The 4 parental control apps that top our list

Bark would be great for parents who'd prefer to keep an eye on what their kid is sending, receiving, or scrolling past rather than straight up blocking interactive apps all together. Its acute scanning abilities could be a comfort for parents who are concerned about mental health and how the internet or interactions with peers could be affecting it.

Bark lets kids enjoy the fun, social parts of apps like social media while simultaneously keeping parents posted if that usage starts to head in a concerning or unsafe direction. The shining parental control feature here is AI-powered conversation monitoring. Bark scans everything going in and out of your kid's device from texts, YouTube and TikTok videos, web searches, and social media platforms with direct messaging, looking for indications of issues like cyberbullying, sexual predators, drug use, threats of violence, and suicide or self-harm ideation. If something worrisome is found, parents will be shown an excerpt of the conversation to assess. Because it's AI, the scanning goes past a black and white host of sketchy words and also considers slang, pictures, and emoji use.

Of course, Bark has ways to make sure nothing slips through the cracks by blocking certain websites or apps altogether, or certain categories based on maturity or type of content in general. Bark's screen time controls allow further customization of this, getting a little more nitty-gritty with rules on when kids can access what. App usage schedules can be tweaked one by one — for instance, parents could select that social media go off limits by dinner time, but could permit Fortnite a little later into the evening.

Bark has one glaring content monitoring quirk: For some reason, Bark can't analyze words in those pesky vanishing Snapchat DMs on iOS — only images and video. However, Bark can fully scan all types of private messages (including text) on Snapchat for Android devices.

Norton Family would be great for parents with busy schedules who need a hand in keeping track of their kid's whereabouts via Norton Family's comprehensive Location Supervision feature. These same parents may not be as pressed about monitoring their kid's texts on convos on social media — this might apply to older kids who need a little privacy in that regard.

Location tracking can be a helpful parenting tool for families that are constantly running around, especially as kids are maturing and getting themselves to and from places on their own. With Norton Family's Location Supervision, parents can set physical parameters and receive notifications when a kiddo arrives to a favorite location, like school, practice, or a friend's house. On the flip side, a notification will also be sent if a child's device goes outside of the permissible radius. For more responsibility on the kid's side, they can also check in by sending their current location to a parent.

Past geofencing, Norton Family offers a comprehensive, yet slightly less strict approach to content supervision. Choose from a menu of 47 web filtering categories based on age, or sit back and take notes on the apps or sites your kid is frequenting, then make the call on the ones you feel comfortable with. The approved apps and sites can be customized based on time of day (like school hours) or days of the week (like a different schedule for school nights versus the weekend). One caveat: The controls that determine how long a kid can use the device each day are generalized and can't be applied to certain apps — this might be a deal breaker if you're trying to limit, say, time spent on TikTok specifically.

Interestingly enough, the app that centers location tracking is far less nosey when it comes to what kids are talking about. Norton Family doesn't offer monitoring of conversations on social media or over text like some of the other apps in this list do. Parents can still can get alerted when kids try to access an app or content that's not appropriate, but the same scanning doesn't apply to online interactions.

Google Family Link would be a good starting point for parents who want to test the waters of a parental control app without paying for a year up front. These parents won't feel the need to take things as far as remote text monitoring — screen time controls and basic GPS tracking will probably suffice.

Since it's Google-based, Family Link is also an easy segue for families who already have Gmail accounts.

Considering it's completely free, Google Family Link is quite the comprehensive tool for keeping tabs on devices, as well as the whereabouts of said device. It operates very similarly to Apple's built-in parental controls on iOS products, but gets extra points for being able to operate on both Android or iOS.

Sure, it could be considered basic when compared to the apps that go the whole nine yards with text and private message snooping. But when it comes to the basics, like screen time scheduling and tracking of the apps they're using during that screen time, Family Link is a solid sidekick.

Unlike even some paid apps, Family Link's screen time controls can be customized app by app — so you could grant your kid free reign to practice a language on DuoLingo while limiting their TikTok scrolling to an hour a day. You can also block access to inappropriate apps or sites altogether, or act as the master approver any time they try to download something new.

Qustodio Premium is Bark's toughest competitor in terms of AI-based features like text monitoring and keyword alerts, but costs less than $10 per month compared to Bark's $14 — so Qustodio would be a good budget-friendly choice for parents who don't want to give up message monitoring. (Premium is noted specifically because the Basic version, which still costs money, isn't really worthwhile compared to other free options.)

You may be perplexed on how to pronounce its name, but there's nothing confusing about Qustodio's setup. Everything about it is easy to navigate — from installation, to adding profiles for different children, to toggling between each kid's activity timelines. It's been one of the most solid players in this game for years, and continues to evolve without overcomplicating the interface.

Qustodio Premium has an extensive list of protection features, from daily time limits and custom routines, to web filtering and AI-powered alerts of possible threats, to location, call, and text monitoring from your own device. If your child goes outside of the lines (the safe GPS radius designated by you) or comes across an Instagram DM containing potentially harmful language, you'll get a heads up right away. That high-alert brainpower isn't often found for less than $10 per month, so Qustodio gets props there.

The panic button provides an extra layer of protection for parents who don't get peace of mind from location tracking alone. When away from home, children can send a direct text alert to emergency contacts pinpointing their whereabouts.