8 BEST Parental Control Apps for iPhone (2024)

best parental control apps

Using Parental Control Apps, you can restrict access to specific websites and apps, monitor your child’s online activity, and track their phone usage. Access restriction apps empowers parents to prevent kids from spending too much time on the internet and engaging in risky behavior. Monitoring a child’s online activity can help parents track their child’s location as well and ensure they are safe. Moreover, tracking your child’s phone also allows you to understand where your children spend their time online, who they converse with the most and what they are up to.

Choosing the right parental control app can be tricky with so many options available. I have reviewed numerous websites to find parental control apps that meet parent’s expectations. After extensive research of over 90 hours, I have handpicked a few parental control apps for iPhone and Android that offer reliable functionality, an easy interface, and offers enhanced security. Check out my review of these tools to learn about their features, website links, and base pricing.
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Top Pick
mSpy

mSpy is one of the best parental control apps to remotely monitor your children’s iPhones. It helps you to view all their messages without any hassle. This best parental control app also allows you to check the browser history, WiFi network, and incoming and outgoing messages.

Visit mSpy

Best Parental Control Apps for Android & iPhone: Free/Paid

Name Platform Free Trial/Refund Policy Location Tracking Link
👍 mSpy Android and iOS. 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee Yes Learn More
uMobix Android and iOS. 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee Yes Learn More
KidsGuard Android and iOS. 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee Yes Learn More
Bark Android and iOS 7- Day Free Trial Yes Learn More
Eyezy Android, iOS, and Windows. 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee Yes Learn More

1) mSpy

Best Overall Parental Control App

I reviewed mSpy and found it to be one of the best parental control apps for monitoring your children’s iPhones remotely. It lets you view all their incoming and outgoing messages easily. This app lets you check browser history, WiFi networks, and all messages. mSpy works with both iOS and Android devices.

It is one of the best location-tracking spy apps that allow parents to track the geographical location of their kids with GPS and geo-fencing. You can also monitor your child’s location history to learn about the areas they visited in the past.

#1 Top Pick
mSpy
5.0

Supported Phones: Android, iPhone, iPad

24/7 Support: Yes – Offers a toll-free helpline as well

Refund Policy: 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee

Visit mSpy

Features:

  • Access Calls: You can view incoming/outgoing calls and get access to detailed call logs like timestamps, caller info, duration, and a lot more.
  • Monitor Videos: I could use this iPhone parental control app to watch the type of videos my kid was accessing. It helped me restrict my kids from accessing videos unsuitable for their age group.
  • Track iMessages: You can view your kid’s iMessages, including deleted texts. Since it exposes chats and chat history, you will have a proper understanding of the people your kids are interacting with. Thus, it helps prevent your kids from falling prey to cyberbullying.
  • Access Social Media: Using mSpy, you can continuously monitor your kid’s social media account. The social media monitoring feature helped me view their chats, uploads, and other activities on their profiles.
  • View and Block Apps: You can check all the installed apps on your kids’ phones. If you find any of the apps unsuitable, such as those that promote pornographic content or violent or controversial elements, you can block them from the mSpy dashboard.
  • Email Tracking: I was able to get into your kid’s inbox and check the emails they receive and send. You can then block spam or unwanted emails easily.
  • Demo: I could easily access the live demo from the portal to clearly understand how mSpy works, the dashboard, and other features.
  • Support: mSpy promises 24/7 customer support service to the consumers. For any concerning issues, you can contact them on their helpline or write them on their email.

Pros

  • It comes with 35+ features bundled into one suite.
  • I could find out the battery life on my child’s phone.
  • mSpy allows remote screen recording and has a keylogger as well.

Cons

  • I found that mSpy does not support iOS versions released before 2010-11.
  • Cannot view deleted messages that have not been backed up to iCloud.

Pricing:

Here are the pricing plans for mSpy:

12-Months 3-Months 1-Month
$11.66/month
(billed annually)
$27.99/month
(billed quarterly)
$48.99/month
(billed monthly)

Refund Policy: For any technical issues not fixed by the support staff, mSpy offers a full refund. There is also a 14-day refund policy from the date of purchase.

Visit mSpy >>

14-Days Money-Back Guarantee


2) uMobix

Best Monitoring Social Media, Call Logs, SMS messages, and Location Tracking

I tried out uMobix, a top-rated parental control app for iPhone for accessing target phone. It helps you track your kid’s phone activities such as call logs, contact lists, and text messages. This app allows you to manage web filtering and set parental controls on your child’s phone.

It also tracks your kid’s accessibility to popular social platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. uMobix provided me with accurate real-time location tracking and visited places’ history. I suggest you go through the portal’s demo version to learn how uMobix works in real-time.

#2
uMobix
4.9

Supported Phones: Android, iOS

24/7 Support: Yes

Refund Policy: 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee

Visit uMobix

Features:

  • Call History: It allowed me to track the call logs on my kid’s phone, including all incoming and outgoing calls. I could also view the timestamp, duration, and caller information.
  • Fast Setup: You can quickly set up an account and start using the tool within 5 minutes by following the settings in the wizard. I could also set screen time limits for my child’s phone during setup.
  • Track Activities: You can track all your kid’s activities on the iPhone and Android smartphones. This tool lets you track their messages, social media status, phone galleries, and more.
  • Browser Monitoring: No matter what your kid is browsing, uMobix will display it on your phone’s dashboard. You can track every website visited by your kid, and also view and analyze the browser history.
  • Support Service: In case of any issues, you can mail them to the email ID provided on the support page. I could also fill out the website form and highlight my query.

Pros

  • I could access my kid’s phone camera and stream video in real time.
  • It can help you block Wi-Fi connections.
  • You can block your target device in case of emergencies, such as when your child’s device is stolen.

Cons

  • On rare occasions, I noticed that the location tracking may take some time to sync the data accurately. 

Pricing:

Here are the pricing plans of uMobix for iPhone devices:

12-Months 3-Months 1-Month
$11.24/month
(billed annually)
$26.99/month
(billed quarterly)
$49.99/month
(billed monthly)

Refund Policy: There is a 14-day refund policy from uMobix.

Visit uMobix >>

14-Days Money-Back Guarantee


3) KidsGuard

Best Parental Control that Allows you to Access Phone Files Quickly from any Place

In the course of my review, I explored KidsGuard, a parental control app for iPhones and iPads.  You can access your kid’s phone files without notifying them. It helped me track activities from popular social media apps like WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat, Kik, QQ, and Line.

This best parental control app for iPhone and Android allows you to monitor call logs, contacts, and messages and record calls. You can also view all media files, such as photos, videos, and even calendars. KidsGuard is compatible with iOS and Android devices and is also compatible with Mac OS and Windows 7+ versions for PC.

#3
KidsGuard
4.8

Supported Phones: Android, iOS, Windows

24/7 Support: Yes

Refund Policy: 30-Days Money-Back Guarantee

Visit KidsGuard

Features:

  • Locate Your Kids: Using the GPS tracking process, you can trace every footstep of your kid through maps. You can even track your child’s location history and past route details. It allowed me to set up geo-fences and get live alerts when my child entered or exited a specific boundary.
  • Stealth Monitoring: The stealth monitoring feature helps protect the app from being discovered. It continues working in the background in incognito mode while you keep accessing your kid’s phone.
  • Sensitive Word Setup: I could set up sensitive word restrictions on my kids’ iPhones and got email notifications when they typed or received the restricted words.
  • One App Multiple Devices: KidsGuard Pro supports up to five devices from a single interface, so there is no need for multiple device installations.
  • Restrictive Access: I could limit my kid’s phone accessibility through screen time management. This helped me limit their online activities on specific websites and apps.
  • Capture Screen: This hidden parental control app for Android and iPhone lets you capture your kid’s phone screen in real time and then automatically synchronize it.
  • Technical Support: For any kind of technical issues, you can email them or submit details on their online grievance form. 

Pros

  • It provides multiple language support.
  • I could access the iCloud drive.
  • Offers real-time data sync by either 3G/4G network or by WiFi.

Cons

  • It is not possible to uninstall KidsGuard remotely from your kid’s iPhone.

Pricing:

Here are the pricing plans of KidsGuard:

12-Months 3-Months 1-Month
$9.16/month
(billed annually)
$19.99/month
(billed quarterly)
$39.99/month
(billed monthly)

Refund Policy: A 30-day refund policy is available from the date of purchase.

Visit KidsGuard >>

Use coupon code “guru99” to get 20% OFF


4) Bark

Best for Creating Daily Screen Time Schedules

I particularly appreciate Bark, a parental control app that monitors your children’s online activities. This cloud-based app offers all the standard features expected in a parental control app. I could easily get screenshots from the target phone every second, which offered me real time updates.

Bark is the best parental control app that can monitor incoming/outgoing calls, SMS, and SMS commands. It allows you to check WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can also track YouTube and phone contacts and get features for app blocking. Apart from the latest Android devices, it is also compatible with iOS v.11 and above.

#4
Bark
4.7

Supported Phones: Android, iOS

24/7 Support: Yes

Refund Policy: 7- Day Free Trial

Visit Bark

Features:

  • Device Monitoring: Bark effectively monitors your kid’s device to notify you about their activities. It checks the apps installed on your child’s device, monitors the social platforms they are using, and offers other details.
  • Instant Notification: For any improper content that includes slang, derogatory comments, or abusive material your kid receives or accesses on your iPhone, Bark will send a notification to your device instantly.
  • Setting Boundaries: I could set boundaries for my kid on what to access and what not to on their iPhone. You can also remotely block websites and apps unsuitable for your kids.
  • Location Sharing: With Bark, I could track real-time location of my child, access their route history and set geo fences. The tool will send alerts on your phone every time your kid breaches the location boundaries set for them.
  • Screen-time Schedules: I was mighty impressed with the screen time management feature that helped me set screen time limits on my kid’s iPhone. 
  • No Limit: There are no limits on device accessibility with any subscription. I could add up to five devices for monitoring with a single Bark subscription.
  • Customer Support: You can reach the support team via email or connect through the media page. Additionally, there is a Bark AI chat window for quick queries.

Pros

  • This best spy app for parents allows you to track deleted messages.
  • Easy to detect any changes in the contact list.
  • I found it pretty straightforward and easy to set up.

Cons

  • It does not offer any keyword alert function.
  • I was not able to store videos and calendar info.

Pricing:

Here are the monthly pricing plans of Bark:

Bark-Home Bark-App Bark-Phone
$6/month $14/month $29/month

Refund Policy: If the Bark Phone is returned undamaged, you get a full refund. Bark also offers a 7-day free trial for all the plans.

Visit Bark >>

7- Day Free Trial


5) Eyezy

Best AI-Driven Parental Monitoring

I explored Eyezy and found it to be one of the best parental control apps for monitoring your child’s phone activities. This app allowed me to view text, photos, videos, and all activities on my child’s device. It helps you prevent your child from attending unapproved events as you get to their calendar. You can also monitor calls and SMS, delete them, and view contact lists.

I could easily monitor their social media to check activities on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, Tinder, LINE, and Facebook Messenger. Eyezy also provides other unique features like app blocking, setting screen time limits, and screen recording. 

#5
Eyezy
4.6

Supported Phones: Android, iOS, iPads

24/7 Support: Yes

Refund Policy: 14-Days Money-Back Guarantee

Visit Eyezy

Features:

  • Access Files: You can access your kid’s multimedia files, apps, or documents from your device. This helped me detect the type of photos they were clicking or receiving, the kind of videos they were downloading, and other files that they were accessing.
  • Instant GEO Alerts: This parental control app offered me a great way to set geographical boundaries for my kid with GEO-Location tracking and Wi-Fi Network Analysis. I received alerts on my device if my kid went beyond the assigned boundary.
  • Record Screen: With this screen recording feature, you can capture your kid’s mobile screen as proof of their act. You can also take screenshots of all their activities in real-time.
  • Keystroke Capture: The keylogger feature lets you monitor your kid’s iPhone keystrokes to see whether they are typing anything obscene.
  • Plan Breaker: Eyezy can access the events list, private notes, and calendar markup dates from your kid’s iPhone to alert you about their upcoming plans.
  • Support Service: It offered me a 24/7 customer support service. There are helpline numbers available on the website, along with email and live chat options.
  • Demo: The Eyezy demo lets you view the tool’s dashboard and how it functions. You can also test the features from the demo screen.

Pros

  • It offers a web-magnified feature to check which sites they have bookmarked.
  • This best phone monitoring app for parents helped me remotely block any app or specific website on my kid’s iPhone.
  • You get an update when your kid connects to the same Wi-Fi.

Cons

  • It works to its full potential only if you jailbreak the target device.
  • The location tracking feature is accessible only after enabling the Family Sharing option.

Pricing:

Here are the pricing plans of Eyezy:

12-Months 3-Months 1-Month
$7.99/month
(billed annually)
$22.39/month
(billed quarterly)
$38.39/month
(billed monthly)

Refund Policy: There is a 14-day refund policy available from the date of purchase.

Visit Eyezy >>

14-Days Money-Back Guarantee


6) Spynger

Best Advanced and Expansive Spying Features

As per my review, Spynger is a great option for a parental control app for computers, mobile devices, and tablets. It helps you track your children’s activities on a computer or mobile phone. I could track platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Skype, and Telegram. Spynger also monitors calls, SMS, MMS, contacts, and remote commands.

It offers location-tracking features like Geo-tracking and geo-fencing. It also allows you to monitor browsing activities and bookmarks. Additionally, it helped me snoop through audio files, application activity, keylogger, photos, and videos.

#6
Spynger
4.5

Supported Platforms: Android, and iOS

24/7 Support: Yes

Refund Policy: 30-Day Money-back Guarantee

Visit Spynger

Features:

  • Disable Wi-Fi access: It is possible to disable any of the Wi-Fi networks of the target device. You can also disable or block any app on the target phone.
  • Call Recording: I could record calls from popular apps like Line, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc. This feature helps users track communication and detect any suspicious activity.
  • Learn-timelin: I could check the timestamps of the messages, and view when they were talking to a particular individual.
  • Stealth mode: This spy app has a very powerful stealth mode that prevents it from getting detected. Your spouse will never find any trace of this app that continues to run in the background.
  • GPS and Geo-Fencing: I could use the powerful GPS tracking option to track my kid’s live location. This feature allowed me to set location boundaries for my kids, and I received an alert if they went beyond those boundaries. 
  • Support: I was satisfied with their 24/7 chatbot platform, which resolved my issues instantly. Users can also seek guidance through their email.

Pros

  • I found the installation procedure simple and very fast.
  • Can trace and view deleted messages on the phone.
  • all recorded activities in an easy-to-understand way.

Cons

  • I noticed that the app cannot be uninstalled remotely.

Pricing:

Here are the monthly iPhone monitoring pricing plans for Spynger:

12-Months 3-Months 1-Month
$9.28/month
(billed yearly)
$25.99/month
(billed quarterly)
$44.56/month
(billed monthly)

Refund Policy: You need to email their customer support desk, highlighting your reason for claiming a refund. It also offers 30-day Money-Back Guarantee

Visit Spynger >>

30-Day Money-back Guarantee


7) Spokeo

Best for Providing Detailed Information on Caller ID

I checked Spokeo and discovered that it is a phone monitoring app that lets you track your child’s call log details. It is a top parental control app for monitoring your child’s interaction to protect them against online scammers. With Spokeo, you can block scammers and telecallers and it works with iOS and Android devices.

This free parental control app reveals the person’s identity on the phone’s other side. Using Spokeo, you can do reverse phone lookups and even reverse address checks to verify the caller’s authenticity. It helped me find out about their criminal records, present location, social media accounts, and much more. Spokeo accesses state archives and public domain files to access information.

#7
Spokeo
4.4

Supported Platforms: Android, Windows & iOS

24/7 Support: Yes

Free Trial: 7-Day Trial for $0.95

Visit Spokeo

Features:

  • Screen Calls: I received a great solution with Spokeo, which offered me the ability to screen calls on my mobile device. It helped me trace caller identities from unknown numbers and block or ignore unwanted callers or my kid’s contact list.
  • Social Media records: Spokeo helped me look up my child’s social media followers and friends using its username search. This feature provided me with a complete report that included their age, name, current and past address, email, social media accounts, phone number, etc.
  • Tracks Criminal Records: You can do a caller’s background check using this parental control app. It provides the option to perform a criminal background check on the caller and extract any associated criminal record.
  • Multiple Data Sources: Spokeo searches from different sources to extract information about a person. It looks into billions of historical, legal, property, and consumer records to review a person’s background.
  • Continuous Updates: The report you generate from Spokeo keeps updating regularly. If some data is not present when you generate the report, it notifies you via email once the data is added to the existing report from the previous search.

Pros

  • Spokeo is fast in processing search queries.
  • I like how detailed its report was which included even neighbors and neighborhood records.
  • Unlimited search on paid membership.

Cons

  • It is not a direct parental control app but a reverse search app.
  • You cannot access chats or view your child’s phone activities with it.

Pricing:

Here are the pricing plans for Spokeo:

3-months 1-month
$14.95/month
(billed quarterly)
$19.95/month
(billed monthly)

Refund Policy: Spokeo lets you cancel the subscription at any time.

Visit Spokeo >>

7-Day Trial for $0.95


8) Spyera

Best Easy Installation and User-friendly Web Control Panel

I analyzed Spyera and found it to be a great option for tracking your child’s activities. It allows you to monitor devices remotely, review call recordings, and receive call alerts. This spyware can track my child’s internet activities like network connections, browsing activity, bookmarks, emails, and search engine queries.

It is one of the best parental control apps to keep track of the media and social activities of your child. I could view their WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, Viber, Line, Skype, Hike, Instagram, Telegram, Tinder, and WeChat.

#8
Spyera
4.4

Supported Platforms: Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows PC, MacOS

24/7 Support: Yes

Refund Policy: 10-Days Money Back Guarantee

Visit Spyera

Features:

  • Remote Camera Control: I could use Spyera to secretly activate and control my kid’s iPhone camera for capturing pictures and recording videos.
  • Location Tracking: It helped me track my kid’s live location from my phone with its GPS tracker. You can also set geo-boundary limitations for your kid, and if they cross the limit, you will receive an alert instantly.
  • Remote Listening: Spyera can remotely enable the microphone on your kid’s device, allowing you to listen to the phone’s surroundings. Thus, even without activating the camera, you can know their whereabouts.
  • Active Keylogger: I could access the keystrokes of my kid and know what they are typing on their phone using the active keylogger feature.
  • Message Spying: You can spy on all the messages including the ones deleted by your child. Spyera also displays the name and number of the sender, timestamp, and other associated details on your phone dashboard.
  • Access Emails: Spyera is one of the best free iphone parental control application that gives full access to your kid’s email account. For any email sent or received from your kid’s iPhone, Spyera will capture and send a copy on your dashboard.
  • Support: I was able to access the live chat engine to send queries, which provided 24/7 support. Additionally, there is also an option to send an email to the support.

Pros

  • I liked its easy installation and user-friendly web control panel.
  • Offers an excellent stealth mode to go undetected.
  • As a user, I appreciate that Spyera offers free updates within the subscription.

Cons

  • For iPhone, you need to perform a jailbreak.

Pricing:

Here are the monthly pricing plans available:

Smartphone Tablet Computer All In One
$89/month $69/month $49/month $479/month

Refund Policy: Spyera offers a 10-day money-back policy. Money will be credited to your account within 5-7 business days.

Visit Spyera >>

10-Days Money-Back Guarantee

What Should I Look for in a Parental Control App?

Here are the top things I would suggest you look for in the best parental control app:

  • Safety and Transparency: Installing an unknown parental control app on your child’s device can be dangerous. Therefore, safety and security come first when selecting parental control apps.
  • Network Security: A good parental control app will help you protect your child from cyberbullying, illicit content, and other cyber crimes.
  • Privacy: Most parental control apps respect your child’s privacy and offer a safe and secure setting to use the app.
  • Friendly Interface: I noticed that a good parental control app is easy to navigate and use.
  • Activities: The parental control app you choose should allow you to monitor your children’s activities. This includes monitoring their social media, online gaming, and all other online activities. 
  • Compatibility: I always ensure that the parental control app is regularly updated and is compatible with all my child’s devices.

What is a Parental Control App?

Parental control apps are the best way to protect your children and supervise them while they are online on their smartphones and other mobile devices. These parental control apps allow you to set time limits, monitor internet usage, and track the location of your kid’s device. They can also be configured to limit the access of your kids to specific applications or websites.

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Verdict

As a parent, I understand the importance of keeping our children safe online, hence, I suggest you to take a wise decision when it comes to choosing an parental control applications. I personally recommend exploring the list below to find the ideal solution.

  • mSpy offers a remarkable solution with comprehensive monitoring features that make it an excellent choice for parents.
  • uMobix stands out with its impressive user interface and superior tracking capabilities, making it a top-rated app for child safety.
  • KidsGuard provides an ultimate experience with its extensive set of features designed to address all parental concerns effectively.