Aura Parental Controls Review 2024: Is It Worth Using?

Aura Parental Controls offers web filtering and time management options but no geo-fencing, text, or email monitoring. The only cyberbullying prevention options come with the Safe Gaming feature, so there’s no way to monitor for that within your child’s social media accounts, texts, or emails. What Aura does, it does well, but we did find a lot lacking with the features offered.

4.0

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

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On Aura Parental Controls's website

Aura Parental Controls

• Blocks harmful content on mobile devices
• Unlimited devices
• Lacks location tracking and monitoring features

Aura Parental Controls review at a glance

Aura Parental Controls expert overview

Aura is excellent at protecting your identity. From financial fraud protection to a password manager for keeping important passwords safe, Aura has a lot to offer. 

Unfortunately, Aura’s Parental Controls weren’t as robust as we’d hoped. We found them lackluster and difficult to install and use.

Aura’s Parental Controls are only available on mobile devices but don’t offer any kind of text message monitoring. It also doesn’t monitor emails, allow you to block content within apps, or set alerts for cyberbullying and harassment outside of the Safe Gaming mode. 

We also couldn’t find any geo-fencing or location-tracking tools. Overall, we didn’t think this product was as robust as Aura’s other offerings.

Aura Parental Controls pros and cons

Aura Parental Controls prices and subscriptions

Aura offers two parental controls plans: Aura Parental Controls and Aura Ultimate Family. With Aura Parental Controls, you'll get coverage for one adult and unlimited kids. The parental controls-specific features include website filtering, screen time management, as well as monitoring and alerts while gaming.

With Aura Parental Controls, you can monitor online accounts for up to 10 email addresses. You'll also get additional cybersecurity products like an antivirus, a virtual private network (VPN), and a password manager, which can all be used on up to 10 devices.

Aura Ultimate Family is a comprehensive plan that covers parental controls and identity theft protection. You'll still be covered for unlimited kids plus five adults. 

Along with the aforementioned features, additional tools include identity monitoring and credit monitoring. And when it comes to identity theft protection, this plan can monitor your child's Social Security number (SSN) and allow you to freeze their credit with all three bureaus. Ultimate Family is a great option if you're looking to keep your entire family safe from cyberthreats. 

Aura Parental Controls plan breakdown

Aura is slightly more expensive than its competitors if you’re using it exclusively for parental controls. Its starting monthly price is $8.33/mo (billed annually). Both Bark and Qustodio are a few dollars cheaper, with Bark starting at $5.00/mo and Qustodio starting at $4.58/mo (billed annually).

If you’re including it as part of an identity theft protection plan, however, it’s on par with competitors. Other identity theft protection services offer some parental controls, like Norton Family, which can be bundled into Norton 360 for similar monthly costs. While none of these tend to be as robust as services geared specifically toward parental controls, they’re all worth using if identity theft protection is your ultimate goal.

Aura Parental Controls features

If you’re looking for a way to monitor the amount of time your child spends online and to restrict what they can view, Aura definitely has you covered. There aren’t many standard parental control features, like email monitoring or geo-fencing, but Aura can help you teach your child about healthy internet usage.

It also allows you to filter the internet with age-appropriate restrictions so your kid isn’t accidentally stumbling into something you don’t want them to see.

Content monitoring

Aura’s content monitoring is kind of basic. In our testing, we found that the only real content filtering options were centered around age.

When you enter your child’s birthday into the service, it applies an age-appropriate template that filters out content that doesn’t meet that age. You can adjust it a little within the app. Since Aura doesn’t monitor within apps, this is restricted to online content and what’s searched on the web.

Social media and phone apps

Aura doesn’t offer a lot of robust app management. It has dedicated services for YouTube monitoring, but everything else is basically monitoring how much time your child spends on the various other apps. You do have the ability to block certain apps, but it varies greatly and can’t be condensed into a single list.

Text messages

Aura states that it doesn’t monitor text messages. There isn’t much elaboration on that end, and we’re not sure if it’s because of the technology or Aura not wanting to include the feature.

Email

Aura also doesn’t offer email monitoring. On mobile devices, there’s no way to set it up to track emails coming in or going out or see the content included in those emails.

We understand that this could be due to the nature of the mobile devices where it’s installed, but we wish there was some way to include this technology with Aura, as competitors do offer it.

Web browsers

This is really where the bulk of Aura’s content filtering services shine. Aura curates an idea of what is age appropriate for your child based on your child’s birthday and its own filtering system.

When we tested it out, we tried the most adult sites we could find, and it blocked us without hesitation. We were able to access the majority of the general, everyday web, although we didn’t try to get into anything weird.

Screen time management

Screen time management is the most comprehensive feature you’re going to get with Aura. It allows you to set time limits, see how much time your child is spending online, and even dole out bonus time as a reward for chores or other activities completed. Aura even allows you to set app and category time limits.

The screen time management feature allows you to have a little more control over how your kids access applications. Given the lack of app monitoring, this is a way around it. As long as you know what apps your child has on their mobile device, you can set individual limits to help you moderate app usage.

Location tracking and geo-fencing

Sadly, there are no tracking or geo-fencing features included with Aura. The majority of what Aura offers is monitoring online activity, filtering content, setting time limits, and child identity theft protection.

Activity reports

The activity reports are available in the main dashboard. You can see the activity for each child by clicking on their profile. You’ll have an overview in front of you and then a comprehensive report of each category you can expand. You’ll be able to talk with your kids about responsible internet usage and app time limits by viewing their current activity.

Our experience testing Aura Parental Controls

We had a difficult time with Aura, to be honest. It started with trying to access the portal, which wouldn’t work on our Safari browser. Then we couldn’t get the service to accept our credentials on our iPad. Finally, we didn’t think the support options were robust enough for people living on the West Coast.

We ended up having to switch to Chrome, which was fine but not something that was noted anywhere. We would like to point out that Aura’s site and payment options worked just fine on Safari, it was only when we actually went to use the product that it was difficult.

Aura Parental Controls setup

We put Aura on our own phone and then tried to install it on our iPad. Aura kept rejecting our credentials on the iPad app and wouldn’t allow us to sign in. We weren’t able to set any of the controls outside of what came by default.

We noticed that the child version on our iPhone showed a running total of screen time minutes. When we went and tried out the restrictions and monitoring features, we thought it would register as screen time on the app. It didn’t. We weren’t sure if this was because we were unable to set up the parent portal or if it was a glitch. Aura doesn’t allow you to activate the parental controls on the web portal without having them set up on a mobile device first.

We did reach out to customer support via chat on the side. Unfortunately, we’re on the West Coast, and support closes at 6 p.m. EST. Aura did offer a 24/7 support number, but we wouldn’t have been able to get screenshots for you, so we decided to wait until the next day.

Aura Parental Controls monitoring in action

We were able to get Aura up and running on our iPad the next day after talking with support. It took deleting and reinstalling the app twice for it to work, but once it was up and running, we didn’t have an issue. We were able to test out all of Aura’s features without issue, which we found to be very useful.

One of the problems we did run into was that we were able to delete the app from our phone without any blocks or stops. This means older kids and teens would easily be able to do so as well.

Aura will alert you in the dashboard that there’s no communication with the device. This is how you know if it’s been removed. We wish there was a way to block the app from being removed from the phone. If you have an open dialog with your children, however, you can discuss why the app is there and why they need to leave it.

Aura Parental Controls customer support

Aura’s customer support options are fine. If you require any assistance with your identity being stolen, there’s a phone number and remediation specialists.

If you need support, the chat is available 24/7 with the automated assistant. If you need to talk with a live support specialist, you’ll have to go through the live chat options first and then call the support team. Live specialist chat support is available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

Does Aura Parental Controls collect your data?

Yes, because of the nature of Aura’s service, it will collect your data. Aura is very forthcoming in what it collects and how it’s used.

We did notice that Aura mentions it will use your data “​​To promote, operate or improve our services and advance our or a third party’s legitimate interests.”^[1] We really wish companies would stop sharing data with third parties.

Aura Parental Controls security

We didn’t find any two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) options on Aura outside of what your phone naturally provides. Aura at least encrypts any data stored on its servers.

In a perfect world, Aura would encrypt your data and have 2FA or MFA available as an extra layer of security so someone couldn’t catch you with a phishing attempt and access your account with stolen credentials.

Aura Parental Controls alternatives

Aura has great identity theft protection, but if the parental controls aren’t robust enough for you or don’t include the features you need, then it’s time to try one of these other products. The best parental controls should have features that fit your unique situation. If Aura isn’t for you, one of these may work instead.

• Bark: Bark is comprehensive and offers parental controls that range from apps to a Bark-enabled phone. We like how much Bark covers and how much you can customize with the service. See how Aura's bundled protection compares to Bark's comprehensive parental control features in our Aura Parental Controls vs. Bark review.

  Get Bark | Read Bark Review

• Norton Family: Norton Family comes from the Norton antivirus company. We like the geo-fencing features so you can see where your children are at any given time. If you’re looking to bundle your antivirus software, identity theft protection, parental controls, and other features like a VPN, Norton is worth checking out.

  Get Norton Family | Read Norton Family Review

• Qustodio: Qustodio is another great option for parental control software. We really liked how user friendly it is and its real-time alerts. Qustodio has great pricing and has two plans with a variety of features that allow you to choose how much monitoring you need.

  Read Qustodio Review

Aura Parental Controls FAQs

Bottom line: Are Aura Parental Controls good?

Yes, Aura is a fantastic company that provides quality services that are secure. The Parental Controls app leaves something to be desired, but the quality of what you get is very good.

We do think it’s a little expensive for the amount of features offered, but remember that it can be coupled with identity theft protection for your entire family. If you’re looking for robust tools, you might want to consider a different product like Bark. If you’re looking for a way to keep your kids safe online, Aura will give you the basics of what you need.

4.0

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Editorial Rating

Learn More

On Aura Parental Controls's website

Aura Parental Controls

• Blocks harmful content on mobile devices
• Unlimited devices
• Lacks location tracking and monitoring features

Author Details

Mary James

About the Author

Mary is a seasoned cybersecurity writer with over seven years of experience. With a B.S. in Liberal Arts from Clarion University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Point Park University, she educates audiences on scams, antivirus software, and more. Her passion lies in educating audiences on helpful ways to protect their data.