Parental Control Software: Nowadays, children are addicted to playing games online, watching videos(on Youtube, Netflix, etc.), sending snaps, posting on Instagram, and other things parents can’t even guess.
As a parent, it’s difficult to keep your kids away from online life. Kids today find maintaining streaks on Snapchat more important than their studies.
Although it looks harmless, there are times children are exposed to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, scams, and various other internet threats. It’s scary.
But don’t worry, dear parents. You can use parental control software to protect your kids from online threats. This software allows parents to set up restrictions on inappropriate content and monitor their child’s online activities.
Additionally, the parental control software can limit the amount of time a child spends online playing games or browsing, helping them stay focused and productive with their studies or other tasks.
As a parent, you can get peace of mind knowing that you are taking proactive steps towards protecting your kids while still allowing them some freedom when it comes to exploring the Internet safely.
Keep on reading. This article will discuss how to set up parental control software on your child’s device.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Parental Control Software
There are numerous advantages to using parental controls on kids’ devices, yet, it is equally important to tell kids that you trust them.
It is vital to use parental controls to protect kids from harmful content, and the first step to setting them up is to ensure kids and teens understand why Parental controls are in their devices.
Let’s have a look at the benefits of Parental Control Software:
Monitor and Control your Child’s online activity
Parental control software allows you to watch over and regulate your child’s internet activity. The Internet is a vast place, and you can do anything on the Internet without limits. You can track their emails and text messages, check their social media, and ensure their online safety.
You can monitor what they are doing online and set controls. Your child might be doing different inappropriate and unusual activities or might be talking to a stranger. It is possible to keep track of their activities and monitor them.
Block inappropriate content
The Internet is full of inappropriate content. It is not guaranteed that your child will not be exposed to those content. Children are driven by negative things and be curious about inappropriate content.
Your child might get exposed to inappropriate content like pornography, violence, extremist behavior, offensive text, videos, photos, and content including racism and hate. These are the threats, and you should be careful about your kids’ online safety.
With the help of parental control software, you can set restrictions and helps in web filtering. Also, You can block certain websites you don’t want your child to visit.
Set Screen time
Parental controls can help you limit the amount of time your child spends using their phone. It is an effective feature to save your child from the different adverse effects of screens.
Spending too much time on the screen can affect on child’s inability to learn, cause inadequate sleep, eye dryness irritation, and also causes screen addiction. With parental controls, you can limit their phone usage and limit their time to avoid such dangers.
Track Location
You can know your child’s location with the help of parental control apps. If your child is not connected to the Internet, it shows the last known location of your child’s device.
Monitoring apps also provide the Geofencing feature that helps you to set boundaries for your child. If your child crosses the boundary, the software notifies you.
Keeps safe from Online threats
With the maximum internet use, the threats are also increasing rapidly. There are security threats of malware, spyware, phishing, adware, and other threats. Furthermore, there are risks associated with cyber threats, such as online predators, cyberbullying, frauds, scams, and others.
You can monitor and guide your child about online threats using monitoring apps. Monitoring apps help you to block malware and spyware and prevent your child from cyberbullying by teaching them and blocking inappropriate sites.
Choosing the right Parental Control Software
Various parental control software has multiple features that can help you monitor your child’s activities. You can be concerned about how much time your kids spend on their phones. Some parents try to force restrictions on children’s mobile usage but frequently fail. Here are the right parental control softwares that can help:
Bark
Bark is popular monitoring software that ensures your child’s internet safety. It monitors social media, text messages, emails, and many more. It is available on both iOS and Android. The basic plan for Bark Jr. starts from $5 per month.
Key Features:
- Monitor social media activities.
- Detects threats and notifies you.
- Tracks your child’s location.
- Filter the websites your kids visit.
- A dashboard that lets you see your child’s activities.
Fenced.ai
Fenced.ai is the most reliable app for monitoring a child’s online activities. It monitors the phone calls and SMS sent and received by your children. It enables you to monitor all their activities remotely. You can set restrictions on google play and web search engines too.
One of the best features of this app is that it alerts you if your kids uninstall it. You can also track locations and set screen time for your kids’ devices.
The best part about Fenced.ai Parental Control Software is its affordability & it can easily fit into most family budgets! You can set up this app on your kids’ iOS and Android devices.
The pricing plan for Fenced.ai starts from $6.67 per month. In contrast, the free plan is free of cost.
Key Features:
- Monitors the images and videos on their smartphone.
- Display a history of your child’s device location.
- Tracks your child’s social media activity.
- Monitors your child’s browsing activity.
- When your children change their Wi-Fi connection, it sends you a notification.
Norton Family
Norton Family provides real-time insights into what your kids are doing on the Internet, enabling you to keep track of websites they visit, apps they use, searches they make, and more.
You can also set age-appropriate filters for web content as well as time limits for device usage; this way, you can easily monitor how much time your children spend on the internet or playing games each day without having to supervise them yourself constantly.
It is compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. Norton Family only has one price plan, and it’s $49.99 a year.
Key Features:
- Limit Screen time.
- Displays your child’s search history.
- Reports the phone usage of your child to you through email.
- Offers a web filtering technology that removes inappropriate content from the Internet.
- Keep an eye on your children’s social media accounts.
MobileSpy
MobileSpy parental control is a powerful tool for parents to monitor and protect their children from online dangers. With this app, parents can track what their kids are doing on the Internet, block inappropriate content and websites, limit screen time, set up alerts for suspicious activity, and much more.
MobileSpy is Compatible with Android and iOS, and the basic subscription plans start from $9.99 per month.
Key Features:
- Track calls.
- Track SMS.
- Watch the SIM details.
- Monitor your contacts.
- Monitor multimedia files (Photos & Videos).
- Keep track of Wi-Fi networks.
- App activity and applications.
- Track your location and set up a geofence.
Mobicip
Mobicip parental control is a powerful tool for parents to monitor and manage their children’s online activities. This software lets parents filter out inappropriate websites, track web history, set time limits on device usage, and block certain apps from being used.
Its customizable filtering system allows you to select which content your child can access based on age-appropriate ratings or specific keywords.
Mobicip can be used on Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, and Kindle fire. It has a very competitive price which starts from just $2.99 per month.
Key Features:
- Tracks your child’s location to keep them safe.
- Allows you to remotely lock and unlock your child’s devices to set a screen time limit for them.
- It will enable you to control prohibited apps and block apps remotely.
- Gives you a report on the web browsing history of your children.
- Give you four weeks to look at the report.
Setting up the Parental Control Software
After reading about the Parental Control app and its benefits, you might wonder how to set up parental controls on your kids’ devices. You don’t have to worry. We will guide you through the installation process step by step.
Choosing a parental control service is the first step. You may select any of the parental controls listed above, depending on your preferences. Then follow the steps:
Sign up
Visit the sign-up page to get started, and then fill out all the requested information. Choose the ideal plan for you and your family from there. View the pricing and subscription plans. Select the subscription plans and features according to your needs.
Install parental controls
Select the target platform, either iOS or Android, and then follow the installation prompts; this takes about a minute. Make sure to select “Allow installs from unknown sources” for Android devices throughout the installation process, which can be located in settings.
Start Monitoring
From any device, log into your Parental control account. The data begins to synchronize with your account as soon as mobile data or Wi-Fi is turned on in the target device. After then, you can start watching your kid’s internet activities.
Tips for using parental control software
Your kid might try to bypass monitoring software. Kids are smart and tech geeks. They always try to get around spying apps to avoid interference. Use secure passwords, PIN numbers, several levels of security, and robust parental control software. Make sure your children understand the reasons behind the rules.
Explain The Rules
Discuss potential internet threats, your worries, and why the regulations are in place with your children. Inform them that there may be exceptions to the rules and that children should talk to you about them.
For example, they must be able to speak to you about it if they want to use their money for in-game purchases. As kids age, they’ll need to utilize apps for their professions, engage with friends, and complete their homework. So create room for regulations to adapt over time.
Supporting vs. Spying
Kids often perceive these measures as spying on them. Encourage them to realize that you need to introduce these controls to monitor their relationships and chats.
Explain that parental controls are meant to help them participate in the online communities where they live rather than to spy on or monitor every detail of their lives.
Make them understand online dangers and threats, the negative effects of inappropriate content, and so on. Tell them you’re monitoring them to keep them safe.
Use Strong Passwords
Children can try to crack their parents’ passwords to get around parental controls. They might secretly attempt to set a password or figure out the one you use for specific accounts.
Use should not use simple and easy passwords that your kids can guess. Passwords like “username1234” and”‘Favouritefood”‘ are easily guessable. You should set easy-to-remember yet strong passwords. For example: #wa$h1ngTonD(, ALPh@mal3, etc.
Conclusion
Parental control software is an essential tool for parents to help protect their children from the dangers of the Internet. This software will help parents block inappropriate websites, set web content, limit access times, and track online activity.
Parents can set it up on their child’s devices to ensure their children stay safe while browsing online and avoid potential harm or exploitation by cybercriminals. We highly recommend that all parents consider using parental control software to keep their kids safe when they go online.
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