With the rapid advancements in technology, you will find a device in every kid’s hands. The pandemic, in particular, has made a device a necessity, especially since schools are now all online. While technology has made things easier and has ensured that children don’t fall behind on their education, it doesn’t come without its dangers and risks.
If not careful, your child can easily become a victim of cyberbullying, or he or she might even share some sensitive data with strangers over the net without knowing! This is where parental control apps come in. These apps can help not only restrict the usage of the phone but also can help to monitor the activities of your kid.
The best parental control apps help you track your Childs activities and keep an eye on what he/she do once they go online. Knowing what kids do on the internet has become the need of the hour and is vital to ensure your kids stay safe. TechMaish.com has compiled a list of 3 apps that can help you track phone activities.
How do parental control apps help keep track of kids?
Different parental control apps work differently. But generally, once you install them on your kids’ devices, you can know everything they’re doing on their device. You can see who they are talking to, block websites you find objectionable, limit the amount of daily screen time they have, etc. With some parental control apps, you can get a log of the texts and calls, while some can even provide you with the context of the messages. You don’t need to physically access the phone to know all this, instead you can remotely track everything on the web. Almost all the tracking apps provides web based login area where you can easily track and monitor the phone activities.
At the very least, parental control apps have features like an app blocker, location tracking, screen-time limits, website filter, and a scheduler to help parents keep track of their kids’ activities. Some control apps go the extra mile and have extra features like geofencing, which informs you if your child’s device leaves a designated “safe space” such as your relative’s house. Similarly, some let you read text conversations on your kid’s phone, but it’s impossible to listen in on phone calls since that’s illegal.
Let’s take a deeper look into how parental control apps can help you monitor your kids’ activities:
1. Monitor social media
While the pandemic has forced children to make friends online, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep a check on who they are talking to. With parental control apps, you can monitor the different social media platforms like emails, texts, etc.
This is especially helpful when you are concerned about your kid taking part in problematic activities and conversations. For instance, some parental control apps can send you a notification when it detects that your child has used problematic words like “drugs.” This helps you stay alarmed and alert when anything illegal or immoral activities are detected. You never know what your child is searching for and this is what these apps comes handy.
2. Control what your children can find on different search engines
Anything that you want to know is just a few clicks away; with search engines, you can find just about anything in a matter of minutes. However, this access to infinite content means that your child can search for inappropriate information which might not be suitable for his stage of development. Your kid might not be aware of several stuffs that can adversely affect his behavior and attitude towards life.
Knowing what he searches will help you understand your kid as well. He might be searching a particular topic which he can’t discuss with you. Searching on internet can lead him in the wrong direction. So if any such topics that he might not discuss with you can be tracked and talked about with him/her.
Parental control apps can be used to block all such explicit and adult content from the search results, including websites, images, and videos.
2. Know where they are
Location tracking is one of the most common features of parental control apps. At any time, you can keep track of where your entire family is. This will not only give you the peace of mind that your kids are completely safe where they should be, but it can also help you easily find them in case of emergencies. The stealth mode in all such apps allows you to even secretly track the phone location so that you can be aware of the places your kid visit.
Knowing the frequent location that you kid visits can also help you understand that what he/she is developing. For example if he or she frequently visits drug prone areas than you should know in time to stop and counsel him/her. With the help of these apps you can secretly and conveniently know the location of your child and can relax in your house without being worried.
Conclusion
The internet has opened up a new channel for children to learn and explore new things that they otherwise might not have been able to from the comfort of their homes. But this free reign over the internet can prove to be quite dangerous and put your children in harm’s way. This is where parental control apps can help you. Our advice: make your kid understand the dangers of the internet and let them know you’re monitoring his/her device since you’ll need your kid’s profile information for some features like the password.
Once you have easy access to the information, it will be easier for you to keep track of your kids. For the better future of your child it is quite important to know about the activities he/she is performing on the phone, so that any misfortunate event or behavior can be tackled well in time.
Parental control apps comes with free and paid versions. The free apps offers basic features and the paid with full features available. You can get any reliable app that is under your budget to keep eye on your Childs activities.
Kim Marks 
Nicola Holder