Parental control apps compared

Bark is built around alerts. It checks texts, dozens of social apps and email for signs of danger and tells you when it finds something, without showing you every message. Bark Premium costs $14 a month or $99 a year for any number of kids and devices. Bark Jr, at $5 a month, keeps the screen time, blocking and location parts but drops the monitoring.

On an iPhone, Bark needs an extra $49-a-year Bark Sync device for full monitoring of texts and photos, and it says it has no coverage on iPhone for TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Discord or Roblox. Android gets much more.

Web filtering, app blocking, schedules, location and YouTube filtering, from $2.99 a month billed yearly. It also runs on Kindle Fire and Chromebook, which many apps skip. Its social media checks cover Facebook and Snapchat, and Snapchat only on Android. It doesn't look at email.

A tidy dashboard for limits, filtering and location across Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android, iPhone and Kindle. The Basic plan is $59.95 a year for five devices, Complete is $104.95 a year and adds alerts in WhatsApp and Line, plus calls and messages. On an iPhone, the calls and messages part needs a Mac. There's a free plan for one device.

Aura bought Circle and now sells parental controls as its Kids plan, $10 a month billed yearly, for any number of kids. It filters websites, sets time limits and can pause the internet, and it watches in-game chat in more than 200 PC games, on Windows only. If you already pay for Aura's identity protection, the Family plan includes it.

Canopy filters adult content in the browser and can stop a nude photo from being sent on Android. On an iPhone it alerts you instead. Canopy's own help page says it does not scan text messages, email or calls.

A long-standing web filter with screen time and app blocking. Its support page now says Android, Kindle Fire and Chromebook are not supported, so it fits iPhone and computer households only. On an iPhone, its app has to stay open in the background or the internet stops working.

$49.99 a year, with a 30-day trial. It shows web, search and video history and sets time limits on Windows, Android and iPhone. It doesn't work on a child's Mac, and Norton says text supervision and call blocking are currently turned off on Android.

Simple and phone-focused: block apps on a schedule, turn the internet off at dinner, see where your child is. The Premium+ plan takes screenshots of the phone and flags worrying ones, which is how it sees content, instead of reading messages directly.

A long feature list for little money, including messages, browser history and driving reports. Many of its reports aren't available on an iPhone. Its site says it can monitor emails, but its own help pages don't say which email accounts, so don't count on it for that.

Schedules, app limits, adult website blocking, purchase approval, and a list of who your child can call and message. It works on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, and goes deeper on an iPhone than any app can, because Apple limits what other apps may see there.

Time limits, bedtime, app approvals and location on Android and Chromebook. On an iPhone it only partly works: app limits, Chrome filtering and screen time don't apply there. Google itself says its filters are not perfect.

Screen time on Windows PCs and Xbox, and app limits on Android. Its web filter works only in the Edge browser, and it blocks other browsers to make that stick. Microsoft says its location features are going away.

It depends on what worries you most. For alerts about what's said in texts, social apps and email, Bark. For limits and filtering on a mix of devices, Qustodio or Mobicip. For an all-Apple family, start with Screen Time, which is free and goes deeper on an iPhone than any app can.

The one already on your child's device: Apple Screen Time on an iPhone or iPad, Google Family Link on Android and Chromebook, Microsoft Family Safety on Windows and Xbox. Qustodio, Mobicip and FamiSafe also have free plans, each for one or two devices.

Almost none can. Of the twelve apps here, Bark is the only one whose own help pages describe checking a child's mailbox, and only for Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Comcast and AOL accounts. Canopy says outright that it doesn't scan email. The rest don't list it.

Maybe not. Screen Time covers schedules, app limits, adult websites, who your child can call or message, and purchase approval. Apps add things Apple doesn't do, such as alerts about what's said in messages. On an iPhone, Apple also limits what those apps can see.

Not in the US. Since 2024 Kaspersky can't sell or renew its products to US customers, and its apps are gone from the US app stores. Existing installs keep working until the license runs out, but they stop flagging new websites and apps as unsuitable.