uMobix Review 2024: Spy App or Parental Control?

uMobix offers a wide range of monitoring features. However, we hesitate to recommend it as a parental control app due to its overly invasive approach. Many sites, uMobix included, refer to this as a spy app, and we have to agree.

While uMobix delivers on its promise of giving parents insights into their child’s digital behavior, it may feel too intrusive. It also lacks screen time management and there’s no way to set up alerts for disallowed content.

Our experience was that uMobix was truly just for monitoring and not necessarily about parental control or children’s safety. For a comparison of other parental control solutions, check out the best parental control apps.

uMobix review at a glance

Price	$14.99-$59.99/mo
Free trial	No
Number of kids supported	1 device per subscription
Content filtering	No
Conversation monitoring	Yes — emails, texts, and social media
Screen time management	No
Location tracking	Yes, but no geo-fencing
Activity reports	Yes, activity dashboard
Remote lock	Yes, on Android devices
Supported devices	Android phone or tablet, Chromebooks, iPhone, iPad
Learn more	Get uMobix

Our experience

uMobix provides an impressive range of monitoring capabilities, but the app left us with mixed feelings. While we appreciated the amount of information given about our target phone’s activity, the uMobix installation process felt invasive and a bit difficult to navigate.

We ran into several problems when it came to installing uMobix on our iOS device and ultimately it never completed setup. We managed to install it on our Android device and, after some troubleshooting, it reported the information to the desktop dashboard.

To download the app on your child’s phone you can scan a QR code. iOS also has a direct download option to set everything up on the device you want to monitor. After that, follow the prompts to allow the app to access absolutely everything on the device.

To see the content from your child’s phone, you have to use its desktop dashboard. uMobix says there is an app for parents to download as well, but we did not find one available in the Google Play Store. We also didn’t get a link in the dashboard to download the app.

How to set up monitoring

If you want to monitor a child’s location, the uMobix site allows you to start tracking a device even if you don’t have access to it. You need to upload an image, and the site will embed in it a link to send to the child’s device. When this image is clicked on the child’s phone, this link will start tracking the device’s location without the user knowing. 

Once you have the account set up and installed, the uMobix app will run continuously in the background and the target user is none the wiser. The first information we saw on the dashboard was the phone’s location and device information. Once other information starts to upload you realize that this is really an all-or-nothing monitoring app. There wasn’t any flexibility in choosing what to monitor—everything was either turned on or off, leaving little room for customization.

The alerts we received left a lot to be desired. Instead of a push notification or pop-up to let us know of any new activity, the dashboard refreshes to show you a badge on the left-hand menu when there has been any new activity. If you were not sitting at the computer and actively monitoring from the dashboard, you would not be notified of a change in activity.

On an Android device, you can access the Activity Dashboard, which allows you to see where the most time was spent on the device. The app tracks absolutely everything and relays it to the dashboard. It makes us feel like we are spying on ourselves. Some parents may find this helpful, while others may find it incredibly invasive—especially if they’re trying to foster a trusting relationship with their child.

Overall, the uMobix app was easy to use once it was installed. However, it’s more of a phone tracking app and lacks the ‘control’ that we look for in parental controls. Yes, you can block apps, Wi-Fi networks, and, on Android, set up a general ‘blacklist’ for websites.

It might be helpful to set up screen time limits for the child’s device. But for less tech-savvy parents, this might pose a significant barrier if you’re unsure how to set up parental controls on iOS or Android.

Who is uMobix best for?

• Recommended for parents who want a comprehensive understanding of their child’s device usage.

It could also be beneficial for tech-savvy children who have subverted all other parental control software.

uMobix prices and subscriptions

uMobix is on the higher end of the price range for parental control software. There are three subscription plans: monthly, quarterly, and yearly, but it doesn’t offer different features by tier. Even with the longer-term plans, uMobix’s pricing is still higher than many of its competitors.

Features	1-Month Full Pack	3-Month Full Pack	12-Month Full Pack
Price	$59.99/mo	$35.99/mo (billed quarterly)	$14.99/mo (billed annually)
Number of devices	1	1	1
Website filtering
Social media monitoring
Text message monitoring
Email monitoring
Internet search monitoring
Screen time management
Cyberbullying and online predator alerts
Remote lock
Location tracking

Not only does uMobix not offer a free trial, its refund policy is quite restrictive. The company offers a 14-day refund window, but there are several conditions to qualify for a refund. If you decide to cancel the service simply because you don’t like the product, you won’t be eligible for a refund unless you meet their specific requirements. For parents looking for a long-term solution, the yearly subscription offers the best value at a significantly lower cost per month.

uMobix features

When we tested the uMobix app we did find that it offered comprehensive social media monitoring, covering platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Our data for these apps had difficulty syncing. According to uMobix it can take up to 24 hours for data to fully sync, but every app appeared under the ‘social’ tab on the dashboard.

In terms of app activity, uMobix tracks which apps are being used, how long they are open, and the contacts the child is communicating with. In our case, when we tested the app’s activity tracking, we found that regardless of what the tracked phone was actually doing, our activity dashboard showed us spending all of our time in settings.

For Android users, uMobix includes a keylogger that records every keystroke on the device, capturing all typed content across apps and messages. Keyloggers are something we usually see in surveillance malware and are very invasive, so it gave us pause to see it in a parental control app.

Overall, uMobix is missing a lot of features that we would expect to see in a parental control app. For example, while it tracks the time spent on an app, it doesn’t allow you to set screen time limits. We also believe that monitoring children without their knowledge is not beneficial to teaching them good online habits.

Content monitoring

uMobix is primarily a monitoring tool. Unlike many parental control apps, it does not offer real-time alerts for issues like cyberbullying, self-harm, or risky app usage. Instead, parents must regularly check the dashboard for new notification badges indicating updates on their child’s activity.

It can monitor popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. We were able to see how much time we had spent on each application on both operating systems. For social media apps, we could remotely block them. We were able to add websites to the blacklist.

We did find that there was a lack of content-specific criteria, which means that you have to sort through mountains of data manually to identify anything concerning. Again, uMobix is all or nothing when it comes to monitoring.

Social media and phone apps

uMobix supports social media tracking on over 20 popular platforms (on Androids), including real-time scanning of DMs, images, and videos, giving parents full visibility into what their child is engaging with online. Whether the child is using messaging apps, sharing photos, or interacting with friends on social media, uMobix captures these interactions and displays them in the parent’s dashboard.

While this level of monitoring is thorough, it doesn’t allow parents to whitelist specific apps, meaning there’s no way to customize or prioritize monitoring for safer apps while keeping a closer eye on riskier ones. This means that parents have to monitor everything equally and be proactive to make sure their kids stay safe on social media.

Text messages

Text message monitoring is available on both iOS and Android devices. This allows parents to view all sent and received messages. However, uMobix does not flag inappropriate or concerning content. Parents will have to manually go through the messages to identify any potential issues. This passive approach, without content flags or alerts, makes uMobix more useful for tracking general usage rather than providing active protection.

Email

uMobix offers full access to emails on Androids. However, it doesn’t flag content or alert parents to potential concerns. Much like text messages, parents can view all sent and received emails but must manually scan through them for any issues. Supported email services include Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and ProtonMail.

For iOS devices, email monitoring is not available.

Web browsers

uMobix offers monitoring for a variety of web browsers on Androids, including Chrome, Firefox, and even niche browsers like Tor and Opera. Parents can track the websites their child visits, but there is no content-specific filtering or criteria for blocking certain types of websites.

Web browsing is not monitored on iOS.

Content filtering

uMobix provides basic content filtering but only for Android devices. Parents can manually blacklist certain websites, but the app lacks the ability to filter content by category, such as inappropriate material or violent content. Additionally, there are no alerts or notifications tied to content filtering.

Parents can also block apps and Wi-Fi networks by clicking the Block button in the Applications menu.

Location tracking

uMobix provides real-time location tracking but does not offer geo-fencing capabilities. The location tracking feature works on both Android and iOS, though for us the accuracy was inconsistent, with the location sometimes off by miles.

If the app hasn’t been installed yet, parents can also request a location ‘check-in’ by sending a link disguised as a photo. This link, once clicked, grants access to the child’s location without notifying them and updates the parent in real time.

Activity reports

uMobix generates activity data on the ‘App activity’ tab. This feature is primarily available for Android devices and includes a breakdown of app usage trends. Reports are updated at intervals set by the parent in their settings menu from the dashboard, but shorter intervals can slow down the app’s performance. While these reports offer valuable insights, the lack of real-time notifications or alerts makes the app more of a passive tool.

uMobix customer support

Email or live chat	Yes — live chat
Phone	No
Online guides or forums	No

Customer support is available 24/7 through email and live chat. However, the live chat responses often feel generic. When we were trying to get the app downloaded, chat support sent us links to the uMobix site where we were already following directions.

When we asked for further assistance, we were asked to send an email and someone would reach out. Since the support was lacking a personal touch, it left a lot to be desired.

Top alternatives

If uMobix’s passive monitoring and lack of customizable controls don’t meet your needs, consider alternatives like Bark or Norton. These apps offer more sophisticated filtering, alerts, and real-time notifications, along with better support for features like screen time management.

uMobix FAQs

Bottom line: Is uMobix good?

In our opinion, uMobix is best described as a covert monitoring tool rather than a parental control app. It lacks many of the key features—like screen time management and content-specific alerts—that are standard in more robust parental control solutions. It’s a lot more invasive than we like from a parental control app.

If you feel that uMobix doesn’t meet your needs, or if you want to compare software, it’s never too late to check out the best parental control apps on the market today.