Overview
In our protective world, parents are always looking for ways to keep tabs on their children; we (or they, depending on your age) always want to know when, where, how, and who in regards to their children’s lives. In comes Familoop, a parental control app that lets you keep up with what your kids are doing on the web, as well as where they are and what pictures they take.
Developer: Familoop
Cost: Free, 10-day trial (two different pay tiers of $39.99 and $69.99)
Setup
Login Screen
After signing up for an account, simply download the app to the device you want to monitor. Once installed and in the app, click the “Parent” tab and sign in. Once you have set up the device for monitoring, you can then monitor it via the Familoop Hub.
Review
The initial setup was a little daunting, but once I figured out that you install the app on the device you want to control (and not your own as well) it was easy from there. I hadn’t realized that you couldn’t monitor from the app, but instead from your phone or computer via browser. I have reached out to the developers and confirmed they are working on bringing this functionality to the app.
There are numerous features that this app offers, which include but not limited to:
- An in-depth look at how many hours per day the device is used, broken down by apps
- What kinds of searches are being performed
- Who is being contacted via Phone and Texting
- Pictures that are being taken
- Where the device is going
- My personal favorite: Time-Out Mode
It’s worth talking about a couple of these features a bit more. “Safe Zones” are GPS locations that trigger notifications when the tracked device enters or leaves.
Set Safe Zones
Another neat feature I really like is your ability to use protections based on age. Not all children are the same – a 16-year old is dramatically different from an eight-year old, for instance – so the ability to filter apps by age is extremely useful. It can get a bit extreme (like blocking YouTube for children under 13), but manually adding or subtracting apps from the built-in whitelist is a breeze.
Conclusion
While Familoop is not fool-proof (anyone with children knows that they can break into or out of anything), it’s one of the best options out there for tracking the little ones in your life. If you really want to monitor your kid’s tablet time, see where they’re going, or perhaps most importantly, make sure they aren’t taking inappropriate pictures, this is a very good option.
Download Familoop from the Play Store.
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