The Best Free Parental Control Apps in 2024

mSpy stood out for me right away as the overall best solution for monitoring mobile devices due to its comprehensive features and user-friendly interface. It offers pretty much every tool you’d need for monitoring your child via their mobile device, including live screen recording, the ability to read deleted messages, automated screenshot capture, and real-time location tracking.

This all-in-one functionality means that you can seamlessly keep an eye on all your child’s digital activities, no matter what they’re doing. mSpy even includes web filtering options so you can block any suspicious websites. This ensures that your child is always protected from inappropriate or dangerous content while they’re browsing.

mSpy also has one of the most extensive social media monitoring I’ve seen across parental monitoring apps. Besides common platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, you can also keep an eye on Snapchat, Viber, Skype, TikTok, and even Tinder if you think your teen might be using it.

Plus, there is also a keylogger that saves every word they type, and you can view it all from your remote dashboard. In my testing, I learned that you can extend this function to set keyword alerts that will notify you if they type specific words, which can be pretty handy to keep your kids away from inappropriate websites. mSpy even lets you see all of your child’s photos and videos saved on their devices.

To access all mSpy features, you’ll need to jailbreak an iPhone or root an Android device. However, mSpy’s excellent customer support guided me through the process, and it ended up being a piece of cake.

While it isn’t completely free, mSpy’s free demo lets you explore all its features without any financial commitment, giving you the chance to try everything before you go for one of its ultra-affordable plans.

mSpy isn’t completely free, but it has a free demo version that lets you try out all of its features before you choose which paid plan works best for you. By opting for one of mSpy’s paid plans, you’ll get one of the cheapest annual plans on the market and all the features you could possibly need to make sure your kids are safe on their mobile devices. Here’s the breakdown:

Investing in mSpy might mean you pay a bit, but the added features and peace of mind it provides make it a worthwhile consideration for anyone serious about online security. Not to mention, when you pay annually, it works out to under $12/month, which is a small price to pay for your child’s safety.

mSpy is ideal if you’re looking for a single all-in-one solution packed with features to monitor your child’s cell phone. Not only can you track your child’s socials, calls, and SMS, but also control the apps they’re using. You can record their screen and even track their live location.

uMobix is considered to be one of the easiest-to-use parental control apps for several reasons. Its intuitive interface is designed with simplicity in mind, so you’ll be able to navigate the app quickly and effortlessly. Setting up uMobix is a straightforward process, requiring minimal technical knowledge—it takes just a few easy steps to install and configure it on your child’s device.

If you’re like most busy parents, you probably don’t have the time to learn how to use an entirely new app and where to find all the data you need. uMobix’s dashboard provides a clear overview of all monitored activities, making it simple to access important information at a glance. Features like your child’s location, messages, and app usage are organized in a user-friendly manner, allowing you to find what you need quickly.

Additionally, uMobix offers tons of helpful tutorials and customer support, so you’re sure to get any help you need.

When it comes to tracking your child’s social media, uMobix also has you covered. Not many parental monitoring apps can track dating apps like Tinder, so if you’re the parent of a minor child who might be using the app, you’ll want to keep an eye on their dating. In fact, with uMobix, you can track 15 social media apps, including popular apps like TikTok and X (formerly Twitter).

The platform also allows you to monitor your kid’s YouTube activity, and details such as recently watched videos, search history, likes, and comments can be tracked. Overall, uMobix allows you to track more than 30 apps.

Another handy feature is uMobix’s Camera Snapshot, which captures a photo of your child’s surroundings using either the front or back cameras so that you know where they are. These photos are saved for up to six months and can be accessed anytime from your dashboard.

Finally, uMobix also provides complete remote control of the target device, allowing parents to delete unwanted apps. You can also set screen time limits so your kids aren’t spending all day on their devices.

Some of uMobix’s features, like remote control and camera snapshots, are only available on Android. Nonetheless, it’s still a great parental control app for iOS and it covers all the basics, like call and text message monitoring, and some social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.

Here’s what you can expect to pay with uMobix:

uMobix offers a comprehensive set of features with every plan, so you’ll have access to everything you need right from the start. While it isn’t free and doesn’t have a free trial, you can explore the app through its detailed demo, which provides a realistic preview of its capabilities. Additionally, uMobix’s 14-day refund policy gives you peace of mind as you test it out.

While you may not be ready for a paid parental control app, it’s worth noting that their one-year plan not only includes a significant discount but also gives you an extra year for free, delivering over 75% off the regular price. This makes it a great solution for parental monitoring that offers tons of value for about as close to free as you can get.

uMobix is ideal if you’re new to installing monitoring apps and don’t have time to mess around trying to learn all of its features. uMobix is easy to install and use and comes with tons of features, including the monitoring of up to 30 different apps. 

As I mentioned above, Spynger is a monitoring app that is not geared toward parental control but for tracking cheating spouses. However, during my research, I discovered that most of its features work equally well for parental control, and it’s a well-known, reputable app for social media tracking, so I felt compelled to include it.

With Spynger, you can monitor up to 16 social media apps, including all the obvious main apps but also Discord, Hangout, and Kik. This will give you an idea of how your kids use social media, and you can also actively monitor their accounts to stop inappropriate content and cyberbullying.

You can also track your child’s exact real-time location at all times, and you’ll even get timestamps and dates, so you can see precisely where they were and for how long. Plus, you can set geo-fencing alerts, which will notify you if your child goes beyond a set geographical boundaries, like their school or your home.

One of the most impressive features of Spynger is its hidden screen recorder and keylogger, which can record your child’s phone screen and send you periodic screenshots.

Spynger is also end-to-end encrypted, which means that only you can access the information from your child’s phone, ensuring no external foul play. All of this tracking happens in Stealth Mode, which means that Spynger runs discreetly in the background and sends no notifications.

Spynger isn’t free, but it has a much longer money-back guarantee than another similar app on the market. It comes loaded with value for a good price and is packed with features for social media monitoring and more, making it a worthwhile purchase.

Spynger offers three plans based on duration, all of which are a tad cheaper than their competitors.

As mentioned, Spynger might not offer a free trial or demo, but it stands out for its exceptional value. Its 30-day refund policy gives you ample time to evaluate its features risk-free. Its annual subscription is notably more affordable than many alternatives, making it a budget-friendly option for parents.

When considering the benefits of a paid app over a free one, Spynger’s cost-effectiveness, combined with its comprehensive features, offers a compelling case. To sum it up, investing in Spynger means gaining access to reliable monitoring tools without straining your budget.

Spynger is perfect for the parent of any child addicted to social media if you want to track them on every platform possible. Spynger tracks 16 social media apps, including Tinder and Skype, which gives you a bird’s eye view of every social handle your kids use.

If there’s anything I know personally is that there’s a good chance your teenager is deleting inappropriate messages, web searches, and content for fear of being caught. SpyBubble Pro allows you access to deleted calls, text messages, and social media messages, which means that you’re always going to be in the know.

Besides this, you can extensively track your child’s email, regardless of the provider. Here, too, you can view deleted emails and any attachments that might have been trashed.

I also found that the platform offers excellent device monitoring features. For example, if your child tries to swap out their SIM card, you will receive an instant notification (this is also handy if their device gets stolen or lost and someone switches the SIM card).

I love that SpyBubble can block Wi-Fi connections and websites. If your kid isn’t staying on task and spending too much time online, you can cut them off in an instant—perfect for when they’re grounded. It also provides detailed reports on app usage, and you can restrict or even permanently delete overused apps on your child’s phone.

However, one area where SpyBubble falls a bit short is its social media monitoring. If your child has an Android device, you can track their Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Tinder, YouTube, Snapchat, and all their messages in these apps. But if they have an iPhone, you can only track Facebook and Instagram.

While it’s not free, its annual plan is nearly there at under $13/month, which is peanuts when it comes to keeping your kid safe.

SpyBubble Pro offers a standard plan with duration-based pricing tiers.

While SpyBubble Pro doesn’t offer a free trial or demo, it delivers impressive value through its long-term plans. Opting for the 3-month or annual subscription not only provides you with comprehensive monitoring features but also includes data storage for up to six months. This means you can review past activity and ensure you’re always informed.

Additionally, by reaching out to customer support via the chat function, I was able to secure an extra 15% discount on my subscription, enhancing its affordability. Overall I feel that SpyBubble Pro’s extended data storage and significant discounts make it a standout choice for managing devices remotely, offering a lot of value compared to some of the free options out there.

SpyBubble Pro is best for you if your child seems to be deleting their content to cover their tracks. If you think they might be hiding messages, emails, and web searches so you don’t see them, SpyBubble offers the solution.

Phonsee caught my eye right away for its affordable pricing structure and the value it offers for its cost. While it isn’t entirely free, Phonsee provides a cost-effective solution with subscription plans that are competitively priced compared to other parental control apps, especially when you purchase the annual subscription.

If you’re a parent who has a tight budget but wants to keep your child safe, Phonsee offers all the features you need without the risk of a potentially dodgy free app. Not to mention, it has a free demo, which is as good as using it for free without any commitment.

When I was researching Phonsee, I noticed that it also has an edge over many of its competitors when it comes to its real-time GPS tracking. It gives you the exact coordinates of your child’s location, and if you don’t want them to go to a particular part of the city, you can add a virtual geofence and get alerts when they stray outside these boundaries.

Another area where Phonsee does quite well is in social media monitoring. You can monitor up to 13 social media apps, including WhatsApp, Discord, Snapchat, Instagram, and others. You can read their private conversations and view posts, even if their accounts are private. Plus, I learned that Phonsee also allows you to see photos and videos shared in private chats on these social media platforms.

Phonsee also comes with a keylogger that lets you see everything typed on your child’s phone. This works best for encrypted spaces, such as Telegram secret chats, and it’s perfect if your child has secret passwords or if they delete their messages and web searches after they send them, as you’ll still be able to see it all.

Plus, you can choose restricted words that, when typed, will trigger an alert. Other features include call and SMS tracking, screen recording, viewing website history, and the ability to block apps and websites.

Phonsee is relatively budget-friendly, considering its feature-packed offering.

Phonsee makes a strong case for itself with a free demo that allows you to experience its features before committing. This demo provides a hands-on look at how the app functions, ensuring you can see its capabilities in action.

In addition, Phonsee offers a 14-day refund policy, giving you a two-week window to evaluate its effectiveness risk-free. With an annual subscription priced at just $8.85 per month, it’s one of the cheapest options you can get without compromising on features.

Phonsee is best if you’re on a budget but don’t want to miss out on any monitoring features to keep your child safe. From tracking social media to seeing everything they type and exactly where they are at any given time, it’s the best nearly-free option you can get.

Eyezy stood out for me due to its powerful AI-driven Magic Alerts feature, which helps you monitor your child’s location and online activity. It utilizes advanced algorithms to analyze your child’s online behavior and communications, automatically flagging any suspicious or inappropriate content so you see it right away. This is perfect if you’re a busy parent on the go who doesn’t have time to monitor everything your child does in real time.

The AI scans your child’s messages, social media interactions, and browsing activity for predefined keywords or phrases that you choose, instantly notifying you of any potential risks, such as cyberbullying or exposure to harmful material. The AI can even assess context and usage patterns, so it can differentiate between innocent conversations and potentially problematic ones.

Eyezy’s Magic Alerts feature extends to its geofencing and location tracking, so you’ll know where your kid is at all times. With this tool, you can set a virtual fence around the area in which you want your child to be, and you’ll get automatic alerts on your device anytime they’re breached.

Another great feature is Eyezy’s keystroke capture, which tells you everything your child types on their device, even if they did not send the message. This includes every social media app, text message, password, and even Google search.

Combined with the platform’s Social Spotlight feature, you can keep an eye on every message sent on 11 popular social media apps, including WhatsApp, Snapchat, Kik, Skype, and Telegram.

Plus, there’s a Connection Blocker feature that lets you block websites, Wi-Fi connections, and apps altogether, making it easy to manage access to addictive apps and inappropriate websites.

Eyezy is one of the few apps that come with an official app you can download from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. The features are limited, of course, but you can see information about calls and text messages and track your kid’s location, which may be more than enough for your needs.

You also get multiple options for iOS monitoring, from hands-free iCloud syncing (where you only need your child’s iCloud credentials) to jailbreaking (which adds features like social media monitoring and more).

While not free, Eyezy is one of the cheapest child monitoring apps available. Before you buy, you can try out its free demo to see exactly how it works.

Eyezy is one of the cheapest parental control apps you can get, and it gets cheaper the longer you subscribe. While it’s not free, it’s an easy decision once you see everything it offers for the cost:

Eyezy stands out as one of the most affordable parental control apps, especially when you choose its annual plan. Its convenient demo gives you a hands-on preview of how the app works before making a commitment.

Plus, with its 14-day refund window, you have ample time to test its effectiveness and ensure it meets your needs. The combination of its low annual price, a practical demo, and a generous refund policy makes Eyezy a fantastic choice for any parent on a tight budget who is also tight on time.

Eyezy is the best option for parents with busy schedules who want an app for hands-free monitoring. Its custom, AI-powered alerts for keywords and geofencing is an excellent feature; and something not many apps offer.

While ClevGuard provides a range of apps tailored to different monitoring needs, from comprehensive smartphone tracking solutions to specialized tools like those for WhatsApp, its MoniVisor app is what you’ll need for monitoring desktop PCs running Windows.

MoniVisor is actually one of the few monitoring apps that works well on Windows PCs, supporting Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11. This specialization allows MoniVisor to offer detailed insights into PC activity, making it a valuable tool for parents concerned about their child’s computer usage.

The platform offers a file activity feature that lets you keep track of created, deleted, or renamed files. This feature comes in handy if your child is looking to hide inappropriate content.

Besides this, I learned that you can view the entire browser history across all browsers, which not only tells you the website visited but also the frequency of visits. You can also block specific websites with content involving drugs, violence, phishing, or pornography and set a custom blacklist of websites.

Right from the start, I could also track incoming and outgoing calls and monitor text messages made on the PC, giving me a clear picture of communication activity. It seamlessly tracked interactions across major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and even saw how long was spent on each app.

MoniVisor isn’t a free app, but it’s almost there—to start with, it has a free demo that lets you try everything the app does before you spend a penny. It offers a great 30-day money-back guarantee, which is more than many other providers offer, and it has a “cancel anytime” policy, so there’s really no risk to trying out the cheapest subscription—the annual plan—and canceling if it’s not for you.

Although MoniVisor is not free, its robust features and specialized monitoring capabilities justify the investment. For those considering a free parental control app, MoniVisor’s targeted approach and detailed reporting offer significant value that might change their minds, especially when it costs under $0.40 per day.

ClevGuard is ideal for those looking for an affordable parental control app with excellent desktop monitoring features for Windows PC, which is something that not many parental apps do.

Geofinder is a no-nonsense parental control app that excels in one aspect—finding your child’s exact location. You don’t need to install anything on your child’s phone. Simply visit Geofinder’s official website and enter your child’s phone number. Your child will receive a link, which, when clicked, will show you their exact GPS coordinates.

The platform also has a VPN checker that tells you if your child’s phone is connected to a VPN. Plus, you can get other information like IP addresses, cell phone carrier information, and connected Wi-Fi details.

However, I found in my research that this is basically all Geofinder can do for you. The platform doesn’t offer other parental control features, such as app management, social media tracking, and call and SMS monitoring. Still, it’s great at what it says it does so if this is all you need, Geofinder is a solid pick.

Geofinder costs $49.99/month flat, with no discounts for long-term subscriptions. While this app might seem more expensive compared to other robust monitoring options, and it certainly isn’t free, it offers some distinct advantages that might make you reconsider. It’s user-friendly, doesn’t require any app installation, and is free from compatibility issues, making it a straightforward choice for parents who prefer simplicity.

If you’re hesitant about paying upfront, you can take advantage of its one-day $1 trial to explore its features. Just be sure to cancel before the trial period ends to avoid being automatically upgraded to the higher monthly plan.

Geofinder is ideal for parents who just want to know their child’s precise location and need no other monitoring features. It’s also great if you don’t want to install an app on your child’s device or find that difficult. The platform pulls data from Google Maps, giving you the exact coordinates.

xMobi was a unique find for me because it offers robust monitoring capabilities for gaming chat platforms like Discord, making it a valuable tool for parental control. As gaming increasingly becomes a social activity for children and teens, platforms like Discord serve as key communication channels where they interact with friends and other players.

Specifically, when it comes to Discord, xMobi can track DMs, letting you see all conversations within Discord, including private messages and group chats. While direct audio monitoring may be limited, xMobi can give you logs of voice chat participants, so you’ll know just who your child is communicating with.

The app also tracks media shared in chats, including images, videos, and links, allowing parents to see the content their child is exposed to. It can even give you information about your child’s friends on Discord, so you’ll know more about the connections they’re making online. Activity logs will show you which servers they are most active on and what exactly they’re talking about.

But these features aren’t just limited to Discord. It also lets you track text messages and interactions on popular platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat. You can view their incoming and outgoing calls, and you’ll get their complete call history, including time stamps and duration of the calls, even if your child deletes call history or renames a contact. Plus, you get detailed device information, including apps installed on your child’s phone and their duration of use. xMobi will also locate the presence of any other spy apps on the device.

Besides live location, xMobi tracks your child’s entire route, so you’ll know if, say, your child is taking detours while coming back from school.

While not free, xMobi offers a range of affordable subscription options that provide access to its robust monitoring features. This means that you’ll be able to effectively track your child’s activities across various social media and chat apps, including Discord, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat, without the risk of their data being sold, like some free parental spy apps do.

xMobi has a similar pricing setup as its competitors, so it’s cheaper the longer you subscribe:

Xmobi is worth considering even if you’re initially looking for a free parental control app, as there are virtually no free options that will let you monitor Discord.

While it does come with a cost, it offers several compelling benefits that justify the investment. The app is feature-rich, providing extensive monitoring capabilities that cover everything from call tracking and text message monitoring to app usage and web browsing history.

For those on the fence, Xmobi offers a free demo that lets you explore its features before committing. Additionally, there’s a 14-day refund window, giving you a risk-free opportunity to evaluate how well it meets your needs.

xMobi is ideal for tracking kids and teens who are really into gaming since it can track conversations on Discord — something that not many spy apps can do.