history – you can monitor their call logs in real-time and see who your kid is talking to
- Accessing photos & videos – you can monitor images, videos, voice memos, and other phone data to keep your kids safe.
- Monitoring Internet activities, block access, web filtering, and setting time limits – you can access browsing history to see whether your kid has accessed any restricted content.
- Recording keystrokes – you can use its top-notch keylogger to keep track of your kids’ passwords and login information.
- Blocking calls, apps, and web content – to make sure that your kid can’t access sensitive photos, videos, or other damaging information
- Time management – time management is essential for productivity. Kids use distracting electronic devices, so managing their activities is a must.
uMobix: Hidden Parental Control for Android Phones
uMobix is another Android kid app blocker that also works equally well on iOS devices like iPhones and iPads.
This parental control software is the best way to keep your children safe using parental controls for Android and iOS by obtaining full device access.
You can monitor all phone activities such as calls and text messages. You can even keep tabs on the social media activity of your children and limit their screen time. Further, you have the option to track your child’s device using GPS and determine your child’s location.
With a quick and easy setup process, uMobix is the best parental control apps way to ensure that your child’s Windows, Mac, or iOS device is not a source of danger.
Some noteworthy premium features include:
- Monitoring call logs and text messages – to ensure that your kid isn’t communicating with strangers or scammers.
- Social media monitoring – to keep track of your kids’ friends list and messages on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, which are known for having predators.
- GPS Location tracking and accessing location history – to always know everything about your kid’s whereabouts.
- Stealth camera – you can take images remotely to see what your kid is doing at all times
- Accessing browsing history – to see if your kid has accessed any sensitive or damaging content.
Hoverwatch: Parental Control App for Android Free
Hoverwatch is the best child lock app blocker for Android. This Android parental control app gives you peace of mind regarding your children’s online safety on any Windows, Mac, and Android phones.
This monitoring software for Android gives you the ability to track text messages and calls, monitor social media, and use the geofencing option to set up location boundaries for your child. Some other noteworthy features include:
- Social media monitoring – to ensure that your kid isn’t communicating with strangers.
- Location tracking – to be aware of your child’s whereabouts at all times.
- Phone internet history – to see whether your kid has accessed any sensitive or damaging content.
- Camera tracking – you can take a photo when your kid’s screen is unlocked.
- Creating internet filter for family, app management, and app blocking – to ensure that your kid isn’t accessing forbidden websites by adding it to a web filter.
And you can achieve all this by remaining utterly invisible to the person you are tracking. The bottom line is that, with affordable plans and easy setup that anyone can complete, this is the one app that can truly make you happier.
KidsGuard: Top Kid Monitoring App
This Android cell phone monitoring app is perfect for supervising young adolescents who apply more functions than small kids. You can connect up to six different devices, and email reports every day.
This is yet another great option to monitor your child’s Android device because it comes with a free demo, and offers a reliable stealth mode. KidsGuard enables you to track your kid’s activities with ease from a dedicated control panel on their web platform. Some other exciting features include:
- Limits time spent in Google – to ensure that your kid isn’t spending too much time online.
- Blocks the suspicious website from the internet browser history – to ensure that your kid doesn’t download any infected files.
- Restricts app usage – to monitor how much time they spend on each app.
- Blocks target device remotely – to ensure that no one can access the phone files in case it gets stolen.
- Allows rewarding a kid for each completed task – to motivate your children to do better every time.
- Allows social media monitoring – to monitor your child’s conversations on messaging apps.
Cocospy: Parental Control App for Smartphone
Another reliable parental control software for Android is Cocospy. This app works well on iOS and Android phones, and is easy to install and use.
Cocospy also offers a reliable stealth mode that makes the app invisible, allowing you to monitor your kid without them knowing. It is compatible with both iOS and Android devices so you won’t be limited to one OS version. Moreover, the setup and installation process is very straightforward, making it easy to use for novice users as well.
Cocospy allows for avoiding unpleasant situations, making it one of the best parental control app.
The developers included some great features:
- Timer feature to lock the software after a specific amount of time – to ensure that your child doesn’t waste too much time on distractions.
- A custom home screen that shows authorized applications – to ensure that your kid isn’t accessing forbidden content
- Incoming calls block – to prevent scammers and predators from contacting your children.
- Disabling wireless signals and monitor device usage – when you think that your kid has spent way too much time on their phone.
- Custom alerts – to adjust all settings according to your personal needs.
- Text message review – to ensure that your kid isn’t communicating with strangers.
Bark: Best Parental Control App for Android Tablet
Bark is, without a doubt, the best child lock app. The Bark app gives you the complete set of Android parental control features to ensure the safety and security of your children.
Using Bark’s award-winning dashboard, you can keep tabs on your children’s every online activity. This app blocker even allows you to monitor emails and alerts you in case your child gets into danger.
With Bark, you get complete peace of mind. What makes Bark great is the fact that it collaborates with various schools to ensure that their software is always up to date and following the latest standards. So far, the app has helped prevent 16 school shootings, as well as to detect fifty-nine thousand serious self-harm situations.
It’s available for both Android and iOS. This just proves how great this app is for parental control. Some noteworthy features include:
- SMS monitoring – to see if your kid is showing signs of distress.
- Accessing phone photos and videos – to ensure that your kid isn’t downloading mature content.
- New account alerts – to receive a notification when your kid signs up for a new account.
- Screen time limits, content filtering, and web filtering – to ensure that your kid is productive.
- Social media monitoring, app management, website filter, and app blocking – Bark can monitor an extensive list of social. media, to ensure that your kid is safe online and isn’t wasting time (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Messenger, etc.)
Qustodio Android Parental Monitoring App
Another popular way to monitor the child’s device without letting him know is Qustodio parental control. The primary goal is to keep children safe in the cruel world.
Qustodio is an excellent parental monitoring Android app that offers a wide variety of advanced features. This tool was designed for parents, so they would be able to supervise their kid’s activities, ensuring that they’re safe at all times.
From your control panel, you will see an overview of your child’s phone activities. There, you can easily manage apps, create internet filter websites, check internet usage, access search history, read messages, etc.
This software assists in preventing a kid from facing technological & real-life dangers thanks to its premium features:
- Web surfing filtering – to block any harmful or explicit web content
- Blocking applications – to ensure that your kid isn’t using adult applications or accessing adult content.
- Blocking/Limiting internet access – to ensure that your kid is productive at all times
- GPS location tracking – to track Location and be aware of your kid’s whereabouts
These basic features come in the free version. Do you need more? To increase the number of features, or connect up to five devices instead of a single, pay for the premium plan.
Google Family Link: App to Control Kids Phone
If you’re looking for a way to set up parental controls on Android for free, Google Family Link is an effective solution that you can download from the Play Store. This app to control kids phone gives parents control over all the activities on their child’s phone, such as monitoring and limiting which apps can be used, monitoring their screen time, setting up internet filters, and more.
Other than the tools mentioned above, the Google Family Link app also gives you a breakdown of how much time your child spends on each app on their phone, so you can also monitor what sort of content they consume. Further, you can control in-app purchases, such as on games, and also hide specific apps on their phone that you don’t want them using. These could include apps that might expose them to mature content, among other things.
Last but not least, the app also allows you to track their location on Google Maps in real-time, so you always know where your child is, taking their security one step further.
Here’s how you can set up and use the app. Note, that you’ll require both your and your child’s phone to set it up.
Step 1: Open the Google Play Store on your Android device and search for Google Family Link.
Step 2: Sign in to your Google account by following the instructions.
Step 3: Set up the app in such a way that you create a Google Family and make yourself the Family Manager.
Step 4: Choose your child’s account (the one you want to manage), or if they don’t have one, create one.
Step 5: Install the Google Family Link app on your child’s Android phone.
Step 6: With both your and your child’s phone within Bluetooth range, follow the instructions to link both devices.
Step 7: You can now go through the list of apps on your child’s phone to choose whether you want to allow them or block a certain app.
Once the app has been installed and set up on the parent’s phone and the child’s, you can limit screen time, set age limits for apps, movies, and books, remotely lock your child’s phone temporarily, or even ring the phone if it’s been misplaced or might be lost. Overall, it’s very easy to set parental controls using this app, making it extremely popular among parents.
How Can I Monitor My Childs Android Phone For Free?
You can easily monitor your child’s Android phone by using mSpy. To install mSpy, you need to have physical access to the device you are targeting. Just follow the instructions under Android in your mSpy control panel, and you are ready to keep an eye on your child’s device and limit their screen time.
Be sure to remember that mSpy can be installed and used without rooting the target Android device. However, keep in mind that if you want to monitor social media apps and email, then the target device needs to be rooted to function correctly. Discover the top iPhone monitoring apps available if you need spyware for iOS!
How Do I Set Parental Controls on Android?
You can setup parental control on android using native features such as limiting data usage, blocking apps and websites, setting restrictions on Google Play, or using Google Family Link. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a more full-fledged parental control app, mSpy is a great option as it offers plenty of monitoring options to use.
What Is the Best Free Parental Control App for Android Tablet?
Now to face the truth: there are no free Windows, Mac, or Android parental control apps. Most parental control apps that work either offer you a free trial, after which you have to buy the license, or give you an excellent refund policy or free trial as with an app like mSpy.
