The 9 Best Apps To Control Screen Time

Technology is a big part of our lives. There are benefits to technology use, including the potential for learning opportunities, cognitive benefits, and problem-solving skills promoted by certain games and other online activities. Still, screen time limits matter for kids and can be vital for avoiding the negative consequences associated with too much screen time.

Parental control apps that limit a child's screen time can be critical for families because they actively enforce limits on a child's screen time, often by disallowing children to use their device outside of parent-approved use.

So, what app should you use to set screen time limits for your child? In this article, we'll go over screen time apps created for parents and their unique features. First, let's talk about how Joon can help.

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Finding The Best App To Control Screen Time For Your Family

How much screen time your child should get per day depends on their age. The AACAP recommends one hour or less of non-educational screen time on weekdays and up to three hours on weekends for kids ages 2-5. For those 6+, healthy habits and practices such as disallowing technology use 30-60 minutes before bed or during family meals and outings are recommended. Many parents want to restrict screen time at certain times of the day or during specific activities - an excellent example of how to help your child build healthy online habits. Once you know what works best for your family, try one of these screen time apps to help your family stick to those limits and practices. 

Try Joon To Help

Joon is a perfect app for parents who want to encourage kids to build healthy screen time habits and finish offline activities. Joon can be used alongside screen time apps or on its own. Here's how it works:

Parents start by downloading the Joon Parent app and making a task list for their children. Task lists are fully customizable and can include anything from homework to personal hygiene activities and household chores. Kids connect with a separate app called Joon Pet Game. Once children finish the real-life tasks assigned by adults, they get rewards in the Joon Pet Game app that allow them to take care of a virtual pet and move forward in the game.

90% of kids who use Joon finish all of their tasks. The app is child-safe and is rated an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars in the app store. Even better, it's backed by professionals such as occupational therapists, child psychologists, and teachers.

Click here to try Joon for free.

Parental Control App - OurPact

OurPact is marketed as a complete screen time parental control app. It has a ton of features, including but not limited to the ability to set an allowance for a kid's screen time, get alerts when new apps are installed on your child's phone, and block texting on both apple and android phones. You can view your child's online activity on demand, track your family's location, and block apps, including those used for web browsing. The app blocker feature makes blocking apps you want to while allowing kids to use the apps you're comfortable with (like educational games) easy.

Overall, this is a solid app for parents who want to manage not just the amount of time kids spend online but their child's access to potentially dangerous or inappropriate content and interactions.

Cost:

The basic version of the app is free, but users can opt for a premium or premium+ subscription to get additional features if they choose. Premium subscriptions start at $6.99/month after a one-week free trial period.

Average rating:

4.4 out of 5 stars (App Store)

Bark - Parental Controls

Bark markets itself as an all-in-one online safety solution for families. Alongside other features, Bark allows you to create schedules for when your child's device can access the internet, monitor your child's social media, texts, email, and over thirty apps, get alerts for concerns such as bullying, adult content, threats, and suicidal ideation, and use web filtering.

Cost:

$14.99/month or $99.99/year after your free trial period is up.

Average rating:

4.1 out of 5 stars (App Store)

Qustodio Parental Control App: Family Screen Time Limit

Qustodio is a parental control and screen time app that allows you to monitor a child's app usage, set daily screen time limits, block apps, and track your child's location. You can even get reports for your child's online activity and monitor calls and texting. To use Qustodio, you must first download the Qustodio Parental Control app on your device. Then, you must download the Kids Qustodio companion app onto their device (or multiple devices). There is a free version of the app, but it only allows you to monitor one device. If you want to monitor multiple devices, it will impact the cost of the app.

Cost:

Pay $54.99/year to monitor five devices, 94.99 to monitor ten devices, and 159.99 to monitor fifteen devices. For premium features, you can choose from plans starting at $59.99 for premium basic.

Average rating:

4 out of 5 stars (App Store)

FamiSafe Screen Time Limit App

FamiSafe lets users monitor and limit smartphone usage in multiple ways, from screen time management to keeping kids safe online with other controls. Features of the app allow parents to:

• Track, plan, or temporarily block children's screen time
• Detect risky keywords from texts sent on social media apps and search history
• Track real-time location and see a child's location history
• Create a "safe" zone for your child's location and get alerts when the child exits that location
• Restrict or block specific apps

Other features of FamiSafe include but aren't limited to driving safety management for teens, web filtering, activity reports, and more.

Cost:

Plans start at $9.99/month.

Average rating:

4.3 out of 5 stars (App Store)

unGlue Screen Time Monitoring App

Unglue is a good app for parents who want to help kids create healthy habits surrounding screen usage. Unglue lets you limit screen time, reward kids for chores and other healthy activities with extra screen time, and view kids' screen time history (including specific apps and websites). Alongside features, the app allows users to set limits for distracting apps. The unGlue screen time monitoring app was designed for iOs devices and is not available for android devices.

Cost:

There is a free version of the app, but there's a range of premium plans for parents who desire additional features.

Average rating:

4.4 out of 5 stars (App Store)

FamilyTime Parental Controls

The FamilyTime Parental Controls app lets you limit your child's screen time and so much more. With FamilyTime, you can schedule screen time, block inappropriate content and certain apps, monitor your child's location, and get alerts. The "Dinner Time" feature also lets you set a screen lock during family activities. Kids can even use TimeBank to save up screen time for later on.

FamilyTime is available for iOs and Android devices.

Cost:

Plans start at $13.99/month.

Average rating:

2.6 out of 5 stars (App Store)

Net Nanny Screen Time Parental Control App

Net Nanny is a parental control app largely designed to allow or block apps and monitor your child's device. It has several features that help with monitoring screen time. Net Nanny lets you set screen time limits for your child and shows how much they've used up for the day, as well as how much they have left. Other features include but aren't limited to location tracking, the ability to turn the internet off or on instantly, the ability to see which apps your child has used, and web filtering. What sets it apart from other parental control apps is that you can use Net Nanny with iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and PC.

Cost:

The cost of Net Nanny depends on the plan you choose. A Net Nanny family pass that allows you to monitor five devices costs $59.99/year.

Average rating:

2.8 out of 5 stars

Apple's Screen Time Feature

If your child's mobile device is an Apple product and you're looking for simple screen time management, it might be something you can achieve without downloading an app at all. Pick up your child's device and go to settings > screen time. If you click "set up screen time," you can schedule downtime, set daily time limits for app categories you want to manage, obtain weekly reports, and set up a screen time passcode to stay in control of your child's screen time and app limits.

Cost:

Free

Average rating:

N/A

Takeaway 

While technology has many benefits, it is ideal for both kids and adults to avoid too much screen time. Parental control apps can make managing screen time easier for families. Many screen time apps include additional features, like app monitoring, web filtering, and the ability to block inappropriate apps. Children's screen time and parental control apps can be used independently or alongside others, like Joon. The best parental control app will differ depending on your needs and other factors, like the number of devices you want to manage and pricing. In this article, we have included multiple options so that you can pick the best parental control apps for you.