Monitoring what children and teenagers do on their cell phones is important to avoid contact with inappropriate subjects.
For this there are several applications for Android phones and iPhone (iOS).
Google Family Link, AppBlock and Screen Time Parental Control limit usage time and monitor children’s actions by blocking resources and generating reports that inform actions taken on cell phones.
In addition to protection against searches and age-inappropriate content, parents can monitor their children’s real-time location and receive an alert in the event of an incident such as the Life360 and KidsControl GPS Family Tracker.
Discover five free tools below that can help monitor your children’s actions on the Internet.
Google Family Link: How to track children’s time on mobile
In the Life360 app, parents can receive notifications when their child arrives at a location – Photo: Helito Beggiora / dnetc
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The Google Family Link app generates a report on the period of use and also makes it possible to control what can be purchased on the Google Play Store, track the location, hide apps, lock the device and limit the time of use.
Reports on the child’s actions on the cell phone can be generated monthly or weekly.
For each child, up to five monitors can be added.
The application is available for iOS and Android.
When setting up parental monitoring, it is necessary that the cell phone of the child and the parents are close, and that the child is at most 13 years old.
A separate Google account for the child needs to be created before setup.
Google Family Link needs cell phones to be close for first configuration – Photo: Reproduction / Adriano Ferreira
Necessary only on the child’s cell phone, AppBlock has several tools that serve to block the use of various resources (calls, videos, photos), applications and downloads.
In the list of installed apps, parents can block the ones they prefer.
Several lock profiles can be created and activated at different times on the cell phone, such as at bedtime, for example.
The beginning and end of activities are defined by the times and days selected by the parents.
From the location, it is also possible to configure the automatic lock.
Uninstalling AppBlock is another feature that guarantees the effectiveness of restrictions, as it can be blocked, but you must enable functionality in the app, other applications may also be part of the list that prevents uninstallation.
Blocking of various resources and applications can be done through the app – Photo: Reproduction / Adriano Ferreira
Sharing users’ locations is a feature used by Life360 efficiently, as parents can follow the path of each child by receiving information about where their child is or where they have been.
When the child arrives at a location, an alert is sent to people added within a monitoring circle.
In the event of an emergency situation, the application makes an automatic call to the selected profiles.
If the phone is lost or stolen, it can be tracked using the Life360’s precise location feature.
Parents receive automatic notification of where their children are – Photo: Reproduction / Adriano Ferreira
4. KidsControl GPS family tracker
Monitoring the child’s location can be performed even without Internet using specific coordinates of the KidsControl Family Tracker GPS.
When there is a connection, the accuracy becomes 10 to 40 meters higher, even in closed places such as underground parking lots, for example.
In the app, several locations such as home or school can be set so that automatic alerts are sent when the children arrive.
If the cell of the one being monitored has almost no battery, it is possible to send a message to remember the charge.
Dangerous regions can be defined so that alerts are sent if the child enters them.
If there is an emergency, the SOS button sends a request for help to anyone monitoring the location.
You can add multiple profiles for monitoring.
To start using the service, the user must enter the code of the invitation sent to be monitored.
The child’s location is recorded even when there is no internet connection – Photo: Reproduction / Adriano Ferreira
5.
Screen Time Parental Control
The subjects that are viewed on websites, social networks and other content can be monitored by Parental Control Screen Time.
The words typed in cell phone browser search engines are seen to give parents greater control over what their children see on the Internet.
In addition, it is possible to control the time that the child spends on the cell phone.
In the paid version of the app, parents can immediately stop the activities of the monitored cell phone, limit resources during class hours, have a daily summary of activities and even share the monitoring with other profiles.
Mobile activity can be stopped at any time in the premium version of the app – Photo: Reproduction / Adriano Ferreira
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