Part III, Parental Controls: Paid Parental Control Apps and Subscriptions

If you want to delve deeper into Parental Controls on your child’s devices, you may consider paying for an additional monitoring subscription or a third-party monitoring app. Here we list some of the paid offerings for parental controls that exist as of the writing of this blog post. This list is not exhaustive, as new technologies are being released frequently.  

Paid Device Parental Controls through Your Phone Provider
Verizon

• SmartFamily subscription service ($5 per account) can monitor your child’s online activity, monitor calls and texts to your child’s device, and block content.
• SmartFamily Premium subscription ($9.99 per account) has all the functionality of the base SmartFamily subscription and offers the additional functionality of location tracking and monitoring driving behavior of teens.

T-Mobile
The TMobile Family Mode App allows you to filter your child’s web browsing on their device, set internet time limits, pause the internet for a child’s device, share location information, and send “rewards” to your child like extending a time limit and allowing for a later “bedtime” on the time limits.
AT&T
The AT&T Secure Family App allows you to enable location tracking on your children’s devices, manage your children’s screen time, filter or block apps and online content, view your child’s internet and app usage for the previous 30 days, set location alerts if your child leaves or enters a saved area, and allows a device to send an “SOS alert” to the whole family. It is $7.99 per month, which includes support for up to 10 family members and up to 30 devices.  

​Third-Party Apps

• Bark App:
  • Features:
    • Monitors content including tracking text messages, emails, 30+ social media platforms and apps, photos, videos, and sends an alert if there is a concern (for bullying, predators, sexual content, self-harm concerns), manages screen time, sets app time limits for your child, blocks websites, requires contact approvals, and tracks a child’s location with geofencing. It encourages trust between parent and child and encourages parents to have open communication with the child about online safety.  
  • Ways to use Bark:
    • 7-day free trial.
    • Buy the Bark Phone and have the Bark parental controls built into the device.
    • Pay $5/month for the Bark App to add parental controls to your child’s devices.
    • Pay $6/month for Bark Home to set screen time limits on the devices in your home.
  • Drawbacks:
    • Bark does not have full activity tracking for your child’s online use. It only lets you view activity that triggers an alert. It can be pretty easy to disable or work around some of its features. Bark can scan content on your child’s Android devices at any time, but can only scan Apple devices when your child is at home and connected to the same network as the Parent device.  
• Qustodio App:
  • Features:
    • Filter web content and applications your child is permitted to download and use, set time limits, location tracking and tracking a child’s location with geofencing, monitor text messages and call logs, and monitor YouTube.
  • Ways to use Qustodio:
    • 3-day free trial.
    • Qustodio Basic Subscription is $54.95/year, which provides games and apps blocking, daily time limits, web filtering, location monitoring, and the ability to pause internet use.
    • Qustodio Premium Subscription is $99.95/year and includes all of the functionality above, and also custom alerts, games and apps time limits, calls and messaging monitoring, and an unlimited number of devices that can be monitored.
  • Drawbacks:
    • Expensive, does not provide social media tracking, mature kids might be able to evade the web filter by using a VPN. Many reviews complain of poor support when there are issues with the app.
• Norton Family App:
  • Features:
    • Monitor a child’s search terms, viewed videos, monitor for age-appropriate content, set screen time limits and schedule times when devices are not permitted to be used or are limited, receive activity reports regarding your child’s device usage and online habits, and location tracking and geofencing.
  • Ways to use Norton Family:
    • 30-day free trial, and then $49.99 per year.
  • Drawbacks:
    • Easy for kids to bypass web filtering, video tracking, and search term tracking by using an alternative browser.

The best protection for your kids’ internet and device use is open and frank communication with your child about expectations: what’s allowed, appropriate times and locations to use devices, and the consequences for breaking any agreements. Keep the lines of communication open with your child so they know what to do if they encounter an issue of bullying, sexting, or any inappropriate content on their device. There is not a parental control monitoring system that can replace your parenting when it comes to device and internet usage. Your role in leading and guiding your child as a child of the internet and mobile device age is invaluable to your child!  Most importantly, be sure you and your co-parent are on the same page about parental control monitoring, especially if you are parenting apart. 

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