As promised in another thread - monitoring programs for...

Tiapet

Old Hand
mobile phones for the difficult children. Since I'm finally making the leap and getting them one for xmas (kind of since it's become a need too) I also know that I HAVE to put in place serious monitoring onto them. For Ms Queen it has to be the most intensive/intrusive as she has been banned from all computer usage in the past and we're just now allowing her in small dosages and she has the least amount of trust. For Mr. Busy, well we have to be able to monitor him as well to be sure he doesn't text or send inappropriate things or get annoying.

The good things about some of these programs, as you will see as you check them out for yourselves, is that you can flag stuff and know if they either send or get messages or pictures or view videos (though you can also block) that are inappropriate or if they are bullying or being bullied, etc. I really am impressed with all the things I found that some of these programs can do. Some of the more intrusive ones (though they can also be expensive) also completely become a bit of a "spy" on your child that includes listening to their surroundings. You can get alerts if they leave areas from a zone where you place a virtual "fence" such as your neighborhood or school to know if your child left there. I probably am not explaining all of this very well but I'm giving all the links to the programs, though there really is even more out there, so that you can all see for yourself. Some of them include coverage for your computer too. Some are strictly for cell phones. Make sure when you do look or choose, that you pick for the model you want such as iPhone/Android/Windows OS (operating system) on your phone!

So here you go:

Norton Family- they do have a free version but the premier version offers much more. This covers phones and computers. The reviews (looked at several places) are very mixed on this. Mostly it seemed not real good I thought. At first I thought it was the best and offered the most but then I really paid attention to reviews and went away from it.

These next ones I'm choosing to give you the links via easy child magazine website because they have an easy comparison of pros/cons but you can easily look up the product to go to their direct website as well. Also reviews from many other sources.

AVG Family Safety for iPhone- AVG has a other products for other phones as well, again, choose accordingly and you will have to go to website to pick. This is just for THIS type of phone.

McAfee Family Protection-

UKnowKids- this is the software I had posted a couple months back that I saw on Ricki Lake when it first broke publicly.

Social Shield-

Minor Monitor-

PhoneSheriff -I was impressed with this one.

Bsecure Online -

Kids Place - the overall reviews for this seems to be pretty good if you have younger children.

Funamo - This is the one I believe I'm going with currently as the price is reasonable for all that it does and I don't really want to go super intrusive at this time nor want to go really expensive considering I have 2 phones I need to put this on. Down the line I might need to re-evaluate and use another product that is more intrusive and have to pay more but mostly likely only for 1 of the difficult children then. The good thing about this is that you can direct by via their website that will enable multiple licensing unlike with other products. Another reason I am choosing.

Mobistealth - the most intrusive and expensive one out there. If you need such a thing, here it is.

Mobile Spy - another very intrusive and expensive one.

Mymobilewatchdog - this looks good too.

Mobshield - this is one that offers the panic button on it too.

What I was searching for is one that is "stealth" meaning the kids won't know it's on there, though I AM telling them it IS on there. One that can't be uninstalled OR bypassed by them (kids are smart) and many of the products can be uninstalled or bypassed if you have smart difficult child's. One that can be monitored anywhere and changed anytime. Things that can be blocked anytime. I basically wanted control over the phone any time but did not want the full intrusive.

Some of these products are also able to be used for those that have ipads for the difficult children too.

I hope I have helped many of you that needed these monitoring programs for the phones, computers, or ipads/tablets.

I've been doing this for days. I ended up so confused so took a few days to let it sit in. I'm still kind of unsure but "think" I'm going with the one I stated above for the reasons listed.
 
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