4 parental control apps to keep your kids safe
The youngsters of today have been part of a world ruled by the internet and gadgets like smartphones and tablets. In fact, according to several studies and surveys, they spend more time online, especially since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Be it online classes or entertainment kids are, most of the times, seen with gadgets during the tough days of lockdown and social distancing.
This makes parents worried and quite rightly so, because the digital world is fraught with illegal, violent, hateful and explicit content, which, if not handled carefully, may affect youngsters negatively. This is why tech companies all over the world are coming up with new and innovative parental control apps from time to time to ensure safe browsing experience for youngsters on their android devices.
A good parental control app should come with the options of web filtering, time restrictions, app blocking, multi-device support, and location tracking. Here is a low-down on 4 parental control apps that parents can try out.
Norton Family
Norton Family is one of the most popular parental control apps, thanks to its extensive features. It supports both android and iOS devices.
The features available are: Location supervision, web and search supervision, time and app supervision, and instant lock. It also has a feature that sends a detailed report of daily activities performed on the device. However, it also has certain drawbacks. For example, screen time restrictions need to be set every week, and tracking of social media activities is still not applied.
Qustodio
Qustodio has become popular because not only does it allow setting time restrictions on devices, but also on individual apps. It supports android, iOS and Kindle devices and a wide range of features.
The features include: App blocks, panic buttons, location tracker, time limit customization using Multiple Device Scheduler, and block contacts. Its social media tracking is only limited to Facebook, which is perhaps its only drawback.
OurPact
OurPact is one of the most powerful and straightforward parental control apps. It is useful and effective and supports both android and iOS devices. The features available are: Blocking apps, texts and access to internet, fixed scheduling of screen time, notifications when new apps are installed.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky has been providing security to Mac and Windows PCs since a long time, but it was only in 2021, that it came up with its android and iOS support features, on smartphones and tablets. It is now known for its affordability and efficiency.
The features include: Location tracking, battery level monitoring, blocking unknown friend requests on social media, block access to adult content on apps and websites and managing screen time. However, social media monitoring is restricted only to YouTube and Facebook and content filtering is limited to certain websites only.