In this digital age, balancing your kid’s screen time can be difficult for you, as they will need their device for many activities. Moreover, due to the excessive use of devices, kids are getting addicted to their devices.
According to a study in the United States, children under the age group 8-12 years spend 4-6 hours on-screen on average, and teenagers spend an average of 9 hours on screen. Even though children learn a lot from the internet, it is equally dangerous for kids to spend too much time online.
As a parent, you may not be able to monitor your kids each time they use their devices. In fact, it is quite impossible to sit right beside them whenever they are using their device; hence this is when Qustodio comes handly. It was mainly designed to supervise and manage your kid’s device activities.
Qustodio is the parental control software that enables you to monitor your kid’s online activities remotely. With this app, you can maintain your childrens’ screentime and keeps your kids’ safe from harmful online activities.
The app allows you to view all the activities of your kids’ device on a single dashboard. You can see apps that your kids used the most and the total number of hours they used the app in the dashboard.
Qustodio is an easy-to-use parental control app, and some renowned industry like PCMag, Softonic, Softpedia, etc. has approved it. It offers several features that help you to monitor your kid’s online activities; here are some of the features of the app:
Features of Qustodio
YouTube Monitoring
You cannot deny that everyone these days are obsessed with YouTube; from toddlers to old age, everyone loves YouTube. One main reason for the increase in the popularity of YouTube is it provides different content and can watch them anytime and anywhere.
With the popularity of YouTube, children are spending most of their time on YouTube. Moreover, YouTube is also not free from inappropriate content, which kids should not be watching.
Hence, to monitor your kid’s YouTube activities, the YouTube monitoring feature of Qustodio is perfect for you. This feature shows your kids’ watch and searches history on YouTube.
Whether your kids are using YouTube from their web browser or from the app itself, Qustodio will show you their YouTube activities.
Advanced Facebook Monitoring
Apart from YouTube, another social media where kids and teenagers are actively engaged is Facebook. Most of the time, your teen might not add you on social media so that you will not know what they are posting on the site or whom they are talking with.
With the Qustodio advanced facebook monitoring feature, you can monitor your kid’s Facebook activities. You can view the status that your kids updated on their Facebook, pictures they posted, and even their friend list. The app also shows you the total time your kids spent on Facebook.
However, the app does not show your kid’s chat history or while they are chatting.
Games and Apps Blocking
Besides social media, kids’ other favorite activity is playing games and apps on their devices. As a working parent, you may not have enough time to monitor your kid’s mobile phone.
With the Qustodio games and apps blocking feature, you can view apps and games that your kids have installed. This feature enables you to monitor the total time your kids spend on specific apps.
It even allows you to block apps that you find inappropriate for your kids. Likewise, you can even set a time to decide which apps can be used at a specific time.
This feature is the best solution if you want your kids to spend a certain time on social media.
Time Limit By Device
Another interesting feature that Qustodio provides is the time limit by a device feature limiting the device’s usage.
Once you set the time limit on your kid’s device via Qustodio, it will send you a notification that notifies you that your kids have exceeded the time limit. Once your kids exceed the time limit, the app either locks your kids’ device or locks navigation.
When your kids’ device is locked with navigation options, they can receive calls, but they won’t use other apps on their device. If your kids’ device is locked with a lock feature, it will block all the good in your kid’s device, which has an age limit of more than four years.
Tracks Call and Block
Qustodio also keeps track of phone calls made by your kids, along with the call duration and time of the call. Kids can even receive unknown calls and scam calls. Hence to prevent your kids from receiving such calls, you can even block unwanted phone numbers from your kid’s device.
You can block numbers from your kid’s device’s contact list if they are constantly on their phone.
SMS Tracking
Another important feature that Qustodio provides is SMS tracking, which keeps track of your kid’s SMS.
You must be well aware that kids like to text their peers all the time, and sometimes they even text strangers. Hence to be sure whom your kids are texting to and what they are texting, this feature is created.
The SMS tracking feature allows you to view your kids’ text messages, whom they are texting the most. To keep track of your kids SMS, you need to enable the feature from the setting. You can even block sending SMS to some contact from the contact list or manually enter the mobile number.
Family Locator
With the family locator feature, you can know your kids’ location and where they are at the moment. This feature works like GPS, showing their recent location on the map.
It also provides you geofencing feature, which allows you to set locations which they visit the most. You can set home, school, grandparents’ home and other places where they frequently visit. And this feature will notify you each time they visit or leave the location.
You can get this feature on both Android and IOS. It is considered more of a family tracker than a phone tracker as you can see all your family members on one map.
Extended Reporting
The extended reporting feature that Qustodio provides keeps a record of your kid’s device activities for 30 days. You can view reports related to their screen time, apps usage, most and least used apps.
The app will send you to report daily; you will receive the report on your email or even get it from the dashboard. You can even export the report and save it for future use.
Panic Button
Qustodio provides one of the most interesting features: the panic button, which kids can use whenever they are in trouble. This feature comes in handy whenever you let your kids go out alone.
When your kids press the panic button, it will send you and your trusted contacts your kids’ location. Interestingly, the app will continue sending your kid’s location until they turn off the location. You will be notified about your kid’s emergency in your email or SMS.
Pros of Qustodio
- Provides a simple user interface, making the app easy to use.
- Filters all the inappropriate contents.
- Provides several important features.
- It tracks your kid’s location.
- The app is highly customizable.
Cons of Qustodio
- Can slow down the device.
- It can be quite expensive.
Pricing of Qustodio
Qustodio offers three price plan; based on your family size, you can choose the plan you prefer. Here the price plan of Qustodio:
| Plan | Price |
| Small Plan | $54.95 per year. |
| Medium Plan | $96.95 per year. |
| Large Plan | $137.95 per year. |
Conclusion
Summing up, Qustodio is one of the easy-to-use parental control apps, with several features for monitoring your kids. With its simple user interface, anyone can easily use the app.
Also, this app is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, IOS, Web, and Kindle. With its availability on all devices, users using any device can choose the app.
Even though the app has some lacking features, but its pros exceed the cons. Moreover, they guarantee you return your money within 30 days if you are not satisfied with the app.
