Bosco Review 2024: Is the Free App Worth It?

Bosco is a limited parental control app, but it may be a great option for parents looking for minimal monitoring capabilities.

The Bosco app is designed to protect children's privacy. Unfortunately, it doesn't give parents any control over the phone — like setting app time limits. Instead, Bosco simply looks for harmful content and notifies parents of any exposure.

Keep reading to see our experience testing Bosco and how it compares to other parental control apps.

Bosco review at a glance

Our experience

Bosco was easy to install and set up. However, it was difficult to get support for any issues or questions. There's no option to set up accounts on the website; you must download the app to use Bosco.

To set up Bosco, both the parent and child need to download the app on their devices. The adult will need to set up the child's profile with their name, date of birth, and gender.

Then Bosco will generate a unique code that needs to be inputted on the child's device. Once added, the accounts are connected. The parent can start viewing screen time and the device's current location. They'll also begin to receive notifications about inappropriate content or malicious files.

From there, the adult can add "Saved Places" like home or school. The app will send you a notification if the child leaves or arrives at these locations.

Possibly Bosco’s biggest flaw is that it's super easy to circumvent. I uninstalled the app on the child's device with no problem. Their profile on Bosco simply stopped tracking them when I uninstalled their app. I received no notification that the app was uninstalled.

Overall, Bosco is easy to install and use. It could be an ideal app for parents who only want notifications of their child being in danger without monitoring all of their online activities. Bosco allows your child to be independent while still ensuring their safety.

However, it's easy to remove the app, so it's best suited for children who are okay with the monitoring features.

Who is Bosco best for?

• Recommended for parents who want to monitor their children but don't want to control their choices.

Bosco isn't your typical parental control app. Most apps let you set boundaries with your child's device usage, like setting time limits on apps and filtering web content. Bosco doesn't have those features.

Bosco is a hands-off app that allows for a child's privacy while keeping the parent in the loop if something bad happens.

Bosco prices and subscriptions

Bosco has a free service, but it also has a Premium plan that offers more monitoring features. Essentially, the free plan lets you track a phone. The Premium plan will monitor messages for inappropriate content, track app usage, and scan files for cyberthreats.

The free plan doesn't provide much value: It has extremely limited features. The most useful tool is its location tracking. You can add saved places, so you will know if your child leaves a designated area. The free plan also has battery monitoring, an SOS button, and remote unmuting, which will make your child’s phone ring.

The Premium subscription gives you additional features: Bosco will monitor messages for inappropriate content; it will scan files for malicious threats, see how much time they spend on apps, and detect their mood.

And that's basically it. Bosco doesn't monitor social media, email, internet searches, or apps. It won't show you your child’s messages either, unless it notices cyberbullying, harassment, or violence.

Bosco is an affordable service, but it does lack some of the features that other parental control apps provide. For example, Bark offers a similarly priced service at $5.00/mo, with far more tools, like blocking apps and websites, check-in features, and filtering inappropriate content.

If you want to use Bosco, the best value is their Premium plan: It provides additional monitoring features that can help keep your child safe.

Bosco features

Before diving into Bosco’s features, it's important to note that the Android version has far more tools than the iOS version. Most of the Premium features are not available on Apple devices; this is something to consider if you want to set up parental controls on iOS.

Features available on Android:

• Location tracker
• Inappropriate content
• Remote unmuting
• Battery monitoring
• Daily report
• Offensive messages
• Screen time
• Mood detection
• SOS button and widget
• File scanner

Features available on iOS:

• Location tracker
• Inappropriate content
• Remote unmuting
• Battery monitoring
• Daily report

Overall, keep in mind that Bosco isn't meant to control activities on your child's device. It's mostly meant to monitor and report to you if Bosco notices a potential problem.

Content monitoring

Bosco monitors messages for cyberbullying, harassment, violence, and explicit images. It doesn't allow parents to adjust the sensitivity of its monitoring. Bosco also doesn't monitor social media content, emails, or web browsers. Overall, its content monitoring is pretty limited.

Social media and phone apps

Bosco doesn't block any phone apps. However, it can tell you what apps your child is using and how much time they spend on those apps. Bosco will notify you of any new or risky apps on your child's device. In general, Bosco doesn't provide much protection to staying safe on social media.

Text messages

Bosco does monitor text messages for potentially harmful material. The app will tell you how many messages the child received and how many were deemed offensive. It will also scan images to determine if there is anything inappropriate.

Email

Bosco doesn't monitor your child’s emails. If this is an important feature to you, then you may want to look at different parental control apps.

Web browsers

Bosco doesn't monitor web browsers or any internet search activity. You won't know what your child is searching for with the Bosco app.

Content filtering

Many parental control apps let parents blacklist websites or apps. Bosco doesn't have content filtering features like this. It notifies you only if your child was exposed to inappropriate or explicit content online.

Screen time management

Bosco doesn't let parents manage their child's screen time. There are no features like setting time limits for apps or disconnecting a device from the internet completely.

However, Bosco does monitor app usage and will tell you how much time was spent on specific apps.

Location tracking and geo-fencing

Bosco offers location tracking and lets you create saved places. You'll receive a notification every time your child arrives or leaves a saved place. Bosco will also tell you if they deviate from a saved route.

However, there isn't any option for a check-in request. Bosco was also a bit slow to update when the child moved locations.

Activity reports

Activity reports are a Premium feature, where parents can receive daily reports of a child's app usage, alerts, and scanned actions. The reports are located within the app. It's a useful reminder to check in with your child's online activity.

Bosco customer support

When I signed up for the app, it played a short video about Bosco's features. However, I wanted a more in-depth explanation and had some questions I wanted answered.

The app had a customer support button, so I clicked on it. I was surprised when I was redirected to a WhatsApp business account. There isn't a live chat within the app or Bosco's website.

I sent a message on WhatsApp and received a reply in an hour. They answered my question and then sent me to the Bosco site to read more.

However, I found the website lacked a lot of information. Let's start with the online guides. There is a help center, but it would never load for me. I tried an incognito browser and switching my VPN on and off, but the help center wouldn't load.

Overall, I wasn't too impressed with the customer support. They were slow to respond, and it was difficult to find information immediately.

Top alternatives

Bosco is missing many standard parental control features. While it might be suitable for basic monitoring, you may want to establish more firm boundaries between your child and the internet. There are plenty of other parental control apps that offer more control.

Service
Star rating	4.4 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.	4.4 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.	3.7 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.
Price	Starts at $5.00/mo	Starts at $4.16/mo (billed annually)	Starts at $8.25/mo (billed annually)
# of people covered	Unlimited	Up to 15 kids	Unlimited
Screen time management
Content filtering
Conversation monitoring	Yes, on social media, texts, and email
Location tracking
Details	Get Bark	Get Norton Family	Get Aura

Bosco FAQs

Bottom line: Is Bosco good?

Bosco can be a good choice for parents who want to monitor their children's online activity without intruding on their privacy. The app keeps minimal tabs on the child's location, and app usage, and it also monitors messages for harmful content. Parents receive notifications only if their child might be in danger.

However, Bosco isn't a great choice if you're a parent looking for more robust tools. It lacks standard features like content filtering, social media monitoring, and screen time management. There are plenty of other parental control apps available to help enforce online boundaries for your child.

2.6

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 Bosco's website

Parental Controls

Bosco

• Great for minimal monitoring
• Free plan available
• Easy to set up
• Limited on iOS devices
• Can't set time limits on apps

Author Details

Sara J. Nguyen

About the Author

Sara J. Nguyen is a freelance writer specializing in cybersecurity. She aims to help people protect their data while enjoying technology. She has written about online privacy and tech for over 5 years for several organizations. When she's not writing about the latest cybersecurity trends, you can find her on LinkedIn.