Parental control software test

The first step of the test examined the filtering and identification of websites inappropriate for children. The basis for this was the virtual seven-year-old, Timmy, entered in the software profile.

Furthermore, the additional features in the software packages were examined in terms of how easily they could be circumvented. The lab also took a look at the most important reporting functions. The embedded system protection settings for children under Windows 10 or Mac OS Sierra provide a comparison for the tested protection software. The products from Kaspersky Lab and Symantec underwent an advanced certification test and also passed with flying colors.

These products, however, did not participate in the certification test but only in an abbreviated examination of key areas. That is why the rating of identification performance of websites only includes the four areas of pornography, entertainment games, dating and meeting sites as well as illegal data exchange and file sharing.

Data on the additional six filter categories was not surveyed. Also for the advanced and reporting functions, only the most important features are listed in the table. All the figures stated, however, are sufficient for a simple comparison of all products. In the test, the programs were required to filter out a total of 7, websites that are absolutely inappropriate for children.

The lab selected the websites from the following categories:. Naturally, there were not always a uniform number of websites to be checked for each category. Because the category of pornography was among the most important, the parental control solutions were each required to detect and filter out over 1, websites.

Because in order to do so, the filter would also block many normal websites if words such as "analysis" or "cocktail" were found there.

Partial terms such as 'anal' or 'cock' would cause the website to be blocked. In this area, however, the certified products from Kaspersky Lab and Symantec delivered outstanding results through clever use of proprietary technologies, such as logic, syntax and word analyses: they filtered Many of the other products tested also demonstrated excellent results in the filter test. Leading the field are the products from Trend Micro and Mobicip with Afterwards, the detection rate continues to taper off.

The Windows protection function Microsoft Family Safety did manage to filter out However: 1 percent in the test correlated to 14 unfiltered websites. As a comparison for testing with 7, websites inappropriate for children, all the programs had to also correctly detect 4, child-suitable websites.

This counter sample indicates how high the so-called overblocking rate is among the programs. This means: In order to achieve an extremely high score among the inappropriate websites, this may cause appropriate websites to no longer be available.

If that is the case, this can quickly lead the child to become frustrated, resulting in increasing motivation for switching off or defeating the parental control software. The statistics from the counter sample indicate how seamlessly the technologies used by manufacturers work together, such as blacklisting, logic, syntax and word analyses. In the counter sample, it's important to remember: only when the scores for filtering of inappropriate websites and for the counter sample are both high does this attest to the quality of filtering in parental control software!

While the internal tools of Windows 10 and Mac OS Sierra still attain the best scores, they are in fact only concerned with pornography and nothing else. They allow access to all other inappropriate websites, as well as appropriate ones. The products in the certification test from Kaspersky Lab and Symantec demonstrate how well they can differentiate. On all products that participated in the abbreviated test and not in the certification test, the three following categories were tested for direct comparison, in addition to pornography: entertainment games, dating and meeting as well as illegal data exchange and file sharing.

These categories were of particular importance to the testers. After all: games glorifying violence often promote aggressiveness among youths or children. At dating and meeting sites, children may experience online romances in which the would-be child on the other end turns out to be a pedophile adult.

When it comes to the category of filesharing, parents can quickly run into costly liability issues. Pricing and Platforms The pricing mainly depends upon the functions and features offered by the particular parental control software in question. Parting Thoughts With this in mind, we would highly recommend you to take some time out to actually research the various parental control software available and make the right choice!

Parental App. Read Review. Our top parental control app pick: monitors a huge range of social media, SMS messages and even emails. Pros: Easy to use, Gets kids actively involved, Affordable. Pros: Easy to use, Affordable, Wide compatibility. Monitor SMS, social media platforms, enjoy location tracking and even geofencing!

Supported Platforms: iOS, Android devices. Pros: Easy to use, Undetectable. We love the up to 6-months trial period, as well as the location tracking and web filtering. Pros: Easy to use, Good customer service, Has a free trial version. No description has been added yet. Pros: Many Features, Wide compatibility. Pros: Powerful call, text monitoring, Has a free version. Pros: Wide compatibility, Has a free trial version.

Pros: Affordable, Has a free trial version. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Parental Control Now. Bark Qustodio Mspy Menu. But, take it one at a time. You know more than you think. Thanks for the amazing thorough work! I have emailed CleanBrowsing various times and they have always promptly responded in e-mail. If you mean customer support by phone, that might clarify that spreadsheet. Regarding CleanBrowsing, it might be worth mentioning that they have a paid version that offers additional customization that many would find useful.

That would make it a much more useful app. It involves building a VPN in the cloud using Algo which is super easy to do. This is different than connect on demand and cannot be disabled. If you would ever like a tutorial on how this can be implemented I would love to share screenshots and steps. I believe a page on configuration profiles on iOS would be super helpful in general.

It is a great way to add parental controls and restrictions to iOS, but the documentation is quite terse and hard to understand. Thanks, Alex! I sent you a separate email. Really appreciate the help you offer here. A couple of questions to start off. I would love to further understand why CE was not included.

Can you send me the article? Also why was OpenDNS not included? This article was fantastic and provided great insight to the various tools available. I am firmly of the mindset that a 3 prong approach is required.

Chris, I would love to participate in this discussion further. If you have any opportunities please message me. As a man who was impacted by pornography, it is a passion of mine to support men, and parents in this endeavor.

Regards, James. I recently purchased while trying to improve our internet security software but have been using the parental controls, too. It seemed like a great all in one solution. Hello, Jessica — we had not heard of the Bitdefender Box until you asked your question. The features look solid, but I would like to know if it lives up to what it says. Can you please let me know what your experience is? Chris — [email protected] — thanks! Please message me. I responded to your Covenant Eyes question via email.

Please let me know if you have additional questions. The top part of the solution grid in green seems to suggest the same, using either CB or Boomerang, but on the bottom, under annual cost, you only show solution costs using both, which seems to suggest that both are needed together for adequate coverage. He also has my old iphone7 to stay in touch with me and for some learning apps, mainly quizlet, a violin tuning app, music, and audible he lives on audiobooks!

Just CB and Screen Time? Is Boomerang needed? Thank you! I have some of the questions others have asked. I need to cover every base. He uses a PC. Would you recommend layering bark with Boomerang and Covenant Eyes? I so appreciate your help. A lot of the above questions are answered by directly emailing the questioner. Is there any way you can put those answer to all to see?

Hi, Mary! Sure thing. Covenant Eyes, Ever Accountable, and Accountable2You are not apples-to-apples comparisons with more traditional parental control solutions like the 14 we tested here. And having tested all 3 in great detail, the CE content blocking is far better than the other 2. And you might want to consider a service that monitors your kids' Windows and Mac devices as well as their smartphones.

The best parental control apps will offer, at a minimum, a website filter, location tracking, screen-time limits including a scheduler, and an app blocker that works at least on Android. Useful extra features include geofencing, which alerts you if a child's phone leaves a designated "safe" area like school or a relative's house. Most of these apps let you monitor your child's phone from a desktop computer web interface as well as your own smartphone. A couple of these apps let you block and log the calls and texts a child makes and receives, and even read a child's text messages, but they require extra steps to do so.

But none lets you listen in on a call, because that's illegal. Evaluation criteria We focused on parental control apps that emphasize proactively setting up filters and limits before your child uses the phone rather than merely tracking activities after the fact. We took the following criteria into account. We tested each app on every platform that it supported twice, from installation to uninstall.

We typically monitored activity from the Lenovo Yoga C, but for apps that offered control from a smartphone app we tested those features typically from an iPhone. The best Android parental-control apps remain considerably more robust than their iOS counterparts in most cases, with only OurPact offering feature parity among those apps that we tested.

We note areas in which there are discrepancies in the functionality offered on each platform, but we are not providing distinct ratings and reviews for the iOS versus the Android version of each app. With regard to call and text monitoring, Apple and Google have made it nearly impossible for any app to do so. Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy.

He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews. The best parental control apps for Android and iOS let you have a look at what your kids do online, giving you some peace of mind. Net Nanny. Reasons to avoid - A bit expensive - Lacks some features on iOS. Kaspersky Safe Kids.

Reasons to avoid - Web portal slow at times - Poorly designed mobile apps. Norton Family. Reasons to avoid - Mobile apps could be improved. Reasons to avoid - Limited web filtering - Can get expensive. Google Family Link. Reasons to avoid - Doesn't support kids' iPhones - Very limited web filtering.

Wide multi-platform support, and can still log calls and read texts. Reasons to avoid - Fairly expensive - Unreliable web filtering. Screen Time. Reasons to avoid - Pricey upcharges for location tracking, filters - No text or call monitoring. Reasons to avoid - Confusing user interface - No call or text monitoring - Android only. Reasons to avoid - Can get expensive - Terrible user interface. Paul Wagenseil. Topics Apps. See all comments MM Guardian seemed like a great app, but my year-old son uninstalled it easily.

Unfortunately, it seems most kids will always be more tech-savvy than parents. Good review.