The online world can be a very menacing place for children. While we acknowledge the great contributions of the internet in our lives, having easy access to it through our smartphones could lead to negative things. As parents, it’s an instinct to be protective of our kids all the time and that includes monitoring their online activity.
Thanks to advanced technology, there are now a handful of useful apps that parents can use to protect the kids from the negative side of the cyber world.
Just some of these dangers include the following:
- exposure to objectionable websites with inappropriate or violent content
- cyberbullying
- prone to online predators
- prone to identity hacking due to exposure of private information
- may become a victim of scams and blackmail
Here are some useful apps that parents should have on their smartphones to protect their kids from becoming potential victims of online dangers.
Table of Contents
KidLogger
This parental control app keeps track of all the websites that your children visit online and takes screenshots of all the programs that they use. It also has a sound recorder that utilizes voice activation. The premium edition of the app enables parents to monitor Skype calls and WhatsApp conversations. However, it only covers one device and the free version doesn’t have an audio recording function.
NetNanny Parental Control
The app features web filtering technology and allows you to block any specific apps on your child’s phone. It also tracks your kid’s location and provides detailed information about their location history. Unfortunately, the app can’t monitor text messages or calls.
Qustodio
This popular app allows you to block websites that contain pornographic and questionable content and lets you set time limits on your child’s online use. It helps you track their social media activity and allows you to block questionable apps and games. It also monitors calls and messages and your child’s location. However, this app is quite costly compared to the other ones.
MamaBear
This versatile app’s utmost concern is to track your child’s social media activities. It allows you to monitor their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram sites and lets you know each time they post photos as well as their check-ins and updates. It also alerts you on bullying indications through the restricted word list function. Most importantly, this app alerts you when your teen kids are overspeeding and driving past the set speed limit.
Highster Mobile
It’s a user-friendly app that monitors your child’s phone calls and text messages. It also tracks location through the GPS tracking feature. It allows you to view emails, photos, and videos. The spyware keeps track of social media activity, can record phone calls and has a live microphone feature. While this app is useful to ensure your child’s safety, a recent Highster Mobile Review indicated that it has missing features while reviews from last year had complaints that the free trial was a scam.
Bark
This app’s utmost focus is safeguarding your child from the perils of cyberbullying. It provides a detailed analysis of your kid’s online activities which includes the digital history of potential predators and allows you to block questionable persons.
Kaspersky Safe Kids
The app allows you to track your kid’s location and also features web monitoring. It lets you filter websites and manage other apps with an affordable annual fee. However, you may experience a slow web portal and the iOs version can’t monitor messages or calls.
Screen Time
This parental control app is very useful especially if you have younger kids. It lets you manage and schedule your child’s online access and allows you to assign tasks like doing their homework along with a reward system. It sets daily time limits and helps you to monitor what apps your kid always uses.
Spyera Phone Monitoring
The app assists in real-time location tracking and lets you monitor your child’s online activities. It features live call monitoring and recording and provides access to social media files and WhatsApp chats. It also has a password hacking feature and alerts you of suspicious callers or content through the control panel. However, it’s not highly preferred because it’s pricey and doesn’t have live customer support.
Phone Sheriff
This app’s strongest feature is the ability to closely monitor your child’s text messages and online activities. It has a real-time location tracking feature and can set time limits. It can monitor multiple mobile phones, has photo editor options and a live camera.
Aside from those mentioned above, there are also other equally useful apps that you can use to protect, monitor and remind your kids.
These include:
- Dinner Time – This app limits mobile use to allot time for dinner, studying and sleeping. It allows you to lock and unlock the device as well as a pause function that lets you pause certain activities for at least 24 hours.
- Bouncie – It lets you know if your teenage son or daughter is overspeeding and it’s designed to prevent distracted driving.
- Checky – It is meant to encourage a healthy smartphone habit for your children. It has a tally of the number of times that the child checks their phone and aims to help them achieve a positive balance so that they won’t end up as obsessive phone users.
- RespondASAP- The app freezes your child’s phone and sounds an alarm if they ignore your calls and messages. They will have to call you back for them to unlock their phone.
These parental control apps are extremely important and here are the main reasons why:
- It protects your children from undesirable content, online predators and bullying.
- It strengthens the relationship of the family.
- It gives you that much-needed peace of mind.
- It lets you become familiar with apps and sites and be in sync with what your kids are using in browsing the web.
The advent of advanced digital technology has greatly changed our lives and has given us endless options including the ability to protect our loved ones. The key is to always be responsible, mindful and vigilant so as not to fall prey to the dangers that lie within the online world.
