Kaspersky Safe Kids Review 2024: Gives Parents Power and Peace of Mind

Our Kaspersky Safe Kids test found that the parental control app was able to accurately and easily monitor screen time and location, but fell short when it came to social media monitoring and geo-fencing functionality.

Though Kaspersky is no longer allowed in the United States after the government banned the company over its affiliation with Russia, its still accessible in other countries, including Canada. Still, the fact the app is banned at all may give you pause. Overall, the app felt relatively safe compared to some other parental control apps, since you can download it directly from the heavily monitored app store on your phone (while others may require you to download unknown files to your device).

Here's how Kaspersky Safe Kids compares to the top parental control apps available.

Kaspersky Safe Kids review at a glance

Price	$24.99-$29.99/yr
Free trial	Yes — 7 days
Number of kids supported	Unlimited
Content filtering	Yes
Conversation monitoring	No
Screen time management	Yes
Location tracking	Yes
Activity reports	Yes
Remote lock	Yes
Supported devices	Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Learn more	Get Kaspersky Safe Kids

Our experience testing Kaspersky Safe Kids

We found Kaspersky Safe Kids to be a decent parental control app compared to the others we tested.

The dashboard wasn't the prettiest, but we were able to delve into different data pieces and get insight into the device's use. We also found it was easy to do what we wanted to do, with the dashboard feeling intuitive and functional. That said, each tab was slightly slow to load, which was annoying when changing between them often, but it wasn't a huge deal.

Here's how our experience went in more detail.

Kaspersky Safe Kids setup

The Kaspersky Safe Kids setup was almost effortless, only requiring us to create the child profile (name and birthday required), scan the QR code or visit the link, and download the app. 

Once downloaded, you'll need to provide the app with a bunch of permissions, though this is common. These include making it the admin of your device, activating a Knox license, granting data access, and more. Everything was well explained during the set up process and easy to get going.

These settings will let app usage be tracked by the app, while also allowing popups to block certain activity. Once we were done, we weren't even able to access the device settings without signing into the Kaspersky's parent portal. We also weren't able to uninstall the app without the login info.

Note: The above experience is based on downloading the app to an Android device. Our previous tests on an iPhone was much less easy and actually required us to create a whole new Apple ID for our child. So your miles may vary depending on what devices you use.

Kaspersky Safe Kids monitoring in action

Once we were set up, data started showing up in the dashboard almost immediately, including the device's location, application use, and visited websites. There are also tips sprinkled throughout to help parents talk to their children about appropriate internet usage.

We tested how well the app was able to block apps, and were hit with a message saying the app wasn't allowed and to ask our parents for permission. We liked that there was a button to directly ask permission right from there, which makes it easy to sort out apps or websites that are blocked by accident.

All the websites we visited were accurately displayed in the dashboard, though it wasn't able to track our actual web searches. Other parental control apps are able to do this, so this was disappointing.

We found it was easy to set daily limits on the device and were happy that we could also set limits for certain apps.

We also liked that we could still allow certain apps to be used with no limit during "restricted" hours, which would allow the child to do homework on their device without hindrance or distraction.

The main thing we were disappointed with was location, which did work but seemed a bit delayed. We tried to set up an allowed area, but it would disappear after we saved it. So we weren't able to receive alerts when the device left the area, but the location did update.

Overall, the app functioned well, albeit with some small hiccups and it could use faster load times.

Who is Kaspersky Safe Kids best for?

• Recommended for parents outside of the U.S. who use other Kaspersky products

As for as parental control apps go, we found Kaspersky Safe Kids to be strictly average. It worked well for screen time management, but didn't have many of the extra bells and whistles you may be looking for, like monitoring social media accounts.

That's why we recommend going for this option over others if you already use Kaspersky as your main antivirus app. This makes it easier to keep all your digital safety concerns in one place.

Kaspersky Safe Kids prices and subscriptions

Kaspersky Safe Kids only offers one plan, which you can buy for $24.99-$29.99/yr (you get the slightly cheaper price on your first year).

If you want antivirus capabilities as well, you can also buy the Kaspersky Total Security Premium plan for $38.99/first yr and get a free year of Kaspersky Safe Kids. After that you'll have to buy the the parental control portion separately.

Overall, Kaspersky Safe Kids is an affordable option. The closest competitor is currently Net Nanny at $3.33/mo (billed annually), but that's only for one device. Among apps that also offer unlimited devices, Bark starts at $5.00/mo.

Kaspersky Safe Kids features

Kaspersky Safe Kids has many robust features that can help parents feel more at ease. Here's a closer look at what's available.

Content monitoring

Using Kaspersky Safe Kids, we were able to see a list of recent websites visited on the device and how much time was spent on each application. There's an area to show recent search queries as well, but we weren't able to get it to update in our testing.

While this covers the basics, we would've also liked to see additional things like what kind of content was accessed on the individual apps (such as TikTok or YouTube), as well as social media activity.

Social media and phone apps

Kaspersky Safe Kids is able to detect all installed apps on the device and monitor, block, or set time limits for each one of them. We found these features easy to use and very useful for promoting healthy boundaries for things like games and social media.

The major functionality missing here is the ability to see what is happening on social media accounts. Kaspersky offers no text or conversation monitoring, which means you're not able to see your child's posts or texts that happen on the tracked device. Currently, the app only tracks VK — which is a Russian social media platform.

While this does grant your child privacy, it may feel a bit limiting for parents who want to make sure their child isn't engaging in inappropriate or dangerous behavior online.

Web browsers

Safe Kids gives you the option to filter content based on age restrictions but also allows you to blacklist inappropriate content and forbidden sites. This allows for a highly customizable experience so your children aren’t wandering around the internet unchecked.

Screen time management

We were able to set overall device time limits, which also had the ability to allow certain apps to be used even after the time has elapsed. This makes it easy for your child to continue to be able to contact you or do their homework even if they use all their time on their game apps.

Children are notified when their screen time is almost up, which lets parents open a dialogue with kids about healthy screen behavior.

You can see an overall view of all the screen time on all your child’s devices, or you can choose by device. It’ll give you a daily breakdown of where your child is spending most of their time online.

Location tracking and geo-fencing

Kaspersky Safe Kids makes it easy to monitor the location of the tracked device. During our hands-on trial run, we were able to track our device in real time using the Safe Kids geo-fencing technology. We could see where he went, set boundaries and time restrictions for where he was allowed to be, and even receive notifications if he left that area.

You’ll also see the amount of battery life your kid's device has left, so you know if it's safe for them to stay out longer or if it’s time to come home.

Activity reports

When you first create your child's profile, there's a preloaded set of permissions based on the child's age group. We can, however, change those up and add different permissions as we see fit.

Activity reporting is the most robust of all the features and really allows you to filter the content your child receives online.

Kaspersky Safe Kids customer support

Support type	Kaspersky Safe Kids
Email or live chat	Yes — Both
Phone
Online guides or forums

Customer support is mostly self-help guides and forums. If you need to contact someone or initiate a chat, you’ll have to fill out a form first and wait for the contact information.

We tried to get assistance with a general question, but the form wouldn’t allow us to ask a general question. It wasn’t user friendly.

Top alternatives

There may be aspects of Safe Kids that you aren’t in love with, and that’s okay. If Safe Kids isn’t for you, or you want to check out other great parental control apps, we’ve listed some alternatives.

Kaspersky Safe Kids FAQs

Bottom line: Is Kaspersky Safe Kids worth it?

If you're looking for an easy-to-use screen time monitoring app, Kaspersky Safe Kids is one of your most affordable options. Though it isn't able to monitor the actual conversations and content that is viewed on each app on the phone, you are able to see the web activity and screen time use from an easy-to-use dashboard.

That said, we found the location tracking functionality left a bit to be desired, and would've liked to see it dive a little deeper into monitoring features. Kaspersky is also completely banned from being sold in the U.S., so Americans will need to find an alternative no matter how good the app may be.

If you want an app that does everything Kaspersky does (but, frankly, better) and is also available in the U.S., then check out any of the following top parental apps:

• Bark Premium
• Norton Family
• Aura Parental Controls