PHOENIX — With all the apps around that can put your child in touch with strangers online, it's important for parents to keep an eye on their kids' activities.
Parents can pinpoint what their kids are doing in the digital world. Tech expert Ken Colburn said that's something we can all be watching for.
“It's OK. It's not snooping. It's just sharing and making sure you're staying safe,” he said.
Colburn is with Data Doctors, a computer repair and data recovery service. He says they've seen more worried parents in recent years coming in with questions about their teens' tech use.
“You've got to start early, have the frank discussions about the dangers and the open discussion about, 'I'm supposed to be able to see what you're doing,'” he said.
Colburn said the tough part for Mom and Dad is understanding their child's phone and the apps installed on them.
“You can go from basic keywords that basically will trigger an alert to basically everything that was typed on that phone today could be sitting in a file for Mom and Dad to review at the end of the night,” Colburn said.
Apps like Net Nanny and FamilyTime help with monitoring, he says, though parents need to do their homework on what security features they prefer.
“Unfortunately, there's not a one-size-fits-all, so it's up to the parents to understand to what do I want to do, because in some cases you can get overbearing, depends on your relationship with your child,” he said.
Colburn said Data Doctors has seen more parents come in, asking for help, sorting through apps for both apple and android devices.
Here's a look at a few parental apps that can monitor your child's online activity, physical location and even limit screen time.
Mobicip lets parents review browsing history and has different levels to disallow certain things like shopping and online dating. The app is free for IOS and Android users and has premium services available at an additional cost.
MSpy is considered a top monitoring app. Parents can monitor a range of smartphone activities their kids are taking part in. From their child’s physical location to their browser history, video, images, emails and text and more. The app is free for IOS and Android users and a range of premium services available for purchase.
Norton Family makes it possible for parents to set up content filters, keep track of the physical location of their kids and even sends out weekly reports to stay on top of their kid's activities. A unique feature with Norton is the ability to limit time a child spends on their devices. The app is free for IOS and Android but there are additional costs for service.
Additional sites for information about family apps:
