Parenting in digital age comes with a variety of challenges as dangers lurk everywhere and children are vulnerable to cyber crimes. It has become a troublesome issue for parents to keep their children in such a vulnerable stage. It’s impossible for you to strip them off of their cell phone as children should use it to keep contact with you and friends. Moreover, there are many other useful things online for children to learn about. That’s where parental control app comes in. It enables you to easily track your child’s phone activities and protect them from online treats. Thus, below we will discuss the best parental control app for Android.

What should I look for in a parental control app?

When selecting parental control app, there are three main criteria you can consider so as to make sure the app works with you and doesn’t cause more problems.

1. Safety and transparency

Installing an unknown parental control app on your children’s phone can be dangerous. After all, you won’t install a malware or an app with weak security, which can create a huge vulnerability that online predators can take advantage of. Therefore, the parental control app should highly encrypt your child’s data and protect them from being leaked.

2. Ease of use

The best parental control app should be easy to use and help you quickly access all necessary information.

3. Compatibility

The parental control app you choose should be compatible with the device your children use regularly. You should check the compatibility before downloading it.

Top 5 best parental control app for Android

1. Chamspy

Among all the available parental control app, Chamspy is by far the only application that satisfied all evaluation criteria. Its intuitive online dashboard and login page makes it easy to monitor your children’s phone activities and make sure they use phone properly. It works in incognito mode and allows you monitor your children’s phone without being found. This app is available for Android users whose smartphones are running with Android 4.x and higher.

Features:

• Track current location along with details
• Set geofence and receive alerts when your children cross the boundaries
• Keep track of every stroke on target device
• Read sent and received text messages, including deleted ones
• Spy all activities on messaging apps like Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp
• Create your alert keywords to get notified if inappropriate keywords are used on your children’s phone
• Limit screen time
• Look through browser history

Pros:

• A 7-day free trial
• Easy and quick installation
• Work in stealth mode
• Highly encrypt the data
• Intuitive interface

Cons:

• Some features require rooting

2. Qustodio

Qustodio is another top parental control app that excels in the time management and web-filtering aspects of child screen management. It allows parents to efficiently monitor screen time, track real time location, track and block calls. If your child is in trouble, he/she can hit the panic button and you will get an instant panic alert. This app is compatible with Android OS 4.3 or higher.

Features：

• Track real-time location
• Monitor screen time
• Block specific websites
• Monitor social media like Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook
• View text messages
• Block unwanted calls

Pros:

• Three-day free trial of the premium version
• Easy installation
• Panic button

Cons：

• No geofence feature
• Expensive for subscription
• Requires upgrading to paid version for more features

3. NetNanny

NetNanny is one of the well-rated parental control apps that comes with lots of features. It empowers parents to monitor the social media, look through browsing history and block specific websites. It is compatible with all versions of Android 2.3. 3 and later. Once installed, you may be impressed with how easy it was to monitor your children’s phone activities.

Features:

• Track the location of your children
• Block specific websites
• Filter inappropriate content
• Set time limits
• Provide constant notifications to parents

Pros:

• Easy and simple user interface
• Extensive reports and logs
• Excellent web filters

Cons:

• Cannot work in stealth mode
• No text/call monitoring
• Slightly expensive

4. Mobicip

Mobicip is a pioneer in the parental control app market. We are particularly impressed with its ability to control all apps on Android devices. It allows you to block particular video apps or websites, view all videos your child watched.

Features:

• Track current location
• Block all video streaming apps and websites
• Set time limits
• View browsing history

Pros:

• 7-day free trial
• Allow customize web filtering profiles
• Support adding parent account to view the report

Cons:

• No text/call tracking

5. Kaspersky Safe Kids

Kaspersky Safe Kids comes with a variety of features that allows you to filter online content, control app usage and manage screen time. What makes Kaspersky particularly attractive is its low battery alerts. When you child’s phone needs a charge, you get a notification. It’s compatible with Android 4.4 KitKat and later.

Features:

• Track real-time location
• Monitor social media
• Filter content
• Set up safe area

Pros:

• Low battery alert

Cons:

• Upgrade required for most features
• No uninstall protection

Conclusion

In the digital age, dangers lurk everywhere and cybercriminals pose a serious risk to your children. The above-mentioned parental control apps provide you with simple and effective solution to monitor your children’s phone activities and protect them from online treats. In particular, Chamspy can be a good option as its intuitive interface, advanced features, data security make it stand out from the rest.