Parental Control Apps Reviews

Parental Control Apps Reviews – Reviews of apps to help parents monitor the online habits of teens on their computers, tablets, and smart phones.

In an ideal world, communication would be open and children would come forth to their parents for advice and help when dealing with cyber issues and safety. Unfortunately, the best case scenario isn’t always how things pan out and there are times when parents need help from outside methods.

I attended a seminar recently held by Crittenton Medical Center to learn more about keeping kids safe online and apps and programs parents can use to monitor their teens’ social media accounts.

There are many methods and facets to how parental control apps work to combat cyber bullying and inappropriate use of teens social media accounts.

Common Features of Parental Control Apps or Social Media Spying Programs

• Route your child’s email first to your own account
• Reject email from specific email addresses
• Limit email with offensive language and personal information from being sent and received
• Help you monitor your child’s activity on the internet by storing names of sites and/or snapshots of material seen by your child on the computer for you to view later
• Allow you to set different restrictions for each family member
• Limit results of an internet search to content appropriate for kids
• Enforce time limits set by parents
• Block private messages between a child and another user
• Limit your child’s ability to give out personal information

There are many services and parental control apps available that parents can use to execute control features. Here are a few specific programs and parental control apps parents can use and their functions:

Mobile Spy
App blocking – with this feature you can block certain apps on the cell phone.
Lock and unlock the phone remotely – again from the online Control Panel you can totally lock the phone at any time and restrict their use.
View apps installed – this feature allows you to see all of the apps they have downloaded onto their cell phone.
Social networks – MobileSpy allows you to monitor activity on the major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
Apps Installed and App Blocking are great features to give you extra control over what your children are exposed to when using their cell phones. Blocking individual apps can be very useful.

StealthGenie
Call Recording and Phone Surroundings Recording. Now you can actually listen to the conversations in detail and have hard evidence of what is going on when you are not there.
Instant Alerts – you can set up StealthGenie to send an alert whenever your child calls a specific number or if they send / receive a text or e-mail containing a predefined trigger word.
Lock the phone remotely
View Installed Apps

DadGuard
Professional locator and father of eight Troy Dunn has partnered with a software firm to develop this powerful tool for parents. Install this on the computer you’d like to monitor — from anywhere in the world. DadGuard recordings are organized into an easy-to-read Activity Report that is automatically sent to any email address you choose, as often as you’d like. You’ll receive an exact copy of their emails, chats and instant messages, as they occur.

TextGuard
This is an application you install on your child’s cell phone. Once the program is running, you can log into the Web site and watch all incoming and outgoing calls, text messages, e-mails and Web browsing history. You can select a certain phone number and block any activity to that number as well, so if you suspect suspicious communication, you can make sure your child cannot text, e-mail or call that person

My Mobile Watchdog
This is also an application that you install on a cell phone. On its Web site, it gives you a listing of all activity on a given phone. It also alerts you if calls or messages come in from a specific number. For instance, if you see a suspicious or unauthorized person calling, texting, or e-mailing your child, that call is routed through the My Mobile Watchdog Data Center. Notifications are then sent to all persons you have established from your Web application, such as parents, teachers, police, etc. From your Web application or mobile phone application, you can see all suspicious activity, along with full content, including images. You can also print out reports to pass on to law enforcement or school officials

iWonder Surf
This computer application lets you control and monitor the Web sites your child is visiting. You can not only see where they go, but when, how often and what they are seeing. You can logon to obtain a log of their activity. Every time they go to a Web site, it records it and instantly sends traffic reports to you.

Phone Plan
Go with a limited plan. Research has shown that the calling plans that offer limited hours or texting, resulted in less use by teens. Set limits and work with your cell phone carrier to set these up. You can set up certain times, certain amounts, etc. Disconnecting provides private time without stimulation which ulimtately lets the brain synthesize information, make connections between ideas and foster development of a personal self.

Limit Gaming
Kids need to disconnect from this too and have downtime. Some stay connected on iPod Touch, Nintendo Wii, etc. and communicate with people all over the world. Parents need to set limits and times of disconnect. Don’t worry about kids getting upset when you set limits and force them to disconnect. You own these gadgets. This is in your power. Be careful to not overstimulate by giving them too much. All of these gadgets can be overkill. Set limits on these things to make sure they are doing ok… grades, relationships, etc.

Visit the Google Play Store for more Parental Control Apps reviews.