Top 6 Parental Control Tools of 2025 for Smart and Safe Parenting

ByLisa Murray

Digital parenting in 2025 is not a walk in the park. As a parent, your job does not stop at regulating how much time your kids spend on their devices.

You must also track the platforms they visit, the apps they use, and with whom they interact. On top of that, you also need to keep up with new trends to help avert any digital risks.

To do all this, you need a reliable parental control tool. But with so many options available, it can be challenging to settle on one.

Not to worry, though, we’ve researched the best solutions like KidsGuard Pro and reviewed their features, pros, and cons to help you make the right decision.

What Should You Look for in a Parental Control Tool?

Every developer strives to enhance their parental control tool, giving it a competitive edge.

However, even with this, your preferred choice must still possess the essential features and capabilities of an excellent parental monitoring solution.

Below are some of the things we recommend you consider.

  • App and Web Monitoring Capabilities: Smart parenting in 2025 requires you to be able to monitor the apps your child downloads and uses on their device and the websites they visit.
  • Screen Time Management: With cases of screen addiction increasing rapidly over the past few years, a parental control that allows you to regulate your child’s screen time is essential for helping you enforce healthy limits.
  • Location Tracking: The best tool will also help you conveniently check on your child’s whereabouts and their location history.
  • Social Media and Chat Monitoring: Now that social media is a part of our lives, parents have to be proactive in monitoring their children’s engagements and the people they chat with on these platforms.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility: A good parental control app, such as FamiGuard Pro, will enable you to monitor your child’s digital activities on multiple devices across various operating systems, including Android, iOS, and iCloud. 
  • Ease of Use: A tool that is easy to set up and use without a steep learning curve allows you to get started immediately and understand the information it relays to you about your child’s digital habits.
  • Pricing: Most parental control apps worth your time are paid options. However, the pricing should be affordable while offering value in terms of the features available.

Top 6 Parental Control Apps Worth Trying in 2025

As more parents become aware of the need to protect their children online, many tools are entering the market to serve this purpose.

We’ve researched the best six options available, and in this section, we will reveal what you can expect from them.

1. KidsGuard Pro

KidsGuard Pro is a robust parental control app developed by ClevGuard.

It supports digital monitoring across iOS and Android devices, giving parents visibility into their children’s online and offline activities.

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No jailbreaking or rooting is needed to install the app on your child’s device. KidsGuard Pro is best suited for parents of teenagers seeking a centralized phone monitoring solution that is both user-friendly and effective.

Key Features

  • Location Tracking: KidsGuard Pro lets you know your child’s whereabouts by leveraging GPS to track their device’s location in real-time. The app also displays a chronological history of every place they have checked in. To enhance location tracking accuracy, the software also logs all Wi-Fi networks to which the device connects, displaying their names and locations.
  • Social Media Monitoring: With KidsGuard Pro, you will never miss a beat when it comes to your child’s social media activity. From your dashboard, you can see all the platforms the child accessed (eg, Facebook, Instagram, X, etc), posts they reacted to, and the people they chatted with.
  • Geofencing: This app features a geofencing function that enables you to designate safe zones where your child is permitted to roam. You will get instant alerts whenever your child leaves the designated area. You can also set arrival and departure alerts for school and home.
  • Remote Device Control: KidsGuard Pro gives you the tools to remotely access your child’s device to monitor and record their surroundings. Access the microphone at the touch of a button to record ambient sound, the camera to capture their face, or capture screenshots of their screen activity.
  • Call and SMS Monitoring: This feature lets you log all incoming and outgoing calls and SMS on your child’s device, with accurate timestamps and other metadata to help you address any issues, such as contact with strangers.
  • Screen Time Management: If you’re concerned about the amount of time your child spends on their device, you can set healthy limits and downtime with KidsGuard Pro to help them focus on schoolwork, socialize, or get better sleep.
  • Keyword Tracking and Alerts: The purpose of this feature is to help you monitor the appearance of certain words in your child’s chats to identify any possible risks like cyberbullying, grooming, suicidal thoughts, or sexting. You will be alerted immediately if any of the keywords you’ve specified appear in chat.

Pros

  • Discreet operation on the target device.
  • Accurate location tracking.
  • Compatible with iOS and Android devices.
  • Comprehensive phone monitoring.
  • ChatGPT monitoring.

Cons

  • No free trial or tier.

2. FamiGuard Pro

FamiGuard Pro is a comprehensive parental control app that helps modern parents protect their kids as they use digital devices.

It is a consent-led phone monitoring solution, ideal for monitoring iOS, iCloud, and Android devices.

Key Features

  • Social Media Monitoring: With FamiGuard Pro, you can monitor different aspects of your child’s social media activity, such as the messages they send and receive, media in chat, and in-app calls. The app’s WhatsApp monitoring tool even lets you track usage patterns.
  • Phone Activity Tracking: Knowing crucial information, such as your child’s web browsing history, is seamless with FamiGuard Pro, which gives you a bird’s eye view of all phone activity. You can see each action, such as opening different apps, playing games, and more, in sequence to better understand your child’s digital habits.
  • Call and SMS Monitoring: Knowing who your child talks to through calls and SMS can help you safeguard them against predators, untrustworthy friends, and family. FamiGuard Pro provides you with full access to call and SMS logs, including accurate timestamps for even those that have been deleted.
  • Live Location Tracking: From your user dashboard, the app shows you your child’s current location through a simplified map view. It also shows where they’ve been before that. You also get a Wi-Fi log showing all the networks their device connected to and where. Additionally, you can set up geofence alerts to receive notifications when your child arrives or leaves a trusted location, such as home.
  • Remote Recording: Remote recording features, such as surround sound, screenshots, and front camera photos, help ensure that your child is in a safe place and not engaging in inappropriate behavior or conversations.
  • Content Filtering: FamiGuard Pro’s content filtering capabilities allow you to curate your child’s digital experience, ensuring they only interact with safe and age-appropriate content that does not have a negative impact on their mental development and perspective on life.
  • Analytics: This parental control app provides you with detailed analytics with actionable insights to help you foster healthier digital habits in your child and take immediate action where necessary.
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Pros

  • Extensive monitoring capabilities.
  • Multi-device monitoring.
  • Comprehensive filters.
  • Discreet operation.
  • Easy setup.

Cons

  • Subscription-based with no free trial.

3. Kidslox

Kidslox is a parental control app most famous for its app-blocking capabilities.

It is compatible with Android and iOS devices. The solution is highly recommended for modern parents who want the ability to lock their children out of accessing specific apps on their devices.

Key Features

  • App blocking restricts access to specified apps, with an instant lock available to stop access immediately.

Track your child’s whereabouts using their device’s GPS location.

  • Manage the child’s screen time conveniently with schedules.
  • Web filtering lets you prohibit access to and engagement with adult, gambling, or violent content online.

Pros

  • Simple setup.
  • Supports individual app blocking.
  • Anti-tampering settings.

Cons

  • Advanced features are only available on the Family Plan.
  • Does not support text or call monitoring.

4. OurPact

OurPact empowers parents to customize their children’s digital experiences and foster healthier digital habits through various parental controls.

The app is beneficial for parents seeking an innovative solution for managing their children’s screen time on their devices.

Key Features

  • Leverage screen time management tools like limits, schedules, and app blocking to guard against addiction.
  • Location sharing lets you know your child’s live location and history and get alerts for new check-ins.
  • Instant and automatic screenshots, along with customized detection, help you monitor the content your child engages with online.
  • Device safeguards like web filtering, porn block, and app removal prevention help boost your digital parenting efforts.

Pros

  • Removal prevention settings.
  • Remote live monitoring.
  • Multi-device support.
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Cons

  • Limited geofencing capabilities.
  • Users complain of weak web filters.
  • No text or call monitoring is supported.

5. Canopy

Canopy is an AI-powered content monitoring solution designed to help parents protect their children from harmful content in real-time.

The app is a favorite among parents seeking a tool to help protect their children from explicit visual content.

Key Features

  • Canopy lets you filter the content your child interacts with online in real-time with the help of AI.
  • Designate internet downtime to introduce healthy breaks in your child’s routine.
  • This app scans all media sent or received on your child’s device to prevent any form of sexting.
  • Location alerts inform you of your child’s whereabouts.

Pros

  • Age-specific controls.
  • Anti-tampering settings.
  • Intelligent content filtering.

Cons

  • Less advanced call monitoring capabilities.
  • Does not support SMS monitoring.
  • Prone to affecting normal device functioning.

6. Surfie

Surfie is a multifaceted parental control app that enables parents to monitor multiple iOS and Android devices, ensuring their children’s online safety and healthy digital device usage.

Key Features

  • Screen time management tools enable you to implement downtime and usage limits.
  • You can track your child’s location and set up geofence alerts to receive notifications when they arrive or leave a designated area.
  • Protect your child’s naivety with web filtering that guards against inappropriate content.
  • Social alerts let you know when your child gets a notification from a social media app.

Pros

  • Geofence alerts.
  • Cross-platform compatibility.
  • Multi-device monitoring.

Cons

  • Some users complain about the app’s stability.
  • Less intuitive UI.
  • No stealth mode.

Summary

Smart parenting in 2025 entails knowing and having access to the right parental control solution to help you safeguard your child’s digital activities.

This article has reviewed the top six apps you can try. While most are limited in their scope, KidsGuard Pro and FamiGuard Pro are comprehensive, allowing you to track your child’s location, manage their screen time, monitor social media, calls, and chats, and more.

We recommend going for one of these two apps to help you boost your digital parenting efforts and enhance your visibility into your child’s online activity and digital habits. Visit the ClevGuard or FamiGuard official website to view free demos of the apps.

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