10 Best Parental Control Apps of 2026

Qustodio is the app we would point most parents to first, because it puts every common control in one place. The Basic plan already includes web filtering and Safe Search, blocking of games and apps, daily time limits, internet pauses, scheduled routines for homework or bedtime, location monitoring with saved-place alerts, and AI-powered alerts on searches. It also offers app insights with age-appropriate alternatives, which helps when a child asks for a new download. Complete adds per-app time limits, calls and messages monitoring, social chat alerts for apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram, gaming alerts and unlimited family devices. The catches are platform gaps: the panic button and several social message alerts are Android only, and monitoring calls and messages on an iPhone needs a Windows or Mac computer. At $59.95 a year for 5 devices, Basic is fairly priced for what it covers, and Complete at $104.95 suits larger households.

For a child who only uses Apple devices, Screen Time is the obvious place to start, because it costs nothing and lives in Settings. Apple's latest release reworks the controls around Time Allowances, a daily budget you can split across categories such as games and social media, and Screen Time Schedules that decide which apps are available before, during and after school, with separate weekday and weekend routines. Ask to Buy and Ask to Browse send you a request when your child wants a download or a new website, and Allowed Contacts holds messages from someone new until a parent approves. Communication Safety helps protect children from sharing or receiving photos and videos detected to contain nudity, gore or violence, and Apple says it does not get access to them. The limits are clear: it stops at Apple's own devices, each child needs a Child Account in Family Sharing, and the newest controls need every device updated to the latest software.

Family Link is Google's answer to Screen Time, and for a child on an Android phone or a Chromebook it covers most of what parents ask for without a subscription. You can set a daily limit, schedule downtime and school time, and give each app its own time limit, with unlimited time for homework apps and blocking for others. New downloads from Google Play need your approval, and you can restrict sites in Chrome, keep SafeSearch on and manage YouTube and contact settings. The map shows where your child is when they carry the device, sends arrival and departure alerts, and lets you ring the device or see its battery level. Parents can manage the app from an Android phone or an iPhone, but the supervised device must run Android or ChromeOS. Its filters are strongest inside Google's own services, and older teens can take over their own accounts once they reach the applicable age.

Bark takes a different approach from most apps here. Instead of focusing on rules, it monitors a child's social media, texts, email and web activity and sends parents alerts about potential dangers, so you hear about a problem without reading every message. The app also handles screen time management, blocks websites and apps, and tracks location with live GPS and location alerts. One subscription covers every child and device in the family, which is good value for larger households at $99 a year, though $14 monthly is steep. Bark notes that Apple's privacy protections stop third-party apps from reading what is on a child's iPhone, and it sells a separate charger, the Bark Sync, to close that gap. Families who want the tightest control can buy the Bark Phone from $360 plus a plan from $29 a month, which adds contact and app install approvals and tamper-proof settings that the app alone does not offer.

Mobicip is the value pick for households with a mix of devices. It lists iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Kindle Fire, which is wider coverage than any other paid app here, and every paid tier includes the same feature set: app and website blocking, uninstall protection, screen time limits, managed schedules, a family locator, remote lock, activity reports, social media monitoring and app limits. The tiers differ only by device count, from 5 on Lite at $2.99 a month to 20 on Premium at $7.99, all billed annually. A free Basic plan covers 2 managed devices without a credit card. Mobicip blocks apps rated 17+ by default and alerts you when it detects a potentially dangerous conversation on social media. The downsides are small but real: website subscriptions are annual only, online payment needs a credit card, and its alerts are less detailed than Bark's monitoring.

Aura's Kids plan bundles the standard controls with two features few rivals match. The basics are covered: content filtering and site blocking, SafeSearch on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo, per-app and per-site time limits, scheduled downtime and Pause the Internet, which can also hand out bonus time. Safe Gaming, powered by Kidas, monitors voice and text in popular PC games around the clock and alerts you to cyberbullying and predators, which suits families with young gamers. Aura also offers wellbeing tools developed with clinical psychologists that track shifts in a child's daytime and nighttime activity and social patterns, with conversation starters. The Kids plan covers unlimited kids and devices for $10 a month billed annually or $13 monthly, and the $32 Family plan adds identity theft protection, credit monitoring, antivirus and a VPN for 5 adults. It costs more than most dedicated apps, and its parental controls app is limited to iOS and Android.

OurPact is built around schedules and blocking. You can set screen limits, create block schedules that remove chosen apps during school or bedtime, lock a device instantly, block individual apps and get alerts when a new app appears. Both paid plans manage up to 20 child devices on iOS and Android and include live location, location history and arrival and departure alerts, along with a web filter, adult content blocking and system restrictions such as preventing app deletion or in-app purchases on iPhones. Premium+ adds content monitoring through instant and automated screenshots, stored in an encrypted gallery, with AI flagging of harmful content and custom detection for words or topics you choose. Premium costs $69.99 a year and Premium+ $99.99. The tradeoffs: screenshots reveal more of a child's screen than most parents need, tamperproofing is limited to iOS 18 and earlier, and the extra monitoring is locked to the higher plan.

FamiSafe, from software maker Wondershare, packs a long feature list into a reasonably priced yearly plan. Screen time tools include usage limits, schedules, instant blocking and per-app limits, and the web side covers a website filter, browsing history and safe browsing. Location features are a strength: real-time location, geofencing alerts, location history and driving route tracking, which helps parents of new drivers. Paid plans also monitor social apps and WhatsApp, flag sensitive images and show TikTok and YouTube history. The yearly plan is $59.99 for up to 10 devices, the quarterly plan $19.99 for 8 and the monthly plan $9.99 for 5, with a free plan for a single device on which several monitoring features show demo data only. The 3-day trial is short, and the deeper monitoring tools overlap with what Qustodio and Bark do with more polish.

Norton Family is a straightforward supervision tool from a familiar security brand. Parents can see the sites their children visit and block unsuitable ones, see the search terms and videos that interest them, and keep track of the apps they download. Time Supervision lets you set limits or schedule the times and days a child can use a Windows PC, Android or iOS device, and School Time cuts online distractions during remote learning. Reports arrive by email or sit in the web Parent Portal. The standalone price is $49.99 for the first year, and Norton Family is also included in Norton 360 Deluxe and Premium, which makes it close to free for households already paying for one of those. The gaps are notable: Macs and Windows 10 in S mode are not supported, Norton says not all features work on all platforms, and it has none of the social or message alerts found in Bark or Qustodio Complete.

Net Nanny has sold parental controls for over 30 years and still leans on its filter. Its content detection checks every web page as it loads on the device, so harmful content can be blocked before a child sees it, and it can block pornography in real time. The Family Feed reports searches instantly and flags pornography, suicide, weapons and drug-related content. You can also set screen time hours and block apps on iOS devices. Pricing is clear: $39.99 a year for one Windows or Mac computer, $54.99 for a 5-device Family Protection Pass and $89.99 for 20 devices, all shown as limited-time discounts. The big drawback is coverage: the site lists Windows, macOS and iOS only, so Android families are left out, and app blocking applies only to iOS. Parents mainly concerned with web content on computers will find it effective, but most families get broader controls from Qustodio or Mobicip.