13 Best Parental Control Apps in Australia Reviewed for 2023

The best parental control apps in Australia can help you keep your children safe online. You can monitor their web activity, block inappropriate content, and set time limits on activity.

After in-depth research and testing, we’ve identified the 13 best parental control apps for Australia and have compared them based on their features, plans, and usability.

13 Best Parental Control Apps in Australia 

After researching and assessing all the major parental control apps available in Australia, we selected mSpy as our top pick. Here’s our shortlist of the best parental control apps for Australia:

1. mSpy — We rate this as the best parental control app in Australia. It comes with great device controls and comprehensive features, it’s simple to install, and it’s easy to use.
2. EyeZy — A relatively affordable app with detailed web analytics, extremely accurate GPS information, and lots of monitoring options.
3. uMobix — Well-designed and user-friendly tracking tool for new users with an intuitive dashboard and location tracking tools.
4. Cocospy — Top parental control tool that’s known for its outstanding app monitoring, location-tracking, and geofencing capabilities, and which tracks both Android and iPhone devices.
5. XNSpy — Powerful and reliable parental control app with a wide range of features and advanced device control options for complete confidence.
6. Phonsee — A popular mobile parental app that doesn’t require rooting or jailbreaking the device to get full functionality
7. Qustodio — Reliable, feature-packed parental control app that comes with a customizable dashboard and cross-platform support.
8. KidsGuard — Offers comprehensive monitoring features and content-blocking tools to help parents protect their children from digital dangers.
9. Norton Family — Robust parental controls from the leading antivirus provider that can cover an unlimited number of devices on one subscription.
10. FamiSafe — A superb parental monitoring app that provides detailed reports on your family’s daily screen time, and which also provides location tracking options.
11. Intego — Ideal parental package if you’re looking for extensive protection against cyber threats like malware and phishing attacks.
12. Kaspersky — Affordable parental control app for monitoring and managing your child’s online activity, with app blocking and content controls.
13. Net Nanny — A trusted parental control platform that lets parents limit screen time with app and web filtering tools.

Top 13 Parental Control Tools in Australia Compared

For a quick look at the best parental control tools in Australia, check out our comparison table below – find the best parental control app in Australia and be free from worry.

Best Parental Control Solutions in Australia Reviewed

Parental control apps are a must-have for modern parents who want to keep their children safe online. Here are our comprehensive reviews of the top 13 parental control apps in Australia, including mSpy, EyeZy, uMobix, and more.

1. mSpy — Top Overall Pick for the Best Parental Control App in Australia

mSpy is the best parental control software in Australia. It offers first-class monitoring and tracking software features and functionality that make it the go-to choice for parents looking to monitor their kids’ online activities.

mSpy’s GPS tracking feature is particularly strong and allows you to track your child’s exact location at all times and to receive notifications when they enter or leave specified areas, so you can keep tabs on them.

The app also offers call and text monitoring, so you can see who your child is talking to and read their messages. The only downside is that you’ll need to root or jailbreak the target device for full use of its features – though this isn’t unusual for monitoring tools.

Indeed, mSpy’s excellent app monitoring and blocking features secure its position as the best parental control app in Australia. This tool enables you to monitor all the apps your child is using and to block any you don’t want them accessing.

Pricing

mSpy’s plans are priced based on the length of the subscription you choose.

2. EyeZy — Affordable Australian Parental Control App That’s Great for Social Media

EyeZy stands out as one of the most efficient parental control apps in Australia and helps parents keep their children safe online with reliable tools and features.

One of Eyezy’s top selling points is its Pinpoint feature. This allows parents to track the physical location of their child’s device in real-time using an intuitive map interface. Knowing you can quickly and easily locate your children if they’re in danger is a huge relief.

Social Spotlight is another notable feature. It allows you to monitor your child’s social media activity, including seeing what they’re posting, who they’re interacting with, and which apps they’re using.

This feature is valuable for parents who want to keep track of their child’s online activity and ensure they’re not being cyberbullied or exposed to inappropriate content.

Meanwhile, the Keystroke Capture feature allows you to see every keystroke your child types on their device, including passwords, messages, and search queries.

This is helpful for parents who want to monitor their child’s online activity and ensure they’re not engaging in risky behavior, such as sharing personal information or accessing harmful content.

It may sometimes be slow when syncing to iCloud, but all in all, it’s a great package for ensuring the safety and well-being of children – and it’s available at a slightly cheaper price than mSpy.

Pricing

EyeZy’s pricing is based on the duration of the plan, selecting from one month, three months, or 12 months.

3. uMobix — Well-Designed, Beginner Friendly Parental Monitoring App

uMobix is a popular and well-designed parental monitoring app that provides parents with peace of mind when it comes to their children’s online activity.

The app’s text message monitoring feature is invaluable. You can keep track of all incoming and outgoing texts from your child’s phone, so you know who they’re communicating with and what they’re saying. This helps keep your children remain safe from cyberbullying and other digital threats.

uMobix’s social app monitoring features, meanwhile, help you track your child’s online habits, and you can monitor them across social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok – though it doesn’t include Snapchat.

You can see what they’re sharing, who they’re talking to, and what kind of content they’re viewing, so you can ensure they’re safe from inappropriate content and predators.

On top of all this, uMobix’s address book monitoring is a great way to keep track of who your children are talking to.

You can view all the contacts stored on the phone and get notifications anytime someone new is added or removed from the address book, helping keep them safe from strangers.

uMobix is a valuable tool for parents who want to monitor their children’s online activity. It’s great for tracking social media and is intuitive and easy to use for beginners.

Pricing

uMobix offers two plans:

• Basic plan — Includes text message, call history, and address book monitoring
• Full package — Adds location tracking and website blocking

4. Cocospy — Excellent Parental Spy App for Location Tracking

Cocospy’s geofencing feature is a great way to keep an eye on your children. You can track their movements and set up alerts when they enter or leave certain areas, such as leaving a school site.

The app also offers a powerful social media spy feature. This lets you monitor your children’s social media activity to protect them from cyberbullying, predators, and other online dangers.

You can even set up keyword alerts to notify you when certain terms are used in conversations or posts so they can be flagged for your attention.

If you want to check and download your children’s media files, that’s also possible, and you can monitor photos and videos being shared and received online. You can also see what apps they’ve downloaded and make sure they’re not accessing inappropriate content.

In summary, Cocospy offers comprehensive mobile phone monitoring and tracking software – and location tracking and keyword alerts are a very powerful pair of features. It also covers both Android and iOS devices, which is an added benefit.

Pricing

Cocospy’s pricing, like other solutions, is determined by the length of your contract.

5. XNSpy — Powerful Parental Monitoring App With Robust Features and Remote Controls

XNSpy offers a complete parental control suite for Australian parents, enabling you to monitor your child’s online activity and take key steps to protect them from risks.

The app allows you to monitor calls made on the tracked device. You can view call logs with detailed information on the call’s duration and caller IDs, enabling you to identify precisely who your child is talking to.

XNSpy also allows you to keep tabs on instant messages sent through social media apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Viber. It even provides access to deleted conversations so you can make sure your child isn’t hiding anything.

Something that sets XNSpy apart from other parental control apps is its real-time alerts feature. This sends notifications if your child does something that could be risky or inappropriate so you can take action if necessary.

While XNSpy doesn’t provide as much data upload control as some providers, it still offers all the features you need to ensure the safety and security of your child – and the ability to remotely lock the phone is particularly powerful, and it’s great for concerned parents.

Pricing

XNSpy offers monthly, quarterly, and annual plans, with the last being the cheapest.

6. Phonsee — Popular No Root and No Jailbreak Mobile Parental App

Phonsee is a popular parental control app for Android and iOS that offers everything parents need for peace of mind and without the need for rooting or jailbreaking the device.

From viewing all multi-media files to monitoring your child’s social media activity, website history, calls, and even emails, it’s a service well worth considering.

As with many of the best parental apps, Phonsee offers real-time location tracking, with the ability to set up virtual boundaries to trigger alerts if your child enters or leaves pre-determined zones.

Although Phonsee lacks keyword alerts and call recording, it does offer keylogger functionality, and you’ll be able to block apps and websites you deem inappropriate for your child.

Unlike some, it also boasts automated screenshots. Paired with the keylogger, you’ll have deep insights into all activity on the device, including searches, messages, and more. This makes it a powerful parental control app, and it’s on offer at a relatively affordable price with annual billing.

Pricing

Phonsee is available for one month at $42.51/month, quarterly at $24.79/month, or annually at $8.85/month. There’s no free version, but there is a demo and a 14-day guarantee period.

7. Qustodio — Reliable, Feature-Packed, and Customizable Parental Control App For Five Devices

Qustodio is an advanced parental control app with a customizable dashboard. It’s widely considered one of the best parental control software choices in Australia for its comprehensive and user-friendly features.

One of its key features is web filtering. This allows parents to limit access to websites and block inappropriate content. By default, Qustodio comes with several predefined web filters, but parents can also customize them to fit their needs.

Qustodio also allows parents to set a time limit for their kids’ device usage. This feature is great for ensuring children don’t spend too much time online or playing video games.

Parents can set a daily limit and even specify certain times when the device should be turned off, such as at bedtime or during school hours. This ensures kids stay on track and get enough rest each day.

Qustodio also allows parents to block apps on their kids’ devices. This prevents children from accessing apps or games with potentially harmful or age-inappropriate content. You can also set rules for the apps your kids can access, such as only allowing certain types of games.

In summary, Qustodio is one of the best parental control solutions in Australia, offering comprehensive and user-friendly features. It doesn’t offer a keylogger, like some of the parental control software on this list, but it also comes at a significantly lower price.

Pricing

Qustodio only offers an annual plan. However, this covers five devices, and there are discounts for families looking to cover 15 devices – a rarity in the phone spy app market:

8. KidsGuard — Comprehensive Monitoring App to Track Your Kids Online

KidsGuard is a comprehensive parental control solution designed to help parents keep their children safe online with robust tools for social media and location tracking.

One of the best features of KidsGuard is Search Supervision. This is a browser history tracking tool that also monitors your child’s online activity, searches, and web use and alerts you of anything suspicious.

You can also set up content filters to block inappropriate websites or restrict searches to certain topics. Instead of looking through your child’s browsing history, you can stop any dangerous activity in real-time.

With KidsGuard’s call logs access, you can monitor incoming and outgoing calls, messages, and voicemails. This allows you to track who your children are speaking with in detail.

In addition, KidsGuard’s real-time location tracking makes it easy for parents to keep an eye on their children’s whereabouts. You can also set up a virtual perimeter around certain locations so you’ll be notified if your child leaves the area.

With its in-depth features, KidsGuard offers one of Australia’s most comprehensive parental control services, and it’s an attractive and cost-effective solution.

Pricing

There are several products offered on KidsGuard’s website for different apps and devices. The pricing below is for iOS devices:

9. Norton Family — Best Parental Control App in Australia with Unlimited Device Coverage

Norton Family, from the leading antivirus provider, offers unlimited device monitoring with a single subscription – making it one of Australia’s most affordable and reliable parental control solutions.

Norton Family allows you to set daily limits for your children’s online activity and get notifications when they exceed those limits.

You can also pause the internet connection so your child doesn’t stay up late browsing the web or playing games. Young children just learning to use the internet need extra supervision, after all.

The app offers video supervision, allowing you to monitor what your child is watching online and block any potentially dangerous videos. This way, you can ensure your child only accesses age-appropriate content.

If your kid lacks focus during study time, Norton Family’s School Time feature can help. You can set school schedules for your child to limit their access to entertainment websites and apps during the day. This way, you can make sure they aren’t distracted by the internet.

The only downside of Norton Family is that it doesn’t work on Macs. Nevertheless, it’s a great pick for PC users and can be used to protect all the Windows, iOS, and Android devices your kids have access to.

Pricing

Norton Family is one of the most affordable parental control solutions in Australia, and it’s very straightforward. You get unlimited device enrollment with a single subscription for $49.99 a year.

10. FamiSafe — Superb Parental Monitoring App for Detailed Family Reports

FamiSafe can help you manage every aspect of your child’s digital life, with reports on an extremely wide range of apps and websites.

You can set daily screen time limits on how long your kids are able to use their devices and be notified if they exceed this.

With FamiSafe, you can access the full browsing history for your child’s TikTok account, so you know exactly which videos they’re watching and who they’re talking to.

FamiSafe also helps protect your child from explicit content by scanning their texts, emails, and social media messages. You’ll be notified if any suspicious words or phrases are detected, giving you a chance to take action before it’s too late.

If you’re using a Mac, you might experience a slight delay when syncing devices with FamiSafe, but it’s not a major issue.

All in all, FamiSafe offers robust features at an affordable monthly price, making it one of the most cost-effective solutions on the market for those after cheap monitoring solutions paid on a month-by-month basis, and it stands as one of the best parental controls in Australia.

Pricing

FamiSafe has the following pricing options:

11. Intego — Ideal Parental Package for Extensive Protection Against Online Threats

Intego doesn’t only make one of the best antivirus software solutions out there, but it also provides an excellent parental control app for Australian parents. This powerful software provides a comprehensive suite of features to keep children safe from online threats and inappropriate content.

Intego’s malware protection guards your devices from viruses, spyware, ransomware, and other online threats. With real-time scanning and automatic updates, it stays ahead of the latest cyber threats to keep you safe. It also allows parents to manage and monitor their children’s online activity.

You can set specific time limits for how long your child can spend on their computer or mobile device each day and block access to inappropriate websites.

There’s also a location tracking feature. You can see your child’s current whereabouts and receive notifications when they arrive at or leave a designated place.

Overall, Intego is an excellent choice for parents looking for comprehensive parental control solutions and security on Mac devices. Although it doesn’t offer the same level of protection on Windows machines, we still rank it as one of Australia’s best parental control solutions.

Pricing

Intego’s VirusBarrier X9 is an all-in-one package for protection and parental control for Mac users. Here are the pricing options:

12. Kaspersky — Cheap Tool for App Blocking and Content Moderation Across Devices

Kaspersky is known for its cybersecurity tools, but it also offers a powerful parental control solution.

Kaspersky Safe Kids can block access to inappropriate content and apps. Parents can easily set up filters for their children so they’re not exposed to potentially harmful websites or content. This can be helpful for addressing unhealthy habits like excessive gaming or social media use

The parental control solution also allows parents to track the GPS location of their children, something which is particularly useful for older children.

Though it only has fairly basic features, Kaspersky’s low price and content blocking and location tracking tools qualify it as one of the top parental control solutions in Australia.

Pricing

Kaspersky offers a year of access for just $14.99. It also offers a free trial, so you can test out the parental control solution before buying it.

13. Net Nanny — Trusted Parental Control Platform for Screen Time Management

Net Nanny has become a popular choice for Australian parents. It provides an easy-to-use interface and a comprehensive feature set.

With Net Nanny, you can easily manage your kids’ screen time and make sure they don’t spend too much time on their devices.

Net Nanny’s content filtering feature allows you to block websites and apps that contain inappropriate content for your kids, so they only see age-appropriate content.

You can also track your child’s location using their device. The app’s geofencing feature allows parents to set virtual boundaries around locations. If your child leaves the designated area, you’ll be alerted.

What we love most about Net Nanny is that it allows you to cover up to 20 devices on one subscription. Although Net Nanny doesn’t have the keylogging features of some of its competitors, it still offers an impressive range of features at an affordable and with the ability to cover all your devices.

Pricing

The starter plan for one device gives you access to all of its features, and you can upgrade to cover up to 20 devices.

Why Do I Need a Parental Tracker App?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends less than two hours of screen time per day for children aged two to five and less than one hour for those under two. That’s why parental tracker apps are becoming increasingly popular in Australia.

Here are some benefits of using parental tracker apps:

• Monitor your child’s online activity — With a parental tracker app, you can monitor your child’s internet usage and be alerted if they visit potentially dangerous websites. You can also see which apps they’re installing and block any you find inappropriate.
• Set boundaries — Many of these apps enable parents to set restrictions on their children’s internet use, such as setting time limits or blocking certain sites. This helps keep kids stay safe from potential predators or other risks on the internet.
• Communicate better — Some parental tracking apps also have communication features, such as text messages or voicemails. This allows parents to keep in touch with their children and ensure they’re safe.

With a parental tracking app, you can rest assured your child is safe while they’re online.

How to Use a Parental Control App – A Step-by-Step Guide

You don’t have to be a tech-savvy parent to keep your children safe online. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use the mSpy parental control app to help your family stay safe.

Step 1. Choose Your Plan

Go to mSpy and sign up, and you’ll receive a confirmation and a welcome email that gives you access to your Dashboard.

Step 2. Go to Your Dashboard

Step 3. Add a Device Name and Create a Profile

Step 4. Choose the Device Brand and Operating System

Step 5. Install the App on Your Child’s Phone and Activate it

Step 6. Log In to Your Dashboard

Once you’ve logged in, you can view all features available for monitoring, like location tracking, text messages, calls, and more.

What to Look for in the Best Parental Control Apps in Australia

Our guide to the top screentime apps and tracking apps for parents seeks to put the reader front and center, considering the features and functionality that are most important to parents today.

Of course, value for money and cost are also crucial – many will prefer a serviceable solution over a deluxe model, after all. Free parental control apps are generally disappointing, but many solutions offer trials or guarantees to ensure satisfaction.

Our team has an enormous amount of experience in testing and reviewing security and monitoring solutions, which enables us to weigh up different products and compare them against one another and industry standards.

Here are some of the key details we looked at when putting together our guide on the top parental controls for iPhone, Android, and desktop:

• Ease of managing and monitoring your child’s device – Usability and broad monitoring features were key to our rating of the different picks on our list and are fundamental to parental controls functionality.
• Messaging and app monitoring – Specific tools to track communications sent and received by the device and to monitor app usage were also something we looked for – and we found some very powerful options.
• Web and content filtering – Having the ability to put blocks in place for adult or otherwise harmful content is key for putting your mind at ease about your child’s device use.
• Screen time controls and device and app scheduling – Being able to set rules around device use is also extremely helpful, and something we know is important to parents.
• Location tracking – While this isn’t a core feature, it’s extremely useful for dispelling anxieties about your child’s location and safety without using third-party hardware, making it a great differentiator.
• Cross-device functionality – Having a single account to monitor multiple devices makes life a lot easier. If the best parental control app for iPhone is combined with parental controls for Android, it keeps things simple.

Whether you want an app to control screen time, a parental control app for iPhone for free, or Android parental controls, our guide should provide suitable options.

Summary – What’s the Best Parental Control App in Australia in 2023? mSpy

When it comes to keeping your children safe online, our research found that mSpy is the best parental control app available in Australia. It provides parents with a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution that enables them to monitor their kids’ activity on their phones and computers.

The app lets you monitor calls and text messages, and it boasts website blocking, location tracking, geofencing, and more. You can try it now risk-free for a full week.

Parental Control App FAQs