Best Parental Control Apps in the UK | Top 13 Reviewed for 2023

The best parental control apps in the UK are must-haves for parents looking to monitor their child’s internet usage and set limits on screen time. These apps allow you to block inappropriate content, keep track of social media activity, and set up geofencing alerts; plus, you’ll be able to restrict your child’s access to potentially dangerous websites.

However, finding the right parental control app can be a daunting task, with so many options available. To make it easier, we’ve tested and compiled a list of the best parental control apps in the UK based on factors like pricing, device support, feature range, and customer service. Our top picks include industry leaders such as mSpy, EyeZy, and uMobix – read on to learn more.

The Best Parental Control Apps UK | Top 13 Shortlist

According to our research, mSpy emerged as the top parental control app thanks to its stealth mode, remote control capabilities, two-factor authentication, and user-friendly interface. It emerged on top, despite this tough competition:

1. mSpy — Overall, the Best Parental Control App UK | Test it Out Now With the 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee.
2. EyeZy — The Best Parental Control App for Social Media Monitoring | Try it With the 3-Day Trial and 14-Day Guarantee.
3. uMobix — One of the Best Parental Control Apps for iPhone for Remote Control Over Your Child’s Device
4. Cocospy — The Best UK Parental Control App for Real-Time Location Tracking
5. XNSpy — Popular Parental Monitoring App to Keep Your Kids Safe From Inappropriate Content
6. Qustodio — Leading Child Monitoring App With an Intuitive SOS Feature.
7. TheOneSpy — An Impeccable Parental Control App UK to Listen to Your Child’s Call Recordings.
8. NetNanny — The Best Parental Control App UK for YouTube Monitoring.
9. KidsGuard — A Beginner-Friendly Keylogger to Monitor Your Child’s Online Activities.
10. Norton Family — A Quality Parental Tracking App for App Blocking During School Time.
11. FamiSafe — Use This Parent Tracker App to Check Your Child’s Location History.
12. Intego — A Feature-Packed Combo of Antivirus Software & Parental Monitoring App UK.
13. Kaspersky — The Best Free Parental Control App in the UK.

Best Parental Control Solutions in the UK | Top 13 Reviewed

Want to know more about the best parental control apps in the UK? We’ll now take a detailed look at our top choices, including their key features, pros and cons, pricing, and more. Let’s dive right in.

1. mSpy — The Best Overall Parental Control App UK

mSpy is best known for its user-friendly control panel that collates all important updates on your child in one place, making it easier for you to go through their day-to-day activities.

For instance, you can keep a track of all the messages your child receives, not just through SMS but also on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Viber.

Read every text, see the photos/videos exchanged and find out who your child talks the most with, all at the same time. Plus, if you want to keep track of their whereabouts without directly asking them, mSpy has the perfect GPS tracking tool for you.

It not only gives you live location updates on its map but also alerts you as soon as your child steps out of their permitted zone pre-established by you. For example, let’s say you don’t allow your kid to go to a certain street or locality.

You can mark the zone your child isn’t allowed to cross, and as soon as they do, mSpy will send you an alert. This way, you can keep a check on their safety even if you’re not constantly checking their location.

Speaking of whereabouts, mSpy also lets you take a peek into your child’s Calendar app and check the activities planned for the week. The information will consist of the name of the event, the time, and, if you’re lucky, the venue too.

You’ll know where they’re headed in advance and stop them if you don’t want them to go.

Pricing

mSpy starts at an affordable £8.75/month on its yearly plan, which is what will give you the best bang for your buck.

That said, you must surely want to try the tool before buying it for a whole year. That’s where mSpy’s 14-day money-back guarantee comes in. Don’t like it? Cancel within the trial period and lose no money in the process.

2. EyeZy — The Best Parental Control App for Social Media Monitoring

EyeZy has a specialty of giving you access to all the messages on your kid’s phone, including the deleted ones.

Kids these days are really smart. Anytime they have to send something controversial, they use apps like Snapchat or Instagram that have a disappearing message feature.

Even if the message disappears or is deleted, EyeZy will capture it for you before it’s gone. In case it fails to capture the message before it vanishes, you’ll still have the screen recording feature to rely on.

This feature takes a screenshot of every activity in real-time, leaving no opportunity for your child to hide their messages from the app. With that said, the biggest concern that parents have when using a parental control app is they might get caught.

However, EyeZy has a special invisible shield feature that keeps your presence on their device hidden quite well. Even if your kids are tech-savvy, there’s no way they can tell you’re monitoring them.

Another feature you’ll find extremely helpful is File Finder. Often, kids use hidden apps to hide their private documents or photos that might be inappropriate for their age. It’s impossible to find these hidden folders during a manual search.

That’s why EyeZy, one of the best spy apps for Android, brings you a thorough file scan that digs out every single item saved on your child’s phone, even if its password protected.

Pricing

EyeZy’s annual plan will cost you a mere £7.99/month and give you some of the industry’s best parental control features, including live GPS tracking, keylogging monitoring, and more.

A key difference between EyeZy and mSpy’s pricing is that EyeZy’s quarterly plan is reasonably priced at £17.99/month for parents who perhaps want to monitor their kids only when they’re away from home for a short duration.

Plus, with a free demo, a 3-day free trial, and a 14-day money-back guarantee on your side, you can have a good taste of whether EyeZy is the one for you before you put any money in it.

3. uMobix — One of the Best Parental Control Apps for iPhone for Remote Control Over Your Child’s Device

uMobix is one of the best iOS spy apps for functionality without jailbreaking the device. But, what we love most about it is how it gives parents access to deleted info such as messages, calls, and contacts.

Some kids are extra cautious, and even if they don’t know that you’re using a parental control app to monitor them, they’ll still delete controversial information. But with uMobix, you’ll get notified if your child has recently deleted a message or call history.

Next, from the dashboard, you can follow the entire deleted message thread. For contacts tracking, uMobix goes a step ahead and lets you know even if they’re renamed.

For example, if you asked your child to end their relationship with someone and delete their number, you can check whether they actually went ahead and deleted it or simply renamed it to delude you. With uMobix, nothing remains hidden.

With that said, uMobix’s biggest USP is that it gives you remote control over your child’s device. Through this feature, you can:

• Delete unwanted apps on your phone
• Block websites, Wi-Fi, or a certain device
• Disable messages, restrict calls, and
• Even regulate data storage

In short, you can handle your child’s device like your own without even touching it. Despite giving you so much control over their device, it continues to operate in stealth mode and remains undetected.

uMobix is downloaded under a fake app name which makes it look like a system app, and just like most of us, kids aren’t interested in checking out a system app — you’ll remain anonymous.

Pricing

The lowest uMobix goes in terms of pricing is with its 12-month plan, which is priced at a reasonable $12.49/month and comes with features like call logs and contact list tracking, a keylogger and geofinder, social media activity tracking, and more.

Try it now. You have a live demo of the product and a 14-day money-back guarantee to test the tool before you pay for it. No risk. No hassle.

4. Cocospy — The Best UK Parental Control App for Real-Time Location Tracking

Cocospy is one of the best Android parental control apps in the UK that has proved its expertise and reliability time and again.

One of our favorite things about Cocospy is that it not only lets you inside your kid’s phone — it’s a phenomenal keylogger, so you’ll know everything your kid types on search bars and chatboxes — but also provides you with call recordings, including details like:

• The caller
• The duration of the call
• How often your child talks to a particular caller

Besides live GPS tracking, Cocospy will also give you complete access to any deleted messages, calls, and contacts (even deleted contacts).

Just like all other parental control apps, Cocospy, too, monitors social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. However, its iOS version is capable of tracking only WhatsApp and FB.

You’ll surely love Cocospy’s stealth mode, thanks to which you’ll be able to monitor your child discreetly and remotely too, this includes:

• Delete apps
• Restrict their access to certain apps
• Block any calls to people you don’t want them to be talking to

And more without even touching their phone.

Pricing

Cocospy has these 3 subscription options:

What’s more, Cocospy comes with a 2-week long guarantee, meaning you’ll have enough time to try the tool risk-free.

5. XNSpy — Popular Parental Monitoring App to Keep Your Kids Safe from Inappropriate Content

XNSpy understands that even if parents want to keep track of their kids, it’s not possible for them to keep checking their activity updates 24/7.

That’s why XNSpy does most of the work on your behalf — creating custom reports and instant alerts to make it simpler for you to monitor your child.

For example, if you don’t have the time to skim through every message or phone call, you can simply check the XNSpy analytics. Under this, you get a list of your child’s frequent callers — the ones who truly influence your child’s life.

A simple interpretation of your child’s call records will save you a lot of time and headaches. Plus, as one of the best phone spy apps, XNSpy simplifies monitoring your child through instant alerts.

Surely, reading every single one of your child’s texts is tiresome and not sustainable. That said, you still want to know when your child is taking part in any inappropriate discussion.

Thanks to XNSpy’s instant alerts, you can flag specific words as inappropriate beforehand, and XNSpy will notify you when your kids use such words.

It’s best to interfere only when it’s needed so that your kid can enjoy a little freedom and you can live stress-free too.

Pricing

Track your child’s WhatsApp, text messages, call history, and more with XNSpy. Its annual plan at $7.50/month makes it one of the more affordable parental control apps.

There’s also a 10-day money-back guarantee on XNSpy, which might not be as generous as our top picks, but it still gives you over a week to try the tool.

6. Qustodio — Leading Child Monitoring App With an Intuitive SOS Feature

Qustodio not only helps you monitor your child’s phone and online activities but also helps you protect them from any offline or online dangers.

For example, its unique SOS feature lets your child send quick alerts in times of crisis or danger. In case they don’t have the time to make a call or type a text, all that they have to do is press the SOS bubble.

Qustodio will send an immediate alert to all their entrusted contacts so that you can reach out to them as soon as possible. You can also track their location in real-time, which will benefit you immensely if your child goes out alone often.

Plus, you might not have the time to constantly keep a track of their location on the map when they’re away. That’s why Qustodio lets you save their destination’s location and alerts you once they reach it.

This fantastic spy app also makes it easier for parents to protect their children from online predators simply by blocking inappropriate websites and content.

Qustodio’s browser filters will automatically block all websites containing mature content such as gambling, violence, and pornography. This way, you can keep your child safe without obsessing over their safety.

At the same time, you’ll be notified if your child tries to access this blocked content. If you see repeated alerts, maybe it’s time to sit them down and have a chat.

Pricing

Qustodio is the best parental control app for you if you have multiple kids or even family members like nephews and nieces who you want to monitor.

On top of allowing you to monitor up to 15 devices, Qustodio also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you’ll not lose any money if you’re not satisfied with the tool, although we’re certain that won’t be the case.

7. TheOneSpy — An Impeccable Parental Control App UK to Listen to Your Child’s Call Recordings

TheOneSpy is a popular cheating spouse spy app that works perfectly well with both mobile phones and computers. While it’s primarily designed to gather evidence against spouses, the features work pretty well for parental control too.

For instance, you can get a live record of each call your child makes or receives. While almost all parental control apps only give you access to their call logs, TheOneSpy is one of the few apps that lets you eavesdrop on their conversation.

Check who they’re talking to and what it is they’re talking about to ensure your child isn’t up to any mischief. Speaking of recording, TheOneSpy can turn on the target phone’s mic remotely and listen to what’s going on in their surroundings.

For example, if your child promised to stay home and study while you’re at work, you can use surround recording to check on their activities.

If voice recording alone won’t suffice your needs, you can also live record their screen or get a 360° view of their surroundings.

If you want direct access instead of virtually tracking your kid’s device for a distance, TheOneSpy will help you bypass their phone’s security.

Its Password Chaser feature can hack or crack all types of passwords. So even if your child has separate passcodes for their home screen, messenger, or email, TheOneSpy app will break through them all in just a few seconds.

Pricing

TheOneSpy’s Premium plan will fetch you several monitoring features like live location tracking, access to photos and screenshots that your child takes on their phone, WhatsApp chats and calls, and more.

If you’d also like to listen to your child’s call recordings, be it the standard ones or those on some of the best VoIP apps like WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Skype, and more, get the Pro plan.

Note that the above pricing is for Android users. TheOneSpy has a single iOS plan at $142 for 3 months. Try TheOneSpy risk-free for a full week now.

8. NetNanny — The Best Parental Control App UK for YouTube Monitoring

NetNanny’s best feature is its YouTube monitoring. Sure, there are a lot of apps that let you keep track of your child’s activities. However, very few of them are as detailed as NetNanny.

You not only get to check how often they get on YouTube, video length, and the view date, but you’ll also get a direct link to all the videos they’ve watched. This way, you can quality-check the videos yourself and decide if they’re suitable for your child or not.

What most parents love about NetNanny is its super intuitive content detection AI.

Instead of manually checking and blocking websites that are inappropriate for your child, let NetNanny automatically detect unsuitable content, block them and maintain a kid-friendly online zone for your child.

What’s more, it’s pretty straightforward for you to manage not one but all your kids and even other family members from the same account.

You get a comprehensive dashboard that records and categorizes each mobile activity under the respective family member’s name so that you can quickly go through it all at a glance.

In case you don’t have the time to check every entry, simply turn on real-time alerts for specific activities.

For instance, if you don’t want your kid to waste their time gaming online, you can flag all gaming-related terms to get notified every time your child uses them — either on search bars or in any conversation.

Pricing

NetNanny has 3 plans. With that said, the cheapest plan doesn’t provide mobile monitoring. For this, you’ll need the Family Protection Pass plan.

The best value for money is NetNanny’s plan which covers up to 5 devices (PC, Mac, and mobile). Need protection for 20 devices? Get it for $89.99/year. Enjoy NetNanny without putting any money on the line, thanks to its 2-week-long guarantee.

9. KidsGuard — A Beginner-Friendly Keylogger to Monitor Your Child’s Online Activities

KidsGuard is a beginner-friendly parental control app that gives you access to all apps, files, and documents on your kid’s phone without rooting or jailbreaking the device.

The best thing about KidsGuard is that it gives you a demo account before asking you to register for a traditional one. This will help you understand what you’re signing up for, how each of the features works, and what exactly you’ll be able to monitor.

You can also check your child’s activity on individual apps. Under the “App Activity” tab, you get detailed data on your kid’s screen time, frequency of visits, app version, size, and installation date.

You can use this data to find out which app is distracting your child the most and needs to be monitored. For instance, if you find your kid spending too much time on TikTok, you can make them delete it.

KidsGuard also gives you a sneak peek into everything your child types on their phone, whether it’s a text, search query, or a simple note to self. These entries are categorized under the individual apps so that you’ll know how those texts were used.

For example, a text like “how to kiss” might seem like a harmless, fun teenage query if searched online, but if the same is used in conversation with a stranger, you might need to intervene for their safety.

Pricing

Below you’ll find KidsGuard’s Android plans. Note that the iOS subscriptions are slightly more expensive but still very reasonably priced:

What’s impressive is that KidsGuard has one of the cheapest monthly and quarterly plans. Plus, with a generous 30-day money-back guarantee, you’ll have ample time to try the tool risk-free before you’re asked to pay for it.

10. Norton Family — A Quality Parental Tracking App for App Blocking during School Time

Norton Family isn’t as feature-packed as the other parental control apps on our list, but its ability to do few things but few things right is what makes it special.

Norton Family keeps it simple and provides you with all the information you’ll need to assure your child’s well-being without turning you into an obsessive parent. One of our favorite Norton Family features is The School Time.

Often, kids use their phones on the pretext of school work, but in reality, they’re just using them for entertainment purposes.

To avoid that, you can turn on The School Time mode and add what websites they’re allowed to visit during their designated study hours. Norton will allow your child access to only these selected websites and block the rest.

Even when they’re online during regulated hours, you can check their activities through Norton Family’s dedicated Parent Portal or email updates. These activity updates include location tracking, plus app installation, and search query alerts.

Together, these features help you safely monitor the day-to-day activities of your child so that you’re ready to jump in if anything goes wrong. Speaking of Norton’s location tracking feature, it’s by far the best we have seen in any app.

Apart from real-time tracking, you can also schedule dates or a time in advance to get live location updates.

For example, if your child says that they have to stay in school for extra classes, you can set up Norton Family to send you an automated location update on the given day to verify if they’re actually in school.

Pricing

Norton Family is easily the most simply priced parental control app on our list. It has a single plan that’ll give you detailed reports of your child’s online activities, track their location, and more.

Plus, Norton Family comes with one of the most generous money-back guarantees of 60 days. Is this tool for you? Well, you have two months to find out without risking any money.

11. FamiSafe — Use This Parent Tracker App to Check Your Child’s Location History

FamiSafe has managed to hit the sweet spot as it has the perfect balance of industry-level tracking features, yet it’s easy to use, especially for parents who aren’t too tech-savvy.

What we really like about FamiSafe is that instead of simply giving you the current location of your child, it lets you check your kid’s location history. After all, it’s not convenient for any parent to constantly monitor their child’s location.

Thanks to FamiSafe’s location history feature, you can go back in time to check your child’s location and verify their claims whenever needed.

Also, just like Norton Family, you can use FamiSafe to set boundaries around frequently visited locations such as home and school so that you get an alert every time your child enters or leaves these locations.

Concerning online safety, if you want to protect your child from inappropriate content, turn on the Safe Search feature. It pairs with all popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yandex.

This feature will automatically filter any content that’s not suitable for your child. In addition to that, you’ll also receive a warning about such pages, especially if your child tries to visit them purposely.

In case there are repeated attempts, you might want to talk to them directly. While these warnings will save you time, it’s up to you if you also want to go back and check your child’s entire detailed browsing history.

Pricing

FamiSafe’s starter plan lets you protect up to 5 devices — some of the top parental control apps cover just a single device on their basic plans, so this is a definite plus.

For protection for up to 10 devices, get either the quarterly or annual plan. Unsure? There’s a 7-day money-back guarantee, so you have the option to get a full refund if you don’t like the tool.

12. Intego — A Feature-Packed Combo of Antivirus Software & Parental Monitoring App UK

Intego is one of the few parental control apps that provide every parent with custom user configuration features so that you can personalize the account based on your needs and priorities.

The biggest benefit of using Intego for parental control is that it’s also a robust antivirus solution. This way, you can keep a watch on your child’s internet activities as well as protect them from hackers and viruses with the same app.

If tracking SMS and social media chats aren’t enough for you, you’ll be glad to know that Intego will help you track and block your child’s emails too.

Sure, kids don’t use emails as frequently as they use instant messaging platforms, but they might, especially if they’re trying to hide a conversation from you.

Blocking emails also protects your child from malicious links that might contain malware or spyware and expose their device to hackers. Kids don’t know which emails are safe to open, so let Intego take control and protect them.

Intego is a wizard on Mac devices. So if your child spends ample time gaming or using his Mac, this is the perfect solution for you.

Pricing

Although Intego is tailor-made for Mac devices, you can get its dual protection for both Mac and Windows (including antivirus software):

Sadly, Intego doesn’t have a plan for Android or iOS, but it’s a phenomenal child monitoring + antivirus software nonetheless. Try Intego with the 30-day money-back guarantee before committing.

13. Kaspersky — The Best Free Parental Control App in the UK

Kaspersky’s biggest USP is its battery tracker. This tool will notify you any time your child’s device battery is dangerously low so that you don’t risk losing touch with them due to battery drainage — remind them to charge their phone.

Its latest feature is the YouTube search history tracker that tells you what kind of content your child is interested in. While you can certainly change the content settings on YouTube, kids these days are smart and can easily change them back.

But with Kaspersky’s YouTube history tracking feature, you’ll get direct links to every video your child watches. Kaspersky also provides a generous free plan for new parents who want to test the platform before investing in it.

This free plan contains all the basic features you’ll need for keeping your kid safe online, including online web filters, app usage control, and screen time management.

The only downside to Kaspersky is that it doesn’t let you monitor offline activities such as calls and messages. You also can’t access your child’s deleted messages or send remote commands except within screen time limits.

But on the plus side, Kaspersky has a native antivirus solution — one of the best UK antiviruses on the market. Like Intego, you can monitor your child’s online activities plus protect their device from malware and hackers, all with the same app.

Pricing

The Kaspersky Safe Kids plan starts free. Plus, the premium plan is dirt cheap if you compare it with some of the other parental control tools on the market:

Kaspersky surely wins the race for the most affordable parental control app. Is it the one for you? Try it risk-free for a full month and find out.

Top 13 Parental Control Tools in The UK | Compared

To help you narrow down your options, here’s a table highlighting the key differences between our top picks so that you can make a quick, informed decision:

Why Do I Need a Parental Tracker App?

As a parent, it can be challenging to keep up with your child’s online activity and ensure they’re using the internet safely. One way to stay informed and protect your child’s online experience is by using a parental tracker app.

These apps allow you to monitor your child’s activity on their devices, track their location, and communicate with them remotely. Here are some other reasons why you need a tracking app:

Helps Save Time

Parental tracker apps can be a great time-saving tool for busy parents. With just a few clicks, these apps allow you to easily track your child’s location in real-time and monitor other aspects of their phone use, such as:

• Social media activity
• Location history
• Contacts and texts

This can save you the time and effort of constantly checking in on your children or relying on them to report back.

Facilitate Open Communication

A parental tracker app can facilitate open communication between parents and children.

Parents can have informed conversations with their children about their behavior and choices by keeping track of their child’s whereabouts and activities.

This can help you better understand your child’s interests and concerns and help them feel that you’re interested in their lives and willing to listen to their perspectives.

Keep Track of Children’s Online Activities

Through activity monitoring, tracking apps can provide insight into your children’s digital habits. With these apps, you can view the apps and websites your children are using and how much time they spend on each one.

This information can help you better understand your children’s online activity and identify potential areas of concern.

By staying informed about their children’s digital habits, you can take an active role in helping to guide and support your children’s technology use.

How to Use a Parental Control App

With mSpy, parents can track their child’s location in real-time, set geofencing alerts, monitor their social media activity, and view multimedia files on their child’s phone. Here’s how you can set up mSpy on your child’s phone:

1. Create an account on mSpy’s website and select the type of device (Android or iOS) you want to monitor.
2. Purchase a subscription
3. Disable Play Protect on the target device
4. Download the mSpy installer from https://getmspy.net/. Install the app and open it.
5. Allow mSpy access to the phone’s data by tapping “Allow” on all pop-up prompts for the app to work correctly.
6. Enter the registration code you received in the Wizard.
7. Tap “Complete Installation.”

Once the setup is complete, you can access your mSpy account and control panel to monitor the target device. You can track your child’s calls, websites, and social media activity from your smartphone — remotely and discreetly.

Parental Control App FAQs