Best Application to Monitor Children’s Phone

In today’s digital age, children are easily exposed to cyberbullying and harmful content like pornography. Teenagers, in particular, are at risk due to their immature minds and rebellious nature, which can lead them astray through negative social activities. When you notice unusual behavior in your child, using monitoring software to understand and help them is essential.

There are many monitoring apps on the market, but unfortunately, most of them are either exaggerated or outright scams.

To avoid falling into the trap of these fake apps, I’ve recommended a few that I’ve personally tested and found to be effective. All the information shared here is based on my personal experience with these apps, and the screenshots provided include real-time data from my device during the testing period.

Bark – The Most Popular Parental Monitor App

Bark’s app uses AI to scan your child’s emails, social media profiles, texts, and media saved to their phone’s camera roll for content that parents may find harmful. You can set up customized content monitoring to determine which apps and websites their children can access. Parents can also set up screen time schedules and use the app’s geofencing capabilities to monitor their child’s location throughout the day. 这里我重点测试了Bark的监控功能。

Content Monitoring — Check Your Child’s Activity on Over 30 Social Media Apps

Bark monitors text messages, emails, photos, videos, and 30+ social media platforms and apps. Instead of using a list of keywords to filter content, Bark uses machine-learning algorithms to scan for 15+ categories of potential issues like anxiety, bullying, weapons, drugs, and more.

The Bark for Kids app automatically monitors Chrome and Edge browsers, as well as a number of social media apps like TikTok, Kik, Skype, Discord, and even Snapchat. You can then monitor additional apps or social media platforms by either logging into your child’s account from the parent dashboard or allowing your child to log in from their own device. This lets you monitor their account while retaining trust by not requiring them to give you their password so you can see everything they’re doing.

However, Bark only shows you text messages or other content when a potential issue is detected. Bark will not allow you to view all of your child’s communications in real-time. This can be good if you want to give your child as much privacy as possible while ensuring they’re safe, but competitors like KidsGuard will allow you to view all of your child’s text messages at any time.

Bark lets you adjust the sensitivity of its monitoring algorithm by letting you turn alerts on or off for each category of potential issues and for each child. This lets you give leniency to older or more mature children to browse freely when it comes to certain things like profanity without receiving alerts, while ensuring you’re still notified each time a younger child encounters a potential issue.

To test how sensitive the alert system is, I didn’t change any settings and instead allowed Bark to alert me of all potential issues — and it performed great. I received alerts any time a curse word appeared on the screen while browsing the internet, and I was also alerted any time a banner ad on a website was related to any potential issues like alcohol or gambling references (this led to dozens of alerts that I had to sort through and mark as reviewed). On this highest sensitivity level, Bark gave me a few false positive alerts — I even got an alert about violence because an email I received had a sentence about donating to a charity for war victims.

I also tested Bark’s text message monitoring by having a family member send me a threatening message. Bark sent me an alert 20 minutes later that included the text of the relevant message.

During my tests, Bark was also able to detect and alert me of concerning photos and videos — I took a photo of one of my kitchen knives, and Bark sent an alert about violence and showed me the picture. I also had a 15-second video of a tiny mouse trapped under a piece of furniture on my phone and Bark sent an alert about bullying. I consider this a false positive because I’m not sure what a trapped mouse has to do with bullying, but it’s nice to know Bark’s machine learning is able to monitor the videos my child might record with their phone and alert me if it thinks something is wrong. Bark also detected problematic photos and videos that were downloaded from the web, and it sent an alert to my dashboard when I downloaded an image of a gun.

Overall, Bark’s content monitoring feature is pretty good — it can monitor activity across 30+ apps and social media platforms for 15+ potential issues like anxiety, drugs, violence, and more. It’s able to monitor these platforms at the account level, so activity on the account will be monitored regardless of what device your child is using. It can also monitor the photos and videos taken with or downloaded to your child’s device.

Location Tracking — Pretty Accurate (With a Useful Family Map Option)

Bark allows you to track your child in real time on Android and iOS. As long as your kid has an internet connection, you can see where they are on a pretty accurate map (in my tests, Bark updated the location every 4–5 minutes).

Bark also has a geofencing feature that allows you to mark places and set boundaries on a map — you can add familiar places, like school or home, and use a differently colored pin for each one, set a radius of up to 0.12 miles (or 200 meters), and get an alert when your child leaves or arrives in predefined zones. To test this feature, I listed my home, and any time I left or returned to it, Bark sent me an alert within 5 minutes.

If you want to see all of your kids’ locations in one place, Bark lets you do that, too. There’s a Family Map option where Bark keeps tabs on every device you’re tracking and shows you exactly where they are in real-time. You can also get directions to your kid’s current location, which is pretty useful when you need to pick them up, and the app will even tell you whether your kid’s walking, running, or driving based on their pace!

Overall, Bark’s location tracking is pretty good. It allows you to see the live location of your child’s device and lets you request a check-in from your child if you prefer a less invasive alternative. Bark also sends alerts when your child arrives at or leaves a given address and lets you set up predefined zones for those areas.

Additional Features:

In addition to monitoring your child’s social media activity and location, Bark excels at managing screen time. While this isn’t the focus of this article, you can visit Bark’s official website to explore its full range of capabilities.

Parents who want to keep an eye on their child’s online activities across all of their devices can use the Bark App, which starts at $14 per month and includes support for unlimited kids and unlimited devices. The company also offers the Bark Phone ($39), a tamper-proof mobile device that’s fully controlled by Bark and the parent. There’s also the Bark Watch ($169.99), which your child can wear and allows you to track them all day.

Conclusion:

(I know some people out there argue that children should have privacy.  IMO, that’s a pipe dream which results in hurting kids.  I don’t let my 14 year old drive the car either.  If child privacy is a corporate goal then they’ve picked the wrong product to sell.)

I think the best thing about Bark is that it strikes a balance between understanding potential risks in your child’s social activities and protecting their privacy. It only shows you snippets that may be deemed inappropriate or worrying. Everything else is kept private. it’s the best of what’s available if you want your child to have their privacy, but still be alerted if there’s something you SHOULD know about.

KidsGuard Pro – A Comprehensive Monitoring Solution

If Bark doesn’t fully meet your needs for monitoring your child’s social activity, or if your child is resistant to having Bark installed on their device, KidsGuard Pro might be the better alternative.

Call Recording and Surrounding Monitoring Make KidsGuard Stand Out

The KidsGuard Pro Call Recording feature allows you to listen to target device call recordings. While the recording from the other end could be louder, it remains audible.

With Remote Control, the app captures screenshots while the target person is using their phone. Additionally, you can use the rear camera to take discreet photos of the surroundings when curious about your kids’ activities.

Record Surround: It can also record the surrounding sounds by remotely accessing the target phone’s microphone. In the latest update, this feature has been enhanced with AI-based noise reduction to ensure clear recordings.

Not only can it monitor social app chats, but it can also monitor app voice chats and calls.

If your focus is on tracking social media and instant messaging apps, KidsGuard Pro is an ideal choice. It seamlessly spies on WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram activities, providing comprehensive insights.

As soon as the social app is opened on the target device, you will start receiving screenshots. With the help of the keylogger, you will also be able to track chats! And most importantly, you do not need to root the target phone.

The monitoring extends beyond text, offering real-time screenshots while the target person is active on their social media accounts.

Nowadays, more and more people are using social media chat apps to send voice messages and make calls. This is why monitoring these functions is crucial. KidsGuards is the only App that can track app voice calls and app calls, ensuring you don’t miss any critical information.

Unlike many tracking apps that overlook the negatives of TikTok, KidGuards provides specific tracking for the platform, a crucial feature considering the app’s influence, especially when tracking kids.

Excellent location tracking

Furthermore, KidsGuard Pro’s location tracking feature ensures you stay updated on your child or lover’s whereabouts. It accurately tracks location when the GPS is enabled on the target device.

The Geofencing feature stands out as a highlight, consistently detecting when your kids venture beyond the designated safe zones. Instant email alerts and notifications on your KidsGuard Pro account ensure swift action to bring your child back to the secure area.

Even if the target person turns off GPS, KidsGuard Pro still provides a day-long record of their locations using WiFi logs, indicating the WiFi connections of the target device.

KidsGuard Pro ensures discreetness by syncing remotely captured screenshots and photos exclusively when the target device is connected to WiFi. This precaution prevents detection, as syncing through the target phone’s cellular data might alert the user, compromising the hidden tracking app’s purpose. In essence, KidsGuard Pro stands as an effective and truly undetectable spy app.

The standout feature, surpassing expectations, is the Keylogger. Unlike other Android hidden spy apps that often display incomplete keystrokes, KidsGuard Pro provides the exact words typed by the target person.

This accuracy eliminates the need to guess the content of the target person’s phone activities. Moreover, KidsGuard Pro’s keylogger comprehensively covers all apps, including native and third-party from the Play Store like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

And not to forget that you can even track the browsing history of your kids using KidsGuard Pro which ensures your kids are not browsing inappropriate sites.

All these features operate seamlessly in stealth mode, ensuring a comprehensive monitoring experience. This makes KidsGuard Pro the best affordable Android spy app. Visit KidsGuard Pro to explore all the features

Other Competitors

Qustodio is an excellent app for parental control, focusing primarily on screen time management. It allows you to set time limits for individual apps, which can be very helpful. However, its monitoring features are limited, as it only tracks call logs and text messages, and does not provide access to social media chats.

mSpy has been around for a long time, but it has fallen behind in terms of features and is priced higher than KidsGuard Pro. While mSpy can monitor social media chats, it doesn’t support voice chat or phone call recording. Additionally, some features, like taking screenshots, may not work reliably on certain devices.

Conclusion

Both KidsGuard Pro and Bark are excellent tools for monitoring your child’s activities, but they cater to different parenting philosophies and needs.

Bark is designed to respect your child’s privacy by flagging and sharing only snippets of content that might be inappropriate. However, since it cannot be hidden on a device, using Bark for older children may require open communication and consent. If your child’s social activity hasn’t raised significant concerns, and you believe they’ll agree to having Bark installed, it’s a great choice that balances monitoring with trust.

KidsGuard Pro, on the other hand, offers complete monitoring, including call recordings, text and voice chats on social media, and even environmental observation using the phone’s camera. Its stealth mode ensures your child won’t know the app is installed, making it an ideal choice if you’re urgently trying to understand your child’s social activities or if you’ve already observed concerning behavior.

Whichever service you decide to go for, be sure to get the best price via the discounts below:

And now for Bark.

While it’s unfortunate that Bark rarely offers discounts, even during the holidays, its affordable price of just $14/month makes it a worthwhile investment for parents.

Visit Bark.us to learn more.