How much screen time is healthy for children and some useful If you’re wondering about the kind of boundaries to set for your kids, here are some guidelines on They won’t like it, but once they understand the reasons for it, it will stop all those arguments about why they shouldn’t have to turn off their device and go to bed. They’re not stealthy, secret apps for spying on your kids either: you’ll need to talk to them about why too much screen time is bad for them and the dangers that lurk online, and why you’re installing a parental control app on their phone (or tablet) in the first place. It really comes into its own when you have more than one child, and they have multiple devices, though.Īlso, parental control software isn’t a replacement for actual parenting and supervision.

It has a three-day free trial, so you can find out if it does what you need it to without spending any money.Īnd if you have only one child with one device, you can use it for free (with a few restrictions). Each of the apps here has its strengths and weaknesses but, since you probably just want to know which one to go and download, Regardless, the services we’ve reviewed here allow you to limit screen time on the devices they do support as well as filtering out ‘bad’ stuff from the web – assuming you even let them have access to a web browser, which you don’t have to.īear in mind that no parental control app is perfect, and there’s no cast-iron guarantee that any web filters will block 100% of undesirable content on the internet. That’s when parenting skills have to be used, or you find a way to enable parental controls on those devices as well.

They don’t work on smart TVs or games consoles, so can’t prevent your child or teenager turning on the TV and watching more YouTube or playing games on their Xbox once their screen time has run out on their phone, computer and tablet.

However, while some apps such as Qustodio are great for this, even they have their limits. If they do, you’ll need an app that works across all those devices and can enforce an overall time limit so they don’t simply pick up a second screen when the first one times out. One of the hardest things to control is when your kids have access to various devices.

Qustodio alternative