A better social media monitoring tools for parents means to get the best out of their children’s social media accounts. For this reason, we will look through some popular social media monitoring software and apps that help you to get the best out of young peoples’ social accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.
There are so many social media monitoring tools out there, and finding the right one for you can be challenging. However, we know that the best fit is the one that helps you best monitor your children’s social media activity. The primary goal of social media monitoring tools is to keep kids safe online by protecting against cyberbullying and online predators. To help you navigate this complex world, we review several of the top social media monitoring tools for parents.
fenced.ai
fenced.ai is one of the most advanced, reliable, and trustworthy parental controls app out there. It is a tracking, monitoring, and control program that helps you to create and manage a digitally safe learning environment for your children. Parents can remotely follow their children what they have been doing on social media.
It monitors all the activities happening on the devices in real-time. Parents can easily track all the Calls and SMS from the Children Device with Child Monitoring App’s (Fenced.ai) free features. It records the time and duration of calls and SMS. It is the best choice for parents.
Features
- It helps to monitor your children’s devices.
- It allows you to Keep track of social media like Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Viber, Skype, Tiktok, etc.
- It can help to establish good cyber safety habits.
- It helps block inappropriate content.
- You can save them from online predators.
- Records Keystrokes.
- It is cheaper than other parental control apps.
- It allows you to track contacts, device location, and SIM location.
Instructions On How To Use fenced.ai
- Visit fenced.ai official website and click on a try for free on the homepage.
- Sign-up using your credentials and log in.
- Then on the top right, click on Download APK.
- After that, follow the installation guide given on the website.
- In the end, go to the dashboard and start monitoring.
Pros
fenced.ai provides solutions for parents, schools, and businesses. The application offers all the essential features and has a clean User interface(UI). The software is effortless to use and has good customer support. It has more reliable and flexible pricing than most of its opponents. Overall it is one of the best controlling apps available on the market.
Cons
The free version of this control app only supports calls and SMS tracking. To use the latest features, you need to buy either the basic or the prime version. Further, some features may require root.
Pricing
It is available in 3 versions, and its pricing is listed below:
- Free Version: $0.00.
- Basic Version: $9.99 for a 1-month license.
- Prime Version: $19.99 for a 1-month license.
Qustodio
Qustodio can be a great selection if you are looking for a complete free parental control application. This application can help parents, schools, and businesses as well. Qustodio supports a broad range of OS such as Android, iOS, Kindle, Chromebook, Windows, and Mac OS X. Because of its high compatibility; most users choose this monitoring app.
Features
- Can monitor and control web filtering and search activities.
- You can set the time limit also.
- It Keeps tracks of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
- It tracks the location of your child.
Instructions On How To Use Qustodio
- Visit the Qustodio official website and click on Get Started Free.
- Next, Signup using your credentials and sign in.
- Thenceforth, create your profile by adding your kids and their devices.
- For a more detailed installation guide, visit the official website.
- In the end, visit the dashboard and start monitoring.
Pros
The free version of Qustodio gives you various beneficial features that its opponents lack. The application has an easy-to-use and attention-grabbing User Interface. It is probably the best free app out of other control apps available online.
Cons
It does not provide a simple call and SMS tracking feature like its rival fenced.ai. And by using a VPN extension, children/ users can effortlessly bypass web monitoring.
Pricing
Qustodio free will not cost you a cent, whereas Its premium versions come in three separate variants. The cost of the three variants is listed below.
- Small plan: $54.95/ year.
- Medium plan: $96.95/ year.
- Large plan: $137.95/year.
Bark: Best overall
Best overallBark$99.00/yrVIEW ON BARK
Info current as of 09/21/21. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
We love the fact that Bark monitors social media instead of simply blocking those apps. Your teen gets the chance to responsibly use social sites, but you’ll get an alert if concerning messages are sent or received. Pros
Computer monitoring
Email monitoring
Social media monitoring
Text message monitoring
Text and email alerts
Cons
No location tracking or geofencing
Expensive choice for just one child
Relatively short trial period
Remote time-out doesn’t turn off texts
Bark is one of the few parental control apps that monitors emails and PC-based online activity so there are fewer ways for kids to sneak around the app.
We do think Bark has one minor flaw: “screen time management” is more like “internet management.” The remote time-out function only turns off the phone’s internet access. If your kid is a text-aholic, they might still be glued to their screen when they’re supposed to be taking a break.
Expensive but unique
At $99 per year, Bark is on the expensive side. There are more affordable options for managing screen time or blocking dangerous apps and websites, but Bark is the best way to go if you want social media and email monitoring or have lots of devices to monitor.“The Bark app and software oozes consideration for the user. The installation walkthrough was incredibly easy.” —Rebecca E., Bark tester
No GPS function
Bark doesn’t offer location tracking and/or geofencing capabilities. Instead, you must “request a check-in.” If your child agrees to share their location, you’ll get a precise coordinate on Google Maps. We’re sure that teenagers will appreciate this autonomy, but it may not offer the level of safety you’re looking for with younger kids.
You can use other parental control software in tandem with Bark for no-permission-needed location tracking. Or, consider purchasing a wearable GPS tracker or kids smartwatch.
Kaspersky Safe Kids: Best for budgets
Best for budgetsKaspersky Safe Kids$14.99/yrVIEW ON KASPERSKY
Info current as of 09/21/21. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Kaspersky delivers a lot for a low price. For around $15, you can protect up to 500 devices with all of Kaspersky’s premium features. We imagine that most people don’t need that much protection, but we like that Kaspersky makes it easy for families of any size to afford parental control protection.Pros
Affordable
Location tracking and geofencing
Screen-time management
Web and app filter
YouTube search monitoring
Cons
No email monitoring
No uninstall protection
No social media monitoring
Limited iOS features
One of Kaspersky’s most innovative features is low-battery alerts. When your child’s phone needs a charge, you get a notification. This means no more “my phone died” excuses when you ask why your kiddo ignored your call or text message.
Our testing experience
We tested the free Kaspersky Safe Kids app, which offers these features:
- Web-content filter
- App blocker
- YouTube safe search
- Screen-time management (warnings only)
As nice as the free version sounds, it includes zero push notifications for the parent. You have to go directly to the app to see if your child has been using their phone too long, for example.
We also found that many in-app alerts are toggled off by default. The interface isn’t intuitive, but we got the hang of it within about 20 minutes. Our main surprise came when our child tester quickly uninstalled the app.
But it did work well as a website blocker. Kids have to use the Kaspersky browser for the website blocker to work, so make sure you uninstall all other web browsers before setting up Kaspersky.
Not suitable for iOS users
All parental control apps offer limited features on Apple devices, but we found Kaspersky Safe Kids to be the least iOS-friendly. For example, you won’t get notifications if your child tries to use a forbidden app or download a new app to their iPhone.
Android users can enjoy all features, and some are also available for Windows.
FamiGuard
FamiGuard is the top recommended and the safest social media monitoring tool for parents. You can simply place faith on it when you’re worried about your kids’ social media behavior.
Main Features
- This app for parents allows them to block social medias.
- Block games or inappropriate apps in category.
- Get app activity summary of your child’s device.
- Set time limits for your child in app usage.
- The most reliable app that gives automatic alerts on geofence.
- Real time location tracking is fully supported with this parental control app.
- With the web filter feature of this powerful tool you can allow or block websites to ensure safe browsing over your kid’s device.
- Moreover, screen time limiting and web content filtering is purely allowed.
Conclusion
As kids spend more of their time on smart phones, tablets and computers, parents are increasingly concerned about the potential distractions they provide. Smartphones are useful for all sorts of things – but can lead to some less-than-useful activities too, including texting your friends about what your mom said at dinner last night, or posting pictures of that homework that’s still incomplete. To help parents monitor these behaviors – and fill traditional parenting gaps – BestReviews.com has compiled a list of some of the best social media monitoring tools for parents.