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Best for Message Monitoring
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Best for Content Monitoring
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Best for Wellness Monitoring
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Qustodio is the best overall parental control app for Android. It does a lot of things well: conversation monitoring, location tracking, content blocking, and screen time limits. The Panic Button is also a unique feature that lets children get help in situations where they feel uncomfortable.
However, Qustodio is far from the only option for Android users. Norton Family and Aura Parental Controls also offer parental control apps for Android. Norton excels at content filtering and location tracking, while Aura features robust screen time management and Online Wellbeing, a non-invasive monitoring tool.
In this article, I'll walk you through all the details of the best parental control apps for Android and help you decide which is right for you and your family.
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Robust parental control app with plenty of customization options for monitoring and blocking features
Real-time location tracking, including a unique Panic Button feature to immediately alert parents of any danger
Detailed activity reports with timely alerts for web searches, app and web activity, and screen time
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Robust app blocking and content filtering across 41 categories gives you complete control
Real-time alerts keep you on top of all restricted activity without delay
Location tracking and geo-fencing feature, including scheduling routine check ins
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Full suite of parental control features, including screen time restrictions and website blocking
Psychologist-backed Balance feature helps you keep an eye online on activity without breaking trust
BONUS: Up to $1 million in ID theft protection for the whole family
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Qustodio |
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Norton Family |
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Aura Parental Controls |
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| View deals | Get Qustodio | Get Norton Family | Get Aura |
| Best for | Message monitoring | Content monitoring | Wellness monitoring |
| Starting price | Starts at $5.00/mo (annual plan) | Starts at $4.17/mo (annual plan) | Starts at $8.33/mo (annual plan) |
| Free trial | Yes – 31 days | Yes – 30 days | Yes – 14 days |
| Dedicated Android app | Yes (Android 9.0 or higher) | Yes (Android 8.0 or higher) | Yes (Android 12 or higher) |
| Compatible with Google Family Link | |||
| Number of devices | 1, 5, or unlimited | Up to 15 | Unlimited |
| App blocking | |||
| App limits | |||
| Social media monitoring | |||
| Text message monitoring | |||
| Internet search monitoring | |||
| Screen time management | |||
| Cyberbullying & predator alerts | Yes (Windows only) | ||
| Remote lock | |||
| Location tracking | |||
| Learn more | Read Qustodio Review | Read Norton Family Review | Read Aura Parental Controls Review |
Robust parental control app with plenty of customization options for monitoring and blocking features
Real-time location tracking, including a unique Panic Button feature to immediately alert parents of any danger
Detailed activity reports with timely alerts for web searches, app and web activity, and screen time
Qustodio is a strong choice for families who want to be able to monitor text messages. It's also a top parental control app for screen time management and location tracking.
Conversation monitoring: Qustodio offers strong call and text monitoring. You can see who your child is talking to and for how long, and — importantly — you can opt to see the full content of text messages. You can also receive content alerts, though during testing, our product experts, Kalleigh Lane and Steph Trejos, had trouble triggering them.
Flexible screen time features: Qustodio's screen time management is very granular — you can set up different schedules for different days and use routines for situations like studying or bedtime. You can also set individual limits for specific games and apps.
The Panic Button: Qustodio's Panic Button is a highly useful Android-only feature that sends an instant alert to trusted contacts. The recipients receive a message letting them know the button was activated and providing a link to view their location. The location is updated every 90 seconds until Panic Mode is cancelled.
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No check-in feature: Qustodio doesn't include a location-based check-in feature. This is a nice tool that makes it easier to keep up with where your child is, and it seems like an odd omission given the Panic Button.
Qustodio earned a perfect star rating of 5.0 due to its intuitive app experience, affordable plans with unlimited device coverage, comprehensive monitoring and tracking features, and compatibility for desktop and mobile.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 33% | 5.0 |
| Value | 5% | 5.0 |
| Features | 52% | 5.0 |
| Compatibility | 5% | 5.0 |
| Customer service | 5% | 5.0 |
Robust app blocking and content filtering across 41 categories gives you complete control
Real-time alerts keep you on top of all restricted activity without delay
Location tracking and geo-fencing feature, including scheduling routine check ins
Norton Family is one of the most reliable parental control apps we've tested. It offers a very strong feature set that excels at monitoring and blocking content. The flexible controls let you fine-tune what content you want to allow, and the comprehensive dashboard gives you a bird's-eye view of what content is being accessed. You can even monitor YouTube content (as long as it's watched in the browser). During testing, we found Norton Family to be the best parental control app for iPhone as well.
Comprehensive content filtering: In our testing, Kalleigh and Steph found content filtering to be Norton's standout feature. The tool offers granular settings for blocking different content types, and the dashboard makes it very easy to see what's blocked and whether there have been attempts to access those sites.
Strong location tracking: Norton also offers strong location tracking features. We could set up favorite locations and customize alerts for entering and leaving those spots. In our testing, these alerts came through quickly and accurately.
Detailed dashboard: Norton Family's dashboard makes it very easy to see the status of various features, from web filtering and screen time to location tracking and web searches. We could easily toggle each feature on and off right from the dashboard.
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No conversation monitoring: This is a big one. Norton Family doesn't offer any sort of conversation monitoring, whether that's social media or text messages. Some families may prefer this for privacy reasons, but it'll be a dealbreaker for others.
Norton Family has a high star rating of 4.8 due to its effective and user-friendly service, affordable pricing, extensive compatibility, and helpful customer support.
Norton Family only lost points in the features category because it lacks monitoring for social media, text messages, and emails.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 33% | 5.0 |
| Value | 5% | 5.0 |
| Features | 52% | 4.25 |
| Compatibility | 5% | 5.0 |
| Customer service | 5% | 5.0 |
Full suite of parental control features, including screen time restrictions and website blocking
Psychologist-backed Balance feature helps you keep an eye online on activity without breaking trust
BONUS: Up to $1 million in ID theft protection for the whole family
Aura is the best parental control app for parents who want to get a feel for their children's behavior online while still balancing privacy. Aura's proprietary Online Wellbeing tools are very useful for monitoring overall trends in your teen's behavior, making it one of the best parental control apps for teens.
Online Wellbeing: Aura's Online Wellbeing is a unique feature that monitors your child's online activity and identifies trends. For example, it might alert you to changes in the tone of online interactions. From our testing, Kalleigh and Steph loved this standout feature compared to other parental controls for Android devices.
Useful screen time management: Aura lets you track how time is spent online, set limits on screen time, and set individual limits for apps. We found this to be Aura's most comprehensive feature, providing a lot of flexibility to parents.
Strong web monitoring: Aura offers very strong content filtering, particularly for the web. The system is based on your child's birthday and Aura's filtering system, and it worked well in our experience.
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Easy to remove: In our testing, we found that Aura was easy to remove from our Android device, and the parent dashboard did not notify us. This can leave a pretty big hole in Aura's protection.
No location tracking: Aura doesn't offer any location tracking features. Depending on your family's needs, this will either be not that big of a deal or a total dealbreaker.
Aura Parental Controls has a high star rating of 4.8 due to our simple and effective testing experience, compatibility for desktop and mobile, and various methods to contact customer support.
Aura Parental Controls lost points in the features category because it lacks location features like live tracking and geo-fencing alerts. It also received a lower score in the value category because of its higher starting price.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 33% | 5.0 |
| Value | 5% | 4.0 |
| Features | 52% | 4.0 |
| Compatibility | 5% | 5.0 |
| Customer service | 5% | 5.0 |
Setting up parental controls on Android is relatively straightforward. The exact steps will vary depending on the app, but here's a rough breakdown:
Download one of the best parental control apps (e.g., Qustodio, Norton Family, or Aura) on your Android and set up your parent account.
Download the companion app from the Google Play Store onto your child's device. Depending on the app, you may need to install a device management profile and grant permissions such as location access.
From the parent dashboard:
Visit a blocked website or exceed a time limit to confirm restrictions are working correctly.
Qustodio is the best parental control app for Android in 2026 for most families, thanks to its combination of conversation and location monitoring, content blocking, and screen time limits.
Robust parental control app with plenty of customization options for monitoring and blocking features
Real-time location tracking, including a unique Panic Button feature to immediately alert parents of any danger
Detailed activity reports with timely alerts for web searches, app and web activity, and screen time
However, Norton Family and Aura Parental Controls are also excellent options. Your choice will ultimately come down to which feature you value most. If your priority is monitoring texts, go with Qustodio. If content monitoring is important, Norton Family is a great choice. And if you want to keep tabs on your child's online wellbeing without being overly invasive, Aura is the better fit.
Learn more about how these popular parental controls for Android and iOS match up in our comparisons:
Android parental controls can block web content and apps, track location, provide alerts for potentially inappropriate content, and set screen time limits. Most parental control apps also offer comprehensive dashboards for monitoring activity. The best parental control software, such as Qustodio, Norton Family, and Aura, offers dedicated Android apps and broad device compatibility.
To put parental controls on an Android, you’ll need to first download the parental control app to your device and create an account. You can then download the app onto your child’s Android device and set up your rules. Different apps may have slightly different setup steps, but most do a pretty good job of walking you through the process.
You have two basic options for monitoring your child’s Android device: Google’s Family Link tools or a third-party parental control app for Android. Third-party apps tend to offer more robust capabilities.
Yes, parental control apps can enable you to manage your child’s Android device remotely. These apps let you monitor activity, track location, and filter inappropriate web content.
Robust parental control app with plenty of customization options for monitoring and blocking features
Real-time location tracking, including a unique Panic Button feature to immediately alert parents of any danger
Detailed activity reports with timely alerts for web searches, app and web activity, and screen time
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