Parental controls iphone with downloading apps

Tips for limiting your child's smartphone use and reducing screen time, for both Android devices and iPhones. Parental controls for smartphones can help with that. There are ways to limit screen time and purchases, control access to the content your child views, monitor your child's activities, and preserve family privacy. The real challenge, it seems, is figuring out how to locate and activate those features.

Google has a free app parents can download for help managing Android devices, for example. And Apple rolled out a new set of parental controls with its recent iOS 12 update. The features were developed after shareholders expressed concern about the impact of smartphones on children. Like many kids his age, Konowe's son plays a lot of video games.

So, Konowe keeps an eye on related chat activity, remains on the lookout for violent content, and frequently plays games with the boy. Konowe also limits his son to a phone that doesn't have a SIM card; the result is that he only uses the phone at home, accessing the web through WiFi.

To help you find and master the parental controls on your child's smartphone, we've assembled a simple guide. Here are your options. If your child wants more time, they can send a request to your phone. It has an icon that resembles a music note. If you are using macOS Catalina or newer, open the Finder instead. Click your iPhone or iPad. In iTunes, it's the icon that resembles an iPhone or iPad in the upper-left corner.

In the Finder, your iPhone or iPad name is listed in the side panel to the left. Click the option to backup your iPhone or iPad to your computer. Both the Finder and iTunes give you the option to backup your iPhone or iPad to iCloud or to your computer. Click the radio option to backup your iPhone or iPad to your computer. Click Back Up Now. This begins the process of backing up your iPhone or iPad. Wait until the backup is complete. It's below your device name at the top of the screen.

Click Next. This displays the Terms and Conditions. Click Agree. It's in the lower-right corner. This indicates that you agree to the terms and conditions. Unlock your phone and sign in. To finish restoring your iPhone or iPad, unlock it and then enter the email address and password associated with your Apple ID.

Method 5. Back up your phone or tablet. The easiest way to bypass parental controls on a mobile device is to factory reset it. You can do this in the Settings app. It's the app that has an icon that resembles a gear. The Settings menu is different from one Android device to another. If you can't find these exact options in the Settings menu, look for similar options.

Tap the magnifying glass icon. It's in the upper-right corner of the Settings app. This displays a search bar. Type reset in the search bar. This displays a list of menu items related to the word "Reset". Tap the option to factory reset your phone. Select the option to reset your phone to its factory settings. Follow the instructions to confirm that you want to reset your phone. Power on your phone. Press the power button on the side of your phone to restart it in it's factory default settings.

Go through the setup process. After your phone power's on, follow the on-screen instructions to go through the setup process. This entails selecting a language and signing in to your wi-fi network and more. Select the option to restore your phone from a backup. During the setup process, you will eventually come to a screen that asks if you want to restore your phone from a backup.

Keep an eye out for this option and select it. Sign in to your Google account. Use the email and password associated with the Google account you used to backup your phone. Select the latest backup. This is the backup you created before factory resetting your phone. Finish the setup process. After selecting a backup, continue with the setup process. When your phone is restored, the parental settings should be wiped. I'm 17 and my parents still block certain websites from me, such as YouTube and social media.

How can I talk to them about letting me use those websites and convince them to remove the controls? Tell them you're mature enough to have them unblocked, explain to them that you are at the age where you do not need these restrictions. Our approach is to give parents and kids transparency, and encourage a family conversation around this moment. Those emails inform both the parent and child of some of the changes that will take effect if the child decides to graduate.

This is something we continue to get feedback on and will continue to consider the best approach. If your child is 13 or older and uses an Android phone, the paid version of Qustodio is your best bet. Discounts are frequently offered on its website. Unlike with Google Family Link, you use the same email account to set up the app on both devices.

Qustodio offers the most features and flexibility among the third-party parental-control apps we tested. The paid version allows you to set multiple schedules, limit overall phone use and specific app use, and block phone and app use. Keep in mind, though, that many experts warn that this level of monitoring is not actually good for kids.

Qustodio also offers a free version, which can be used on one device. With it, parents can set a schedule and determine how much time—by minute increments, and up to 24 hours—their child spends on the phone daily. The free version also includes reports for parents, as well as the Web filter, but little else. The paid version offers more insight and management tools.

Qustodio is one of the few apps we tested that allow parents to set more than one schedule, an advantage over Google Family Link. On a grid, parents can block out the hours they want to shut off access to the phone, such as bedtime, during dinner or while the child is at school. In addition, the paid version of Qustodio allows parents to cap how much time their child spends on individual apps in minute increments—going a step further than simply blocking individual apps, like Google Family Link.

As with Google Family Link, parents can also turn off access to the phone with a single tap. Like other parental controls, Qustodio aims to filter adult content, including by categories such as weapons, drugs, and alcohol. We did not test the filters extensively; in a quick search, we did find that we were blocked from purchasing whiskey, getting information on gummy edibles, and logging into dating sites such as Tinder and Scruff.

We were, however, able to find gun stores online and nearby. Qustodio has a lengthy privacy policy on how it collects, uses, and stores your data, acknowledging that it may anonymize personal data for research or statistical purposes.

Qustodio does alert parents about new apps that their child downloads which they can then block access to.

The most current location is displayed in a line on the app, above the parent news feed. However instead of showing the location on a map, as Google Family Link does, it merely lists the address. The trouble is, Qustodio seems to have a hard time identifying the actual address. Finally, Qustodio is a good choice only for kids with Android phones. On the iPhone, the paid version of Qustodio is more limited: Although it can block a particular set of popular kids apps, such as Fortnite and YouTube, it cannot identify all apps on the iPhone.

When our kids were playing Hatch , a digital pet game on the iPhone, for example, it could not stop them from playing it when time was up. The only way to stop our child from playing by using parental controls was to block access to the entire phone manually. Qustodio has a list of all of the apps it can monitor on the iPhone: as of this review, there are only about On the iPhone, Qustodio also repeatedly and inaccurately claimed that our child was visiting Amazon; Qustodio notes that its feed reports some third-party advertisements or content.

It kept reporting that my kid was using Facebook when the app is not even installed on his device. Deleting this one for good. If your child uses an iPhone, and you use an Android phone, our picks may not work well for you. One popular option among parents we surveyed is OurPact , which used to run on both Android and iOS phones.

As of April it runs only on Android phones, due to a move by Apple to purge screen-time tracker competitors from its App Store or restrict their capabilities.

OurPact offers three tiers: The basic tier is free, but limited in scope. The Premium tier offers the most flexibility and control for parents. With the Plus and Premium tiers, parents can create more than one schedule. They can limit access to the smartphone at night, as well as during dinnertime or other times.

Parents cannot see how their child uses their smartphone, such as if their child is spending an inordinate amount of time on gaming. Similar to OurPact, unGlue is a subscription-based parental control app that operates on both the iOS and Android platforms.

Safe Lagoon is another good option for parents to monitor what their kids are doing online. The app is available both for Android and iOS devices as well as for windows.

Safe Lagoon is doing a great job Android Only in monitoring your kids Instant Messaging communication and see who calls and texts them. We liked the instant notification and daily email reports that the parents can receive and see the exact behavior of their kids, what sites they try to access and what apps they play.

The free version is very limited with features but if you have one device and looking for web filtering this is a good option for you. The ZenScreen app takes a different approach to parental control focusing mainly on screen time monitoring. Once installed the app is making our kids take mini Zen brakes from social media or other apps. Good app for screen time management but not much more than that. App is available both for Android and iPhone.

The SecureKids app works only on Android. The basic features on the free version do allow parents to block calls and apps that you don't want your kids to have access to.

It also has a Geo location feature that lets parents know where their kids are at any time. The app free version allows for 1 kid and 1 device so if you have more kids you need to follow you would have to pay. One of the coolest features securekids have is the Alarm option which lets parents set alarms on their kids device to remind them things such as meds to take or where they are supposed to meet them. Another good features that gives parents some peace of mind is the one click emergency button which lets the kids notify parents when in danger.

Sreentime by screentime labs is a great parental control app that work both for Android and for iPhone. It is feature rich and has screen time management, monitoring, filtering and tracking options.

One of thier finest features is the pause now function where parents can just pause anything their kid is doing on their phone at a given time.

The free version is very basic and if you have iPhone it is has zero value but for Android devices it lets parents track what their kids are watching on Youtube, web history and monitoring of social nerworks. Visit Screen Time. Keepers is a good option for free parental control, it does have in app purchases for certain features. The app is available on both Android and for iPhone.

It has most of the basic features such as time managment and location tracking as well as internet filtering. They pride them selves for tracking most of the popular social networks so if your kids are spending most of their time on facebook or instagram this app can definitely help you be in the know.

One of the features we liked most is the battery alarm which notifies the parents right before the battery of the child phone is dead so you can communicate beforehand and not worry when not needed. Visit Keepers. Familykeeper is employing artificial intelligence to track sings of cyberbullying or worrisome behavior. The offers parents to customize the alerts they receive on inappropriate content or messages on social networks.

The app has the basic features such as location tracking and time management as well as battery tracker that lets parents know when their kid's phone is about to die. You would need to first install the parents app and then pair it to the child's app. There is a free version of the app which is limited in features but lets you add up to 4 children.

The free version includes only the location tracking and battery levels in addition to alerts on certain activities.

Visit familyKeeper. Some of you might think that free parental control app is not as good as their premium counterparts. Yes, this can be true but not in all cases. Most of the time, these free apps are a good first aid solution. You just have to know where to look and which one to download.

We highly recommend that before you decide on the app you want to commit to, try to find a free version of the parental control app. However, in some cases, the free version might be limited, for example it will only show you how it monitors Facebook but not sms etc. The scope of premium parental control apps is usually much wider and will present a broader solution.

The full versions usually allow you to track more than one device and gives the parents a better visibility to the online activities and whereabouts of their children. Free parental control apps on mobile and smart devices will work like their counterparts on desktop computers and laptops.

The best free parental control apps have mobile-friendly versions. This means that they are automatically optimized to adjust based on the screen of the device that you are using in order to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience.

Make sure to read our detailed reviews to confirm that the apps support the operating system that you wish to monitor. Just like you would take a car for a test drive, the best way to decide which parental control app best fits your needs, is to first try its free version.

In most of the apps you will be able to follow the online activities of your children and prevent cyberbullying almost entirely. Most platforms allow you to set up some kind of parental control inside the console.