7 Best Apps for Parents to Keep Tabs on Their Family
Digitalization made our world super comfortable, we have any information readily available and we can use it at any moment. Smartphones became part and parcel of our life and seem to contain more information about us than we can even imagine, and that is the main reason for our vulnerability. While adults are able to control their presence in the virtual world (however, not always successfully), kids are way more susceptible to danger.
When presenting a new device for your kids, it’s important to discuss the safety rules, and not just briefly, thinking that it’s enough. It’s important to explain the reason behind every rule.
The basic rules:
• Not to share the phone number without parental agreement as it can be used for various cyber schemes or with malicious intentions
• Not to give personal data to unknown people – name, address, family members’ names
• No clicks on the links and ads that pop up on the screen
• Not to chat with strangers no matter how polite and nice they are
• Under no circumstances should they send the photos to unknown people
• Limited visibility of social network pages
Despite the fact that children are aware of such essential rules, there is still a risk of them getting involved in some illegal or worrisome stuff. And to make matters worse, kids typically don’t share such ‘secrets’, which leads to quite troubling experiences. That’s the reason why software developers come up with applications that help parents track their children’s activities online and limit the usage of a certain type of traffic. Besides, the apps help to track the location and screen time.
The best online apps to track the activities and movements of your kids are the following:
1. Norton Family Parental Control App
Norton software is well-known as an antivirus provider. However, they also got concerned about children’s safety and came up with the app to help parents monitor their screen time and web searches, as well as limit Internet access. Besides, parents get weekly and monthly reports as a summary of Internet performance.
2. Google Family Link
Google is slowly conquering the world with its software, and the kids’ security was not left unnoticed. Google presented a cover-it-all application, which helps parents limit the time of internet usage and screen time overall, approve or block types of content to watch, and block in-app purchases because a simple curiosity will cost a fortune.
3. Find My Kids
A treasure trove for parents who need control over their kid’s movement. Find My Kids’ up-to-date software allows tracking the movement without any chance for GPS slips. Besides, it offers additional benefits – monitoring the app’s usage, giving the idea of screen time during the day, and reminders about a flat battery, and muted phone. Moreover, this app has a function that is definitely hard to beat – listening to the surroundings. If the child doesn’t pick up the phone, parents can listen to the surroundings and make out what the situation is.
4. Bark
Bullying online is a common issue nowadays that can lead to terrible consequences. The bark app is used to analyze the online activities of a kid and detect bullying. It can be performed by checking the digital history and tone of the messages. This app can help monitor more than 30 popular social networks, making the cyber life of your kid safer. In case of detecting the thread, Bark provides recommendations and further steps to take. They pride themselves on preventing numerous issues regarding children’s safety.
5. Family time
Devices and games make kids and adults, by the way, fully engaged in the applications leaving no time for family, as the attention is completely stolen. Family time offers a good alternative to such a pitiful situation – limits for phone usage, including calls. By doing this you will surely get the kid back to the dining table conversations. Besides, this app blocks adult content and social media apps and helps you track the GPS position.
6. Screen time
More screen time – less real lifetime. The main aim of the app is to give children time to live in their childhood, instead of pointless searching for videos or memes. Parents are enabled to monitor the amount of screen time remotely, set the daily tasks, and set the homework hours. The application also offers instant pause on the phone or any other device.
7. Youtube Kids
Youtube has everything a kid can dream about – endless cartoons and favorite bloggers. However, even if the child is super responsible and watches only allowed videos, the pop-up ads and recommendations aren’t always safe, quite the contrary. They can offer adult content hidden under “kids-related content”. That’s why YouTube Kids appeared, giving the parent full control over their kid’s profiles.
Our virtuality offers us lots of advantages, however, it’s important to be alert, as there are plenty of dangers as well. Take no chances and protect your closest ones from risks, the parental software helps you find your kids any time during the day, and limit the harmful content from the webspace. Your kids’ safety is your peace of mind.
