Parents are well aware of this feeling of falling asleep, of that strange sleep and semi-alert state until, finally, their children return home. The summer of 2020 will be atypical in every way and the towns will see themselves repopulating in the summer season as a safer alternative to a very uncertain holiday. And it is already known that for the youngest, there are no hours on summer night outings and for parents, sleeplessness and worries do not know limits. However, as they say, "there is an app for this."
The mobile platform application stores offer a wide range of apps so that parents can monitor the location of their children; It is not about supervising or invading the privacy of minors, but about providing security and protecting them in the event that something goes wrong. There have been many cases in the press in which kidnappings have been solved thanks to this type of application. On the other hand and beyond personal security, these applications allow locating lost or stolen mobile phones in a fairly simple way. How do these applications work? They are installed on children's mobile phones and record the location at all times based on the GPS of the phone itself, with parents having a 'mirror' application with which they can know their situation at all times and have additional functions. These are the best parental control apps.
Qustodio
Qustodio is one of the most veteran cross-platform parental control and supervision applications on the market and offers multiple possibilities beyond knowing the location of the child's phone. This application records the position of the monitored phone and stores the history of places that have been visited throughout the day. Thanks to geolocation, the user can establish a series of places that are frequently visited, such as the home, park or the home of a relative, so that they can receive personalized “Ana, has come home”. Additionally, Qustodio offers a 'panic button' (only for Android), through which the minor can launch an alert if they find themselves in trouble and the app will communicate this circumstance to supervisors, accompanied by the exact position on the map. Although it has a basic version, when you get the maximum performance and benefits from the app, it is through an annual payment plan that includes several devices.
Friends, for iPhone users
Families who use iPhones can opt for a native solution (it comes installed in the system), which is completely free and, as usual in the home, its name is very explanatory: Find my Friends. This cross application (works simultaneously on iPhone, iPad and Mac that share the same iCloud account), places the position of family members on the map and allows you to add additional non-family contacts. Being integrated into the system offers several advantages: the first is simplicity since you don't have to install anything but simply activate the function; The second is that, being a product of the house, it offers optimized performance and very limited battery consumption, and finally, it is completely free. What are the drawbacks? The first and most obvious is that it only works with iPhones and on the other hand, it does not keep track of locations or offer additional functions that third-party applications do include.
Kaspersky Safe Kids
The Kaspersky security firm offers a specific solution with high added value for parents: Kaspersky Safe Kids. This multiplatform system (can be installed interchangeably on Android, iPhone, PC and Mac) offers the best balance between investment and benefits, since for its little more than 14 euros a year and an unlimited number of users, it covers the basic needs of child safety. Among its outstanding functions and like its rivals, it allows parents to know in real time the location of their children and creates a map in which geo-fences can be established and the curious thing about this application is that it not only allows you to create these areas , but it is also possible to program the hours in which the children should enter them. This can be useful if the minor is expected to arrive at a friend or family member's home at a specific time.
FamiSafe
FamiSafe is one of the cross-platform solutions with the highest number of positive reviews in the different app stores, and this is possibly the best proof of its value. Regarding benefits, it allows parents to know the location of their children at all times, trace their movement throughout the day and establish geo-fences to be able to receive notifications of access or departure from a certain area. This application, like some of its payment rivals, registers the battery level of the supervised mobile, so that if it falls below 20%, an alert is received so that the minor is reminded to charge the battery. For a price of less than $ 60 a year, it allows the supervision of up to thirty devices, be they Android or iPhone.
FindMyKids
What happens when the minor to be supervised does not have a mobile phone? Fortunately, there is an interesting alternative: FindMyKids. This system can be used with the mobile like its rivals, but it allows parents to use a GPS watch that tracks their location at all times. This application is the most specialized in the location of minors and in addition to the real-time position and the layout of the route, it offers an interesting function in case of an emergency: it activates the microphone so that parents know what is happening if they do not respond to your calls. This option is activated by default when the minor presses the emergency button available on both the phone and the watch. The service has an annual cost of $ 17 with which you can monitor up to three devices.
MORE INFORMATION
Is there a way to protect children without giving up uploading their photos to the networks?
The way of traveling without junk ... and with children
