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If you happen to’ve spent any time researching the best parental control apps, then you should have heard of Qustodio – it’s one of the distinguished names within the sector. It’s been round for over a decade, it’s been trusted by over seven million mother and father, and the app’s techniques have averted over three billion threats.
That’s a formidable resume and, on paper, it’s backed by a formidable slate of options, too. However can Qustodio earn your vote forward of massive rivals like Bark, Norton Household or MMGuardian?
Plans and Pricing
The Qustodio expertise begins with a refreshingly simple have a look at pricing, with two paid tiers accessible.
The Fundamental bundle gives core performance and prices $43.37/£33.95 a yr – the equal of simply $4.25/£3.33 per thirty days.
With the Fundamental bundle, you get each day closing dates, internet filtering, location monitoring, sport and app blocking and the flexibility to pause web entry in your kids’s telephones. It’s a strong core product with a extra beneficiant supply than the essential bundle you’ll discover elsewhere.
The Full product, at $89.36/£69.95 yearly, provides AI-powered alerts, social media monitoring, customized routines, app closing dates and extra monitoring, and permits mother and father so as to add limitless units to the account.
It’s a good supply, particularly when many premium merchandise prohibit what number of units you may monitor.
Bark and MMGuardian are each pricier than Qustodio, however Norton Household is even cheaper.
There’s a free model of Qustodio, too, that provides internet filtering, each day closing dates, 7-day exercise stories and the flexibility to pause the web, but it surely solely protects one machine, so it’s understandably restricted.
Options
Qustodio gives good worth, then, and it additionally serves up a superb vary of options.
It’s potential to filter out inappropriate apps, video games and web sites simply, and choose classes for whitelisting, alerting or complete blocking. Dad and mom can entry various suggestions to apps that youngsters aren’t allowed to entry, and even deploy dialog starters, authorised by little one psychologists, to start out conversations about internet searching and web use.
With Qustodio you may block unknown web sites, robotically allow secure searches in frequent browsers, and obtain alerts in case your little one searches for inappropriate content material.
Qustodio gives greater than 25 internet filtering classes, however there’s no possibility throughout the app for youths to request entry to explicit web sites – a function you’ll discover on Norton Household.
Qustodio permits mother and father to set display screen time allowances for day by day of the week, and in addition set closing dates for particular person apps – and use the in-built app monitoring and detection to robotically type over 25,000 apps into classes for simpler blocking or accessing.
It’s simple to create completely different routines and change between them and, if you’ll want to step in shortly, there’s an choice to pause web entry on little one units or block the machine fully.
And if mother and father need to reward their kids or be somewhat extra lenient, it’s simple so as to add display screen time and see a brand new restrict as soon as that further time has been granted.
Completely different guidelines can be utilized to control display screen time use between browsers and apps, there are various “modes” that alter entry for bedtime, leisure time and research time, and customized schedules are very simple to construct.
An easy map permits mother and father to identify little one areas, geofencing is supported – albeit with a tiny 200m radius – and you may see location histories.
Name and SMS monitoring and studying are supported on each Android and iOS, with full message particulars accessible, and fogeys can block telephone numbers on little one units. You’ll get alerts for suspect content material.
On the subject of reporting on all of this, Qustodio is equally complete. An actual-time dashboard gives easy accessibility to every kid’s digital exercise, together with an exercise timeline, display screen time and searching historical past, and fogeys can entry extra detailed each day or weekly stories.
Qustodio can also be forging forward with some AI-based content material, too, with AI-powered alerts that notify mother and father of any worrying searches, conversations or social media exercise based mostly on chosen subjects or classes. That’s nice, but it surely’s value noting that Qustodio is somewhat weak on social media monitoring – it screens messages on WhatsApp, Instagram and LINE, however that’s it.
By way of different options, Qustodio permits mother and father to restrict social media use, get app-based insights, and add further mother and father or guardians to the software program.
The app can also be complete on the subject of machine help. In addition to engaged on Android and iOS, which is a given for parental management apps as of late, it really works on Home windows and Mac OS tech, Chromebooks, and Kindles. Moreover, mother and father can monitor little one units utilizing Qustodio’s internet interface.
As ordinary, although, be ready that not each function works on each platform. You don’t get WhatsApp alerts on iOS, as an illustration, and there’s no location, name or SMS monitoring on Mac OS or Home windows. Android is the one platform that includes a panic button.
Interface and in use
Qustodio has among the best interfaces we’ve seen on any parental management app. In addition to having a simple structure that locations every part the place you’d count on, Qustodio packs its apps and internet interfaces with useful suggestions and explanations about options and the way they work.
A number of Fast Actions gives quick entry to frequent duties, and the exercise abstract does a unbelievable job of presenting key information in a sexy and intuitive format.
Youngster apps are easy sufficient for even the youngest kids to grasp what’s happening, and if you happen to’re a mother or father who needs to dive deeper into the settings, you received’t get misplaced – the efficient UI continues right here.
It’s sometimes simple to get began, too: obtain the app, register an account, arrange little one profiles and tick all the permissions, and also you’re prepared to start out constructing schedules, monitoring units and defending your children.
Buyer Help
Qustodio makes a giant deal about making certain that its service is simple to make use of for busy mother and father who might not have a deep understanding of know-how, and this perspective extends to its help performance.
There are a great deal of useful articles within the FAQ part, a lot of which have screenshots, and the guides that illustrate methods to arrange the app, use fundamental options and handle your account are significantly good.
If you happen to want help and you employ the Fundamental bundle, it’s managed by a contact kind – sadly there’s no telephone help, chatbot or reside chat accessible right here, however customers report that they all the time obtain useful, well mannered kind responses inside 24 hours.
If you happen to’re a Full consumer, you get entry to Care Plus. This provides telephone help, personalised steerage and ongoing check-ins for folks who need extra from their parental management app. And, impressively, Care Plus has a median decision charge of 97% and a median decision time of quarter-hour.
Whereas it’s included free of charge with the Full bundle, it prices $10.21/£7.99 so as to add it to the Fundamental product.
The Competitors
As a giant title within the parental management area, Qustodio has some massive rivals – but it surely does a superb job of competing.
Norton Family, as an illustration, is extra reasonably priced than Qustodio however not nearly as good at name or SMS monitoring. And MMGuardian isn’t as simple to make use of as Qustodio and is a little more costly, too.
Bark might be Qustodio’s finest competitor. It’s much better with social media, however is extra restricted on iOS and doesn’t present a full internet historical past, and it’s additionally somewhat costlier.
Remaining Verdict
These elements go away Qustodio wanting like a very sturdy parental management possibility. It has very good filtering, scheduling and display screen time choices, AI-based additions, strong location options and glorious design, reporting and platform help.
Its buyer help is nice you probably have the Full product, the apps are all simple to make use of, and the pricing is truthful, too – both competing or undercutting many rivals. The one draw back is weak social media monitoring and a comparatively small geofencing zone.
That social media monitoring disadvantage may very well be a dealbreaker for a lot of households however, in nearly each different space, Qustodio is a winner – it’s among the best parental management apps available on the market.