Top 10 Best Internet Filter Software for Parents
Nowadays, dangerous materials and websites are flooding the Internet. You often find yourself losing focus at work and cannot stop thinking about what your ... read more...children are doing at home. These ten Internet filter software will lift off your worries in an instant. Let’s check them out!
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Although FamiSafe is still a new presence on the market, it has quickly become a household name. It is regarded by many users as one of the finest monitoring software for conscientious parents. The app is available for download from Google Play and App Store for a three-day trial period.
FamiSafe has an excellent online filtering tool that enables parents to effortlessly block any information that they deem improper. In addition, parents also have access to secret (or erased) browsing history on children's Android smartphones.
Are you stumped as to which websites to block? Simply use the built-in filter to flag any category as possibly dangerous.
Also, you may add URLs from sites that evade categorization or do not fall into any safe category. Alternatively, it is possible to establish a white list of approved websites and block anything else that does not belong to this list. If your child attempts to visit a banned website, your device will notify you right away.
Ratings: 4.9 stars (from 52,549 reviews)
Price:
- Monthly plan: $10.99/month
- Yearly plan: $60.99/year
- Quarterly plan: $20.99/quarter
Buy it at: https://famisafe.wondershare.com/
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The app is downloadable for Android-powered smartphones. ESET Parental Control aims to educate children about online security in a fun and engaging manner. Also, the software is handy and user-friendly for parents.
Although it comes with a plethora of settings and capabilities, the makers have included certain pre-configured options to ease your usage experience. For example, you may fill in your kids' ages in a box, and the Web Shield feature will filter out any sites that are not suitable for that age range. In addition, the web tracking tool also displays a list of the most commonly visited websites. A child may submit requests to parents to unblock certain websites, which the parent can either accept or deny.
On the parent's smartphone, all alerts will be readily available. Apart from internet blocking, ESET Parental Controls can also track app usage, prohibit certain applications, and identify their child's present location.
Ratings: 3.9 stars (from 23,303 reviews)
Price: $49.99
Buy it at: https://www.eset.com/us/brand-special-offer-2022/
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If social networking media is your primary worry (as we believe it is for most parents), you have two excellent alternatives. Net Nanny (which we will introduce later) is a decent option. On the other hand, Bark also offers a robust set of capabilities for monitoring your children's activity across Tiktok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Furthermore, its surveillance capabilities are compatible with a variety of communications services, including Skype, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Bark is ideal for keeping control of your children's discussions and who they are conversing with.
The software not only checks for apparent trigger phrases, but also uses an AI-powered learning engine to identify impending dangers and inappropriate themes for children. In addition, it tracks behavior patterns to keep your children from falling too far into dangerous territories - which is a wonderful function in today's social media environment.
Last but not least, there are other additional features like notifications, periodic reports, and the option to restrict specific new applications from being installed on the kids' phones.
Ratings: 3.9 stars (from 9695 reviews)
Price (per month): $5 (Jr), $14 (Premium)
Buy it at: https://www.bark.us/
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You are undoubtedly familiar with Norton Security, a well-known antivirus brand. By selling their Norton Family family control software, this developer aims to make your children's life more secure. The software is available for iOS and Android smartphones, and can be downloaded through Google Play and the App Store, respectively.
Norton Family parental supervision mode immediately installs a safe Norton browser on a child's device, and disables all other browsers previously discovered on that same device. The software has a search monitoring tool that enables parents to keep an eye on their children's search queries. Online filtering paves the way for the establishment of rules that govern your child's access to websites. As a result, Norton browsers will not display blacklisted websites in their search results. When your kid attempts to access a prohibited website, the app will notify the parent. In addition, Norton Family even has activity trackers and an immediate lock feature to help you manage app usage.
Last but not least, the subscription edition includes geo-tracking and video surveillance, ensuring that you have a complete overview of your children's activities on the Internet.
Ratings: 3.4 stars (from 22,211 reviews)
Price: $49.99/year
Buy it at: https://www.nortonlifelockpartner.com/
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Locategy is a high-quality application that is tailored for parental control. As implied by the title, the app's primary purpose is location-based. To be more specific, it will track both the present and past locations of your children, enabling you to set up safe geo-fenced zones. In addition, the program has lots of other useful functions, including app banning, call records, time management, and even remote erasure.
In terms of online monitoring capabilities, Locategy restricts access to nine categories by default, which contain obscene material (examples: filter get-around, drugs, pornography, drugs, and others). Furthermore, there are 30 other categories available for filtering. If a website has not been blocked systematically, then you may blacklist its URL manually. Please keep in mind that this Locategy web filtering only works with the Chrome browser; as such, you must turn off all other browsers via a blocking option.
App Store and Google Play both provide access to the app, suitable to both Android and iOS users.
Ratings: 3.6 stars (from 2699 reviews)
Price (per year): $29.99 (3 devices), $39.99 (5 devices), $69.99 (10 devices)
Buy it at: https://locategy.com/
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Internet filters are not an area where you should cut money. However, we understand that prices for services vary widely. Kaspersky Safe Kids is the most affordable service that we would like to suggest to you, since it includes all key functions and generates very thorough reports - without charging you an arm and a leg.
In regards to social media surveillance, Kaspersky Safe Kids supports the main providers such as Facebook and YouTube. It can also monitor your family's activities across all major Android and iOS apps. Each license includes a pretty generous amount of devices (500), so you will not run out of them very soon.
Kaspersky Safe Kids also includes a number of conventional monitoring features - such as geo-tracking warnings, which activate whenever your children leave a designated safe zone or enter an area that you have deemed as off-limits.
Ratings: 3.5 stars (from 655 reviews)
Price: $0 (Free version), $14.99 (Premium version)
Buy it at: https://usa.kaspersky.com/safe-kids
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Net Nanny is among the most affordable internet filtering systems we examined. Yet it still provides the most critical protective capabilities for preventing access to harmful information online. There are 19 filter categories in total, which helps you extend your restriction to pornographic, drug and alcohol, suicide, and gore-related websites. If your kid installs a proxy or security server to conceal their internet searches, the application will send an email notification.
One of Net Nanny's most distinctive features is its profanity blocker, which obscures curse words on websites. That way, your youngster cannot see or interpret them. Furthermore, this function also prohibits youngsters from entering certain phrases into the search box chat messages. You may order the app to replace these bad words with more amusing and funny versions, or remove them completely. When some profanity is written or banned from being viewed, Net Nanny will notify you through parent reports.
In addition, Net Nanny contains time limits to prevent children from using the internet when they are not supposed to. Since each of your kids may have their own Internet account, you can offer the older children more Internet time for school work, internet games, or streaming films.
Ratings: 3.8 stars (from 316 reviews)
Price: $39.99 (1 laptop), $54.99 (5 devices), $89.99 (20 devices)
Buy it at: https://www.netnanny.com/
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Our top selection for internet filters is Qustodio. The reason for our choice is partly due to its simple setup. Indeed, this Qustodio software is a breeze to install on both PCs and cell phones. It is also very easy to use, too.
To be more specific, this software allows you to visit your children's profiles, altering their Internet browsing and time limitations. All of these tasks can be done via your phone. You do not need to be at the laptop all the time. In addition, Qustodio also has 28 filter categories to block websites and information that you do not want your children to see.
Last but not least, Qustodio collects all types of information about your children's internet activities and generates a complete report. Unlike other apps, which only notify you when your kid accesses their email (or chats with someone via online messaging software), Qustodio records everything and leaves no details out of the picture.
Ratings: 4.5 stars (from 41 reviews)
Price: $54.95 (small), $96.95 (medium), $137.95 (large)
Buy it at: https://www.qustodio.com/
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Surfie is suitable with Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. It also includes a version for Windows computers. All variants allow you to filter and block online material that you do not want to expose your children to.
To be more specific, Surfie has 19 filter categories, which help you block websites classified as pornographic, violent, or online gaming. It is also possible for you to 'whitelist' websites that you think will pose no harm to your kids, or 'blacklist' certain pages that do not fall within a monitored group. Even better, aside from web filters, Surfie even enables you to govern when and how long your kid spends their time online, even on smartphones.
Surfie's keyword monitor is one of its greatest features; it notifies you if someone gives your kid a text, email, or instant chat, which contains words and expressions that are often considered red flags. Several pre-programmed phrases are included in the system, including "don't tell," "are you alone at home?" and "give me your phone number."
Ratings: 4.5 stars (from 30 reviews)
Price (per month): $6.65 (5 devices), $7.49 (10 devices), $8.32 (20 devices)
Buy it at: https://www.surfieapp.com/
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We strongly suggest ContentBarrier X9 by Intego for Mac systems. This internet filtering program is optimized for Macs, and features pre-defined filter categories to help you block hazardous information on the Internet in no time. You may add particular websites to a 'black list' of websites that you wish to restrict. At the same time, it is also possible to create a 'white list' containing websites and information that you think is safe for your kid to visit.
Even better, ContentBarrier X9 has time limits, allowing you to guarantee that your children are concentrating on school, chores, or sleep - rather than online gaming. With just one software, you may establish unique profiles for each one of your kids, and customize their filters according to their maturity level.
Still, there are some drawbacks. While the application is effective in blocking harmful material, it does not record much of your child's online activities for subsequent review. Also, this program is only accessible with Mac desktop computers, and is incompatible with iPhones, iPads, and other Apple portable devices.
Ratings: 4.1 stars (from 20 reviews)
Price: $24.99/year
Buy it at: https://offer.intego.com/en/misx9-promotion