Cyber security is on everyone’s mind lately – with all the catfishing gimmicks and other online threats that might come our way, we’re a pretty cautious bunch of smartphone users. Worrying about your own smartphone usage is one thing, but having to think about your children’s online presence is a whole other story.
Good parenting is usually credited on guidance rather than orders, freedom rather than restriction and monitoring rather than control. But in a digital world where keyboard warriors roam free and peer pressure is even more serious than ever before; even the world’s greatest parent might want to have a little more control over what their children are up to on their phones.
How to monitor your kid’s phone?
Digital apps like Snapchat, TikTok Instagram and even WhatsApp are everyday go-to apps for our children, their dependency on building the ideas of a community via digital platforms is something they crave and need to fit into society. The first lesson that they need to learn is not to share personal information or present themselves in compromising situations as this might lead to fraudulent behaviour with them as the victim.
Manually keeping an eye on your child’s online activity is time consuming, causes arguments, is not always 100% true and could result in lack of communication between you and your children. Barring websites, controlling access and limiting screen time are options to keep your kids safe, but when they get to a certain age, they might not quite follow those ‘rules’.
What are the best parental control apps?
A digital solution, controlled directly from your smartphone will allow you to keep tabs on your kid’s digital usage, peek into their social life and make sure that they are 100% safe all the time! Here are some of the best parental control apps that can keep your kids safe from all the bad folk on the net:
Norton Family Parental Control
Norton Family Parental Control is used to monitor kids’ phones; it is based on levels of surveillance applicable to certain age groups. This app requires a sign in on both your and your child’s phone and comes as part of a package with other Norton services available too.
You are also able to open different accounts for all your children, keeping the culprits separate from each other! The features on the app include Alerts, Activity and Rules. The Activity feature allows you to monitor time, location, social media usage, app usage and others.
The app allows for certain features to be diabled and can also allow the parent user to lock the child’s phone should the need arise. Overall, the app provides many features for security but it can also be a little bit slow on iOS and Android devices.
Kaspersky SafeKids
Kaspersky is a parental control app that needs to be installed on both your and your kid’s phone. This allows parents to have full visibility of their children’s online habits; keeping their safety and security in mind at all times.
The set up here is pretty straightforward but it does take some time to complete. It is available on both iOS and Android and is an overall easy-to-use interface with a bunch of features to keep track of your kid’s activity.
Kaspersky offers fingerprint authentication giving the platform secure user access – the app on your child’s phone can also be locked so that they are not able to delete it off their device – pretty nifty! While the free version offers Alerts, Activities and other Additional features, the full premium version can control a lot more.
Google Family Link
Probably the cleanest interface for parental control apps, Google Family Link is all about monitoring your child’s phone in the easiest way possible. It’s a Google recipe for parental dominance.
With features that allow you to approve app downloads, limit screen time, set night usage and internet usage brackets as well as connect the platform with more than one of your kid’s devices.
Google Family Link can be used on younger kids and teens, with different options for each age group. This app does take some time to install and set up but once you get the hang of it; it will simply run in the background and do its thing on both iOS and Android devices.
Cyber risk is increasing in our young’s everyday lifestyle, the constant challenges, dares and aspiration to increase social status may lead our children to harm’s way. Taking the necessary steps to protect your children is definitely your priority and these apps will help you keep track of their safety and wellbeing; both virtual and physical.
