The Top Apps Parents Should Monitor to Protect Their Kids (2024)

FAQs

The Top Apps Parents Should Monitor to Protect Their Kids? ›

Children need a smartphone for their parents to install a tracking app, but this can expose them to the potential dangers associated with social media and the internet such as cyberbullying, inappropriate contact with strangers and unsupervised access to inappropriate information.

Children need a smartphone for their parents to install a tracking app, but this can expose them to the potential dangers associated with social media and the internet such as cyberbullying, inappropriate contact with strangers and unsupervised access to inappropriate information.

You can monitor your child's screen time with third-party apps like Qustodio, Norton Family, or Net Nanny. Another option is to use the built-in parental controls on your device. iOS has Screen Time, and Android has Family Link.

The following list can help in monitoring your child's activities: Know your child's friends (first and last names) and their home phone numbers. Know your child's friends' parents and their cell phone numbers, if possible. Insist that your child call and let you know where he or she is after school.

Using GPS tracking, the Find My Kids app helps you keep track of and automatically locate your child with their phone or GPS watch. You'll receive notifications when your child enters and leaves regular places (like the house or school), if they press the SOS button, or if their phone battery is low.

Bark provides a ton more options to help keep kids safe online. Don't get us wrong — Life360 is great for location tracking and accident alerts. But Bark gives parents and families the ability to: Manage screen time.

Kids May Feel Micromanaged

Some kids and teens might feel their parents are going overboard by using Life360. It can feel like being a bit micromanaged. However, there are methods to alleviate those concerns the Bubbles feature lets anyone customize location sharing for people in their Circle.

It's easy to use, it's an affordable way to have more peace of mind, and it is a safe app when it comes to your data and privacy since you have control over what is shared.

What apps do kids use to hide things from parents? ›

Snapchat has disappearing messages that self-destruct once seen, perfect for hiding conversations. Facebook Messenger has private conversations that are viewable only from one device. Even under close monitoring, teens can hide messages from their parents using those features.

These parents are monitoring their teens' activities and behavior. What is parental monitoring? Parental monitoring includes 1) the expectations parents have for their teen's behavior; 2) the actions parents take to keep track of their teen; and 3) the ways parents respond when their teen breaks the rules.

If you've got young children using the internet, parental controls of some sort are a necessity to ensure they are kept safe from threats online. These threats include predators, cybercriminals, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.

By monitoring, parents can help protect their kids' online reputations. By monitoring their text messages, calls, social media, and web activity, parents can help their children be responsible, stay safe, and protect their online reputation and future. Monitoring also helps inform conversations on technology use.

That said, Bark definitely has a few drawbacks when compared to the competition — it only lets you view activity that triggers an alert, it doesn't track how long children are using certain apps (so you can't set time limits for particular apps), it doesn't allow you to see your child's device location without ...

Yes, you can see everything on your child's phone without them knowing. You need to monitor their phone discreetly with a phone monitoring app. However, not all monitoring apps are discreet and invisible. Hence, you should use an app like AirDroid Parental Monitoring app that works in stealth mode.

The majority, 31%, say age 18 for sure. But there's also 17% who say they'll stop at age 16. There's no blanket perfect age, however. In some homes, you can trust an 8-year-old; in others you may still want or need parental controls active for much longer.

Snapchat: On Android, Bark monitors Snapchat private messages (text chat only). To get this platform monitored for worrisome content, you will need to download the Bark for Kids app onto your child's Android. Click here for instructions.

Can kids delete bark? ›

Bark can't be deleted, even if the device is factory reset. Parents can discuss which apps their children can use, and then approve installation of only the apps they wish. Kids are protected by using the Bark Phone's tools to block spam and strangers from communicating through the device.

FamiSafe

Famisafe tops the Life360 alternatives list because you can use this app to find details about a target phone's location and other activities. Apart from being a location tracker, you also get other features such as blocking apps on the target phones, which is useful when handing over your phone to children.

What are the risks of Snapchat? Children and young people could be at risk of viewing harmful or upsetting video content and images. Snapchat Map shares your location with other users on the app. Your child could receive unwanted contact from adults or other young people using the app.

Omegle: A website that's motto is "talk to strangers!" It allows users to anonymously video or text chat with other people. The website says users must be at least 13 with parent's permission, but there is a section that's 18+. “Predators have been known to use Omegle, so please be careful,” it's homepage says.

Life360 has faced concerns over privacy in the past. In mid-2020, teens, displeased at the privacy invasion of an app that allowed their parents to minutely track their movements, took to TikTok to encourage their peers to bomb the app with negative reviews.

The Life360 app is designed to help families stay connected and safe. It can be used to track loved ones, receive notifications if they need help, and even find them if they get lost. With features like this, it's no wonder that Life360 has become one of the most popular family safety apps available.

Life360 is a tracking app that parents use to monitor their kids — everything from where they are to how fast they are driving — and as such, it is either a safety precaution or a tattletale, depending on your perspective. As Wired noted earlier this summer, teens on TikTok have turned life under Life360 into a meme.

No. The popular location-sharing app has no access to your text messages. This information is unnecessary for the app's purpose, so you can feel confident that your text messages remain confidential while using Life360 as a locator app for family and friends.

No one, including your circle members, can spy on what you do on your devices, like checking your internet history or reading texts. Although life360 has many tracking features similar to spy apps, it only provides basic location and text tracking under specific conditions.

Your missing device must have Life360 installed and logged in in order to be located. To locate a lost or stolen phone, ask another person in your Circle to open the Life360 app on their phone to update the lost phone's location.

Where do most parents hide things? ›

A decoy app is a sneaky on-device tool that lets anybody hide secret photos, videos and messages, under the cover of an innocent-looking icon.

The parents' bedroom is normally off-limits, so it's the most obvious place to hide something. Think about whichever place is the most private, the location you'd get in the most trouble for investigating. Check their drawers. Sock and underwear drawers are off-limits, and a bit odd to sift through.

Monitoring Your Teen's Text Messages. AirDroid Parental Control is also a text message monitoring app. If you have installed the app and paired your kid's Android phone to yours, you can still see the incoming text messages of the target phone even if they are deleted from kid's phone.

Reading your child's text messages is not that different than eavesdropping or reading their diary.” She advises parents to stay in their lane by steering clear of needless snooping, whether trying to find out what your kids are saying or who they are hanging out with.

There is no setting to prevent a family member from deleting Text Messages.

1) FamiSafe

Our first choice recommendation is Famisafe. It is one of the best family tracker app free for android and iphone. Also, it was named Wondershare.com's most reliable parental control app, with lots of features and functions that can help you track your family.

Track My Child's Phone Without Them Knowing With mSpy

If you think that tracking someone's phone is illegal, you're right. However, the law permits tracking a child's phone without them knowing by installing a parental control app, such as mSpy, on their device. However, parents can monitor only their underage kids.

"Find My Kids" was created especially for caring parents. "Find My Kids" is designed with your child's safety in mind. The app's unique family safety features ensure you can easily keep in contact with your child when they aren't with you or when they aren't responding to you on their device.

Google Family Link. Google Family Link is more than a simple location tracking app. It also allows you to take control of your child's phone and set various app permissions. Detailed app monitoring and setting time limits is also possible.

Is Life360 safe to use? ›

Life360 uses bank-level SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption and other military-grade security protocols. We are independently verified by Verisign. The Life360 app is virus-free, malware-free, certified, and approved by the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.