The Best Parental Control Software And Apps Of 2018

Introduction

Parental control software has become increasingly a necessity today for modern parents in order to control and supervise their tech-savvy children. Most children spend a lot of time on their computers and smart phones and are at a risk of viewing inappropriate content and surfing websites that contain graphic content that is not right for their age. Other harmful trends that develop are an addiction to video games and spending inordinate time on apps.

In order to supervise and set a limit on such activities, many software has emerged that can help parents set limits as well as supervise the activities that children do on their smart phones as well as computers or laptops.

What are the parental controls?

Parental controls are required for parents in order to supervise the digital activities of children. The apps that are designed to serve such purpose help parents monitor the activities of children with respect to web activities, real-time tracking of location, app usage, screen time limits and so forth.

Best 10 parental software and apps of 2018

Here we list the top ten free parental controls software along with their features, pros, and cons for parents to consider.

1. FamiSafe

FamiSafe is the best in a top ten rating of parental controls software out there. The reasons are several. This app comes for free for both Android and iOS devices. The app provides an easy interface that makes installation and usage of the app easy. The free, as well as premium version, offers a range of features that are beneficial and one of a kind for parents to monitor the devices of their children.

Features of FamiSafe

The benefits of this app and its functionalities are several:

• Parents can track the location of their children and their devices through real-time GPS.
• It can be used for scheduling time limits as well as restricting device usage from remote settings.
• Distracting apps and games can be blocked out so that kids can focus on studies.
• Web usage and content that children have access to can also be restricted with this app.

2. Spyzie

This is a parental controls software that comes free. It has features like Spyzie App Blocker which helps to block out apps that are distracting and unwanted; Spyzie schedule restriction helps to limit the time that children spend on their devices; phone calls can be monitored with their time stamp and duration as well as the track whereabouts of children through the GPS tracker of the app.

3. K9 Web Protection

K9 Web Protection is a popular parental control software; used by parents across the world, it is compatible with mobile as well as a popular OS on computers like Windows and Mac. It can help to protect phones as well as computers that your children use. The website blocking option is easy to use on this app and there are other advanced features such as real-time tracking of location, time restriction, overriding passwords and so forth.

4. Qustodio

Qustodio comes in premium and free version. It works for Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, Kindle and others. There is a user dashboard that provides status of the different monitoring activities as you set up on this app. This app can track calls, block out indecent content, provide location updates real time, help control gaming activities.

5. SocialShield

SocialShield helps monitor activities of children on social media platforms. This parental controls software is best when you wish to gain a 360 degree view of what your child has been doing in terms of social network activities. It can be downloaded for Windows and provides remote updates.

6. Windows Live Family Safety

Windows Live Family Safety is an app that works on all Windows devices and parents can download it for free on the different Windows OS versions. The features of this parental control app include screen time setting, real-time location updates, limits to the shopping cart, checking online activities and so forth.

7. Norton Online Family

Norton Online Family is a software for parental control that helps to monitor different devices of a family. It is compatible with Android, iOS and Windows. The free version comes for a trial period of 30 days. The advanced features of this app include time tracking, email alerts, supervision of social media activities, and web monitoring and location supervision.

8. Minor Monitor

Minor Monitor is another parental controls software in the market with distinct features. It acts as a social media monitoring tool that can help protect kids from cyberbullying as well as getting exposed to inappropriate sites and content. The dashboard of this app is extensive that allows access from anywhere.

9. OpenDNS

OpenDNS is known to offer Family Shield, which is a security platform that is reliable and offers extensive features. The tool can help to block out websites as well as filter content on a real-time basis; the app has a large user base and offers premium features such as protection from identity theft. It can be used on several family member devices as well.

10. Kidlogger

Kidlogger is a parental controls software that comes for free. It can maintain extensive logs of the activities of the kids and keep an eye on the same. The app is compatible with different versions of Android, iOS, Windows and Mac OS. There is a time monitoring feature that helps to restrict device usage or browsing activities.