5 Best Free Parental Control Apps for Android
Kids are becoming web-savvy these days. They play games, learn vocabulary and do math exercises – all online. But some of those kid-friendly web sites they go may be opening doors to the adult contents that parents don’t want them to see. Currently, one of the most used media for kids to go online are mobile devices, both smartphones and tablets.
To make sure that your children are using Android device in the way they are supposed to, you need to install parental control apps. With a parental control app installed, you’ll be able to monitor his or her online activities to ensure that your child is safe.
Some of these apps allow you to put restrictions of online websites they can explore, monitoring of their call usage or text, select the apps that your kids are allowed to access, and the time they are allowed to spend on their devices.
The following are some of the best parental control apps that help you keep track the activities of your kids and protect them from the Internet’s bad side.
1. Kid’s Shell
Kid’s Shell is an excellent parental control app for Android. This app is designed to make a parent’s smartphone or tablet safe for children. With this app, you can create a safe environment by selecting application that your kids are allowed to run on your device. Thus, your kid will not be able to call anyone, write a text message or open any other app than those approved.
You can gather all application your children like in one secure place. They will not be able to click on ads and make in-app purchases. There is no opportunity for a kid to leave a shell, so you can rest assured that your restrictions work. The app is protected with a password for this purpose.
Other Features:
Locked Home button
Math password for Parent mode and Exit.
Up to 48 aproved applications on a workspace.
Optimized for Tablets and Phones.
2. Family Time Parental Control
FamilyTime is a powerful parental control app that lets parents monitor and manage how their children use their Android devices. This app has two versions; one for kids and the other for parents.
These two separate versions allows parents to manage their kid’s screen time remotely without being snoopy. Parents can access their dashboard from both smartphones and laptops. From the dashboard, they can view reports of their child’s contacts, call logs, bookmarks, installed apps, location-history, Web history, and a number of other options. You can easily customize and make different settings for each of your child add profiles and change settings any time. You can also remotely lock their phone at anytime so that your kids can not use their smartphone.
Other features:
App Blocker – Remotely block unwanted apps and games on your children’s Android phones & tablets!
Limit Screen Time – You can limit screen time on child’s phone during dinner and bedtime or define custom rules.
Track SMS – Remotely monitor all text messages sent and received by your children on their mobile devices.
View Activity Reports – FamilyTime lets you view the phone activity reports of your children from this parental control App. You can view their location history and other phone usage info even on the go!
SOS/Panic Alerts – Receive SOS Alerts from your children with full location details.
PickMeUp Alerts – Get PickMeUp Alerts from your children with complete location info when it’s time to pick them up.
3. Kids Zone Parental Controls
Kids Zone is another best parental lock that allows you to create a profile for your child on your smartphone or tablet. In the profile, you can choose app that you allows your child to use. You can add an unique wallpaper for your kid to enjoy and set a secret password to prevent him or her from changing restrictions.
With Kids Zone installed, your children will be unable to install apps or make in-app purchases. The app also provides parents with an ability to apply time-outs. You can specify time during which your child can use your device. As soon as the time is over, your kid has no access to the gadget.
In addition, you can block phone calling, text messaging and prevent them from accessing the Internet.
If you upgrade to the Pro version, the app gives you the ability to create individual profiles for each of your kids. Moreover, a quick-to-call feature will become available to you. It means you will be able to quickly unlock the phone to take an incoming call.
Other features:
Create a custom PIN required to unlock your device & the app’s preferences.
Can remove default PIN so Teens can’t unlock the device.
Kids Zone analyzes apps on your phone for kid-friendly apps.
4. Screen Time Parental Control
As the name suggests, Screen Time is an app that lets you manage the time your kids spend on your Android phone or tablet. You can keep track of all the apps and games accessed by your kids and also the time spent on each of these apps. You can also block certain apps which you feel your kid should not be accessing at certain time. For example, you can block only games at bed time but still allow readings apps. Screen Time also allows you to set time limits on selected apps.
Screen Time Parental Control also has a unique incentive feature, which will grant additional time when a task is completed, such as a chore or homework assignment.
Other Features:
Pause & Play – Use your phone or tablet to pause your child’s device or give Bonus time.
Time Limits – Set a daily time limit on the apps you want to restrict.
5. Kids Place – Parental Control
Kids Place is an app lock with unique parental control. It comes with parental controls and child lock feature that protects your personal data and restricts kids to apps you have approved. Kids Place app also prevents children from downloading new apps, making phone calls, texting or performing other actions that need payment. It also includes convenience features for parents such as auto app restart, useful for small kids who accidentally exit launched apps.
Apart from that, it’s also capable of blocking phone calls and disabling all wireless signals. When you install and use the app for the first time, you have to first set a PIN for security purposes.
Other features:
Add custom wallpaper to customize your child’s experience while in Kids Place.
Can restarts apps accidentally stopped by small children, allowing parents to stay focused on their own tasks.
Timer feature to lock Kids Place after specified amount of time.
No comments: