8 Best Free Parental Control Apps in 2024

As parents, we cannot stop ourselves from wondering what our children do with their phones, especially when they start keeping some friends or hiding their phones away from us. Luckily, some parental control tools make it a breeze to see what our kids navigate on their phones.

In case you are overwhelmed by these rampant apps, this post contains some of the best free parental control apps. Read on to discover more!

Part 1. What Makes the Best Parental Control Apps

As mentioned earlier, these apps for parental control have become rampant, and getting the right one poses to be a headache. So, when compiling our picks, we collected some criteria that create the best parent control app to make your decision-making process much easier.

Here's what the best parental control software offers:

Ease of Use

One crucial aspect to look for in a free parental control app is its user-friendliness. It should have a simple and intuitive interface that allows you to monitor and manage your child's online activities easily. So, we make sure our top picks are easy to navigate for you.

Powerful Parental Control features

A typical app for parental control should let you track your child's live location, supervise screen time, monitor and block apps as well as websites, detect inappropriate activities on social media, etc.

Reliability and Privacy-protection

Your child's safety and privacy is a top priority. So, a trustworthy family control app should have strong security measures in place and a clear privacy policy. You can also determine if it is reliable by looking for real users' reviews.

Customer Support

A powerful parental control tool, whether it is free or paid, should provide responsive customer support channels, such as email or live chat, to address any questions or concerns you may have. Good customer support makes your overall experience of using it more hassle-free.

Part 2. Top 8 Parental Control Apps for Android & iPhone

To meet the above criteria, we tested and evaluated several popular apps with every basic parental control feature and the standout features they have. Then, we compiled the top 8 best free parental control apps for Android and iPhone below.

1Google Family Link - Free

Google Family Link is a first-option parent control app available for free. Its many features are well integrated with the Android and iPhone. However, it doesn't work if your kid uses an iPhone or iPad. Here are some features that you may need to set up better parental control.

Key Features:

• Location tracking with geofencing
• Online activity reports
• Web & app filtering
• Screen time scheduling
• Device locking with one-tap

Note: If your kids log their Google account on several devices, the location tracking may be inaccurate.

Compatibility: Android & iPhone

2Screen Time - Free

Screen Time is integrated with iOS settings so this is best for those who are not willing to install any app. It helps you gain control of your kid's device usage and shows how long your kids spend on which apps. But note that every time you need to set up parental control for your little ones, you have to access their phones.

Key Features:

• Phone usage insights
• Content & website restriction
• App time limiting
• Downtime

Compatibility: iPhone

3AirDroid Parental Control - 3-Day Free Trial

AirDroid Parental Control is one of the best parental control apps suitable for families. With it, you, a parent or guardian, can remotely monitor and manage kids' Android cell phones. Its remote operation function is definitely its ace among our top picks. Furthermore, it developed a safe browser for kids so you can safeguard their online browsing.

Key Features:

• Real-time location with geofencing
• Notifications syncing
• Kids' surroundings watching and hearing
• Kid's phone screen monitoring
• Screen time & app management
• Harmful social content detection
• Browsing history tracking
• Web filtering

Compatibility: Android, iPhone, and Web

Money-Back Guarantee: A refund will be made after contacting customer service.

4FamiSafe Parental Control - 3-Day Free Trial

FamiSafe is a Wondershare product and one of the top monitoring apps for families. In addition to some basic features to help you monitor and manage your child's digital activities, it also delivers detailed driving history reports, which provides peace of mind for you if you are a parent of teenage drivers.

Key Features:

• Real-time location with geofencing
• YouTube & TikTok watching history
• Inappropriate photos detecting
• Browsing & searching history tracking
• App blocking
• Web filtering

Note: In my test, Famisafe cannot track YouTube shorts that your kid watched. Moreover, its website blocking by categories feature lags, which sometimes lets your child be exposed to harmful sites.

Compatibility: Android, iPhone, and Web

Money-Back Guarantee: 7 days 

5Norton Family - 7-Day Free Trial

As an outstanding product of the leading security company, Norton Family is not just a parental control app but also a tool for learning. The learning features block distracting notifications from popping up while your kid is studying. Besides, it has a built-in safe search engine with auto web filtering.

Key Features:

• Real-time location with geofencing
• Internet access restricting
• Browsing history tracking
• Screen time & app management
• Web filtering
• Device locking

Note: Norton Family's browsing history tracking feature is most powerful as it works with 8 browsers even including Yahoo, Ask, and FireFox.

Compatibility: Android, iPhone, and Web

Money-Back Guarantee: 60 days

6Net Nanny - 3-Day Free Trial

Net Nanny has all industry-standard parental control features. As it focuses on filtering and blocking explicit content, it is also recognized as the best porn blocker software. So, it will perfectly meet your needs if you are looking for a parental control tool to keep your child safe from the dangers of adult content.

Key Features:

• Real-time location with geofencing
• Social media protection
• YouTube watching history tracking
• Screen time & app management
• Web filtering

Compatibility: Android, iPhone, and Web

Money-Back Guarantee: 14 days

7Bark - 7-Day Free Trial

Bark Parental Control uses artificial intelligence to help you keep an eye on your child's online activities across 30+ social platforms. By applying it, you can even proactively monitor text messages, photos, and emails from your child's phone. Different from the above tools, it relies more on trust than spying.

Key Features:

• Real-time location
• Harmful social content & photo & video detection
• Text message monitoring
• Screen time & app management
• Web filtering

Pros

• Unlimited devices with one subscription.
• It empowers you to monitor your kid's text messages.

Cons

• It takes about 20 minutes to send your alerts when it detects harmful text messages from your kid's phone.
• Only available in the US, Australia, and South Africa.
• Expensive.

Compatibility: Android, iPhone, and Web

Money-Back Guarantee: No

8Qustodio - 3-Day Free Trial

Qustodio is an easy-to-use parental control app for Android and iPhone. With it, you can remotely supervise all calls and text messages on your kid's phone. However, this action needs you to install another app. It also provides a permanently free option with limited controls like app blocking and web filtering.



Key Features:

• Real-time location with geofencing
• Call & SMS monitoring and blocking
• Internet access restricting
• Browsing history tracking
• YouTube watching history
• Screen time & app management
• Web filtering

Pros

• It empowers you to monitor and block your kid's text messages and calls.
• It works with your kid's computers, Kindle, and Chromebook.

Cons

• Call and SMS monitoring and blocking only for Android devices.

Compatibility: Android, iPhone, and Web

Money-Back Guarantee: 30 days

Part 3. Tips for Utilizing These Parental Control Tools

To protect your kids from all the dangers of having a phone, you need to make use of these parental control apps. Even though they are simple to use with their friendly user interface, here we'd like to share extra measures to tell you how to put these apps to good use.

Settings Boundaries

Sometimes, talking to them about internet dangers attached to owning a phone is not enough. You need to have rules put in place about phone use. The rule should involve when eating (no phones), when alone (restricted browsing and downloading), etc.

Monitoring and Supervision

Regularly monitor and supervise your child's phone activities. Stay involved in their digital world by reviewing their browsing history, social media interactions, and app usage. This helps you identify any potential red flags or concerning behavior that may require intervention.

Customizing Settings

Take advantage of the customization options available in parental control apps. Set appropriate restrictions, such as time limits, app access, and content filtering, based on your child's age and maturity level.

Balancing Control and Trust

While it's important to establish boundaries and set limits, it's equally crucial to foster trust with your child. Maintain open communication and make them understand that the internet contains scammers, the dark web, and other unpleasant tries. When communicating with them, you need to be as gentle as you can be. Allow them to see you as a friend.

FAQs about Free Parental Control Software

Is There a Completely Free Parental Control App?

Elsa

Yes, of course. Google Family Link is the best option, with features like app management, location tracking, phone usage monitoring, and web filtering. But these are basic parental control features. We still suggest using other apps with subscription, which offers richer capabilities and even offers uninstall protection.

Do Smartphones Have Built-In Parental Controls?

Elsa

Yes. You can achieve a lot of parental control with the built-in Screen Time feature if your kid is using an iOS device. It allows you to monitor their phone usage and restrict their access to harmful content.

Should I Monitor My Kids?

Elsa

Yes. Even though kids, especially teens, do not want to be monitored, you, as a parent, should take responsibility. Just note that stop your monitoring when your kid is an adult.

What Is the Best App to Monitor My Child’s Phone?

Elsa

Google Family Link is the best free one to meet your basic parental control needs, while AirDroid Parental Control stands out from those paid apps with its remote operation features.

Is There a Free Parental Control App That Cannot Be Deleted?

Elsa

No. Free parental control apps like Google Family Link can be easily uninstalled by your child, and the parental control within Apple Screen Time can be easily bypassed. So you'd better choose a parental control tool with uninstall protection.