How Can I Remotely Control My Child’s Phone (Tested 2024)

Published by Shauli Zacks on February 24, 2022

I’ve tried many different solutions over the past few years to control my kid’s phones remotely, but nothing worked for an extended period of time. My first idea was to turn off the Wi-Fi. This was effective but really annoying for everyone else in the house. The same could be said for changing the Wi-Fi password and only giving them the updated password when they finished their homework and chores.

I looked for a solution that made it easy to remote control my child’s phone without inconveniencing everyone else. That’s when I started testing parental control apps. After buying and installing over 20 apps, I determined that with excellent social media monitoring features, powerful web filters, and time management tools, Bark gave me the best tools to remote control over my kid’s phone.

Best of all, you can try Bark for free for 7 days with its free trial, which means that no credit card or payment information is needed.

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Quick Guide: 3 Easy Steps to Control Your Child’s Cell Phone Remotely

Create a parental control account: I recommend Bark, which gave me remote control over when the phone can be used and what websites the kids can visit.
Download the app on your child’s device: Don’t skip the admin rights request, without it, the parental control feature won’t work correctly.
Remote control your child’s phone: Log in to the parent dashboard. This is where you can lock your child’s cell phone, manage the web filter, and get reports on their online activities.

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Is Google’s Family Link Good Enough?

I was hoping to find a free solution to my problems, and so the first app I tried was Google Family Link. I’d heard good things from friends, so I had pretty high expectations. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for reality to set in.

Family Link doesn’t have any remote control tools to help monitor or restrict which websites kids can visit. While it seemed like it had the remote control screen time features I needed, it was very easy for my kids to find ways to get around the restrictions. After two weeks, I realized I needed a better solution, and so I uninstalled the app and started testing real parental control apps.

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How Can I Remote Control my Child’s Phone?

The easiest way to get remote control hold to your child’s phone is to download a parental control app. Before you can control your child’s phone, you will need to create a profile for each child and then download the app on the kid’s phone as well.

You’ll have to give the app admin rights on the phone, which prevents the child from disabling or deleting its features without permission.

After the app is installed and set up on the child’s phone, you can log in to the parent account from a mobile phone or desktop. Every app that I recommend below has a parent dashboard that acts as the nerve center for the monitoring. From there, you can remotely control which websites the child can visit by creating web filters that block websites based on the content of the text, images, and metadata.

This will also give you control over how much time your kids can be on the phone, either by setting a schedule or a daily time limit. The really good apps, like Bark, also have advanced social media monitoring features. This works much like a remote control for a TV, just press a button, and it will lock the device.

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The 3 Best Parental Control Apps for Controlling Your Kid’s Cell Phone Remotely

1. Bark: Control Which Social Media Sites Your Child Can Use

Key Features

Connects with over 35 social media networks and email providers
Create filters and manage screen time remotely
7-day free trial

Bark excels as a social media monitoring app. Its smart algorithm, will let you know if your child is being cyberbullied, positing about suicide, drugs, alcholol, violence, and more. Not only does it give you insight into your child’s online life, but it gives you remote control hold

to block the social media sites, which is incredibly helpful after receiving real-time alerts about troubling behavior.

Another remote control feature that Bark offers is a customizable screen time limitation tool. It gives you the option to create a daily schedule for when the child’s device is available or locked. You also have the option to remotely block all internet connections at any time, through the cloud based dashboard.

Bark also has a web filter that allows you to set restrictions based on specific websites or categories of sites. If your child tries to enter a site that is restricted, they can send a request for it to be whitelisted. You will receive an alert, and if you determine the website is appropriate, add it as an exception, and whitelist the website from anywhere.

Bark has 2 plans, Bark JR and Bark SR. The difference between the two plans is that Bark JR doesn’t give you the monitoring ability or alerts for all the social media, email, and text messages. Both plans give you the remote control features and a free 7 day trial.

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2. Norton Family – Remote Control Feature to Monitor Your Kids’ Screen Timing

Key Features

Remotely control when and how long your kids can be on their phones
Instantly lock the phone from anywhere
Create comprehensive web filters
Kids can’t disable or block parental remote control feature
Free 30-day trial

I came away very impressed with the remote control capabilities of the Norton Family app. I used their free 30-day trial and tested it on my 16-year old’s Android phone. After installing the app on his phone, I was able to manage his phone from anywhere via the cloud-based parent dashboard.

The dashboard has a very intuitive layout, and in just a few clicks, I set up a daily and weekly schedule. It also has a Lock Now feature, which allows me to lock the device at any time and from anywhere instantly. There is an option for the kids to request more time, and I can accept or decline remotely, which is nice if he’s at a friend’s or I’m not at home when he needs the extension.

I like that there is one comprehensive subscription plan that includes unlimited child profiles and devices. What’s even better is that Norton Family has a 30-day free trial that you can get without having to give any payment or personal information. If you decide that this isn’t the right app for your family, the account will automatically switch to the basic free plan without you having to do anything.

Try Norton Family – Free for 30 Days!

3. Qustodio – Create Powerful Web Filters Remotely from the Parent Dashboard

Key Features

Create and enforce screen time limits from anywhere
Set web filters and rules remotely
View real-time location and set up a geofence
Set different time limits for each app on the child’s phone
Try it free for 30 days with a proven money-back guarantee

I had a very good experience with Qustodio when I tested it out on my kids. After installing the app on their phones, I was able to control all the different monitoring features from my phone and computer.

I started out by creating individual web filters for each of my kids, giving my oldest son more freedom and stricter restrictions on the younger kids. Next, I set a daily screen time limit and created a usage schedule. Lastly, I enabled the location tracking to keep track of where they are with the click of a button.

I purchased the Small Plan, which includes protection for five devices, and installed it on a Windows computer and 3 Android devices. It came with a 30-day money-back guarantee, which I tested by requesting a refund after two weeks. I sent an email to the customer support team, and within 5 days, I received a full refund.

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How to Turn Kids’ Phones Off at Night (or Anytime, Really)?

I’ve reached the age where I go to sleep before some of my kids. This made it even more important that I found a way to turn off their phone remotely; otherwise, they’d never go to sleep.

I found that there are two ways that the Bark app gave me control over when my kids can be on their phones.

Create a Schedule: Bark has screen time management tools, allowing me to create a daily or weekly screen time schedule. This gave me the flexibility to shut down the phone during school hours, homework time, dinner, and bedtime, while also setting an overall time limit.
Social Media Monitoring: This is a great feature for cutting down unnecessary screen time. This way I was able to monitor the social media activities, and it can be done from anywhere.

Get control over your kid’s phone with Bark

Get a Remote Control on Your Child’s Cell Phone

There are many benefits to having remote control hold over your kid’s cell phones. It gives them the freedom to use their phones, but you can still stay in control without constantly bugging them about when to get off the phone or letting you know what websites they’re visiting.

Bark proved to be the best option throughout my testing process, with advanced social media monitoring features, flexible screen time management tools, and a web filter the kids couldn’t get past. Don’t take my word for it, you can try Bark for yourself for 7 days with its free trial, and see how it works for your family.

Try Bark Free for 7 Days!