You also cannot define the size of the geofence, let alone create a custom border. To monitor an Android device, download the Net Nanny Child App on your child's phone, sign in to your account, and select the appropriate child profile. Location tracking: Yes This is really putting the strength of its live page analysis on display, as it covers over profanity in text with the "#" symbol. The Overview section shows the Family Feed on the left-hand side, which is an ongoing list of notifications about a child's activities, including search terms, blocked sites, app installations, and screen time schedules. Net Nanny saves searches from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and YouTube. There is not an option to enable two-factor authentication on your account either, which we would like to see. You can drag the selection box up or down to expand the applicable setting for that day, but you can't copy the same settings across days. If you try to launch an app, while your device is paused, a large Net Nanny Window pops up and prevents you from using it. To monitor an Android device, download the Net Nanny Child App on your child's phone, sign in to your account, and select the appropriate child profile. Also, blocking an app on iOS just prevents it from connecting to the internet, so children can still launch and use offline apps. When we searched for lyrics to the same song on the Firefox Focus app, Net Nanny only blocked the profanity on some of the sites we checked. Blocking or allowing individual websites is simple. On Android and Kindle devices, you can add any app you want to the list. Although Net Nanny's Parental Dashboard interface previously looked better on mobile than on the web, the Child Profile section feels cramped now. However, it still only offers basic geofencing capabilities and we would like to see more predefined web filters. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The parental control capabilities of video streaming services vary widely. About Net Nanny Q: How does Net Nanny compare to other parental control software on the market?. With this tool, you can choose a Protect option that uses Net Nanny's content filtering to filter out certain content on these platforms. Download Article. Screen time. Thankfully, Net Nanny has expanded beyond its internet-filter roots and offers tools for blocking apps and restricting a child's screen time. We also accessed blocked sites via a browser from the Microsoft Store. Net Nanny did not record our searches when we used the mobile Firefox Focus app, but it did lock Safe Search settings. Originally released in 1995, Net Nanny is a familiar name in the parental control realm but doesn't offer any groundbreaking features for today's market. Monitoring. However, I noticed a major issue when I was using Net Nanny. We canceled our subscription and will look for something else. Depending on how active your children are online, this might not be the optimal way to view specific activities. Final verdict. Then click on the + sign and double click the www.example.com and delete it and enter the site you want block. To set up a geofence with Net Nanny, head to the Location tab within a child's profile settings. YouTube is part of the Social Media Protection that I covered in App Management which allows you to apply your Net Nanny content filters to YouTube. Generally speaking, the more advanced features you want, the more you can expect to pay. Qustodio does a much better job monitoring social media apps, with deeper and more complex filters. Sign up for SecurityWatch newsletter for our top privacy and security stories delivered right to your inbox. Circle's joint hardware and software solution is easy to set up and a quality solution for parents who want to monitor their children's internet activity. At some point, you start to worry more about their interaction with the wider world. Some elements and menus have moved around since the time of our last review, which helps it feel less cramped. In other words, a parent would need to sign in and then manually switch to the child profile after each restart. For instance, with the default web categories enabled, we were able to download and subsequently browse freely with Tor. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. You may notice that Net Nanny flags some strange URLs, such as a Google API site and others related to the Amazon Cloud Front content delivery network (CDN). The process on Android is quite similar with the app walking you through the process of granting the necessary permissions and approving device management. Net Nanny's geofencing settings aren't as sophisticated as competitors'. You can also make changes to configurations via Net Nanny's web interface. For instance, with the default web categories enabled, we were able to download and subsequently browse freely with Tor. A pop-up window gives you the option to block both Android and iOS apps from a list, but there are some caveats. The child app on iOS just shows the current rules (Regular, Paused, No Internet) along with the screen time remaining (the Android version also has an Enable Unrestricted Mode button for parents). This is a useful implementation since it ensures that a kid can't just switch devices to get around restrictions. . Tom's Guide is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Both brands have roughly the same annual price for the 5-device package, costing around $55 per year . Note that screen time applies across all of a child's monitored devices. Unfortunately, to restrict the hours in which a child can use their devices, you need to head to a separate area (the top bar on the page with the calendar icon). Check out our coverage of additional ways to manage your child's screen time on all of their devices, including options already built-in to the respective platforms. You can "Pause Device" or "Disable Internet." If getting parental control coverage installed on each of your family's devices starts to seem too difficult, consider a whole-network solution, such as Circle Home Plus. But this is still just a drop in the bucket, and no one manages to compare to OurPact in this regard. Help you manage screen time. Qustodio lets you set time restrictions on individual mobile and desktop apps. Make an informed choice for your own family: Check out our full reviews of these parental control solutions. (Opens in a new window) $89.99 for Unlimited Devices on 1-Year Advanced Plan . Geofencing tools allow you to monitor when your child leaves or enters a geographic region you define on a map, such as your house or a school. Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Net Nanny saves searches from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and YouTube. Seven such apps (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube) support a "Protect" option that applies your existing Net Nanny content filters. Boomerang is cheaper at $30.99 per year for 10 devices. App management. You will now be asked to login with your account credentials - click Continue - In . However, Tor on the desktop allowed me to get around these filters. You can lock Safe Search on those same services. The five-device plan costs $54.99 per year and the 20-device plan costs $89.99 per year. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. His articles have also appeared in Tom's Guide, TechTarget, Phandroid, and more. Right-clicking on the icon gives you the option to view basic stats on screen time, manually sync with the Net Nanny servers, or launch the parent dashboard on the web. On Windows, we tried both the pause and block internet settings. I spend too much of my free time reading forums and blogs about audio and photography. Net Nanny's starting tier costs $39.99 per year, but it only lets you monitor one desktop device (macOS or Windows). App management: Android, Kindle Fire only Read Great Stories Offline on Your Favorite Device! As I mentioned already, Net Nanny performs actual analysis on the content of the web pages as your child visits them rather than just using block lists. Net Nanny needs to consolidate its time limit and time scheduling tools in one place. It would be nice to be able to set locations in advance rather than having to wait for the child to visit one of them, but in general I think Net Nanny's location features now cover the needs of most users. The child can then tap a button to request access if they feel that it shouldn't be blocked. At the top, you can see how much time a child has used their device and how much they have left in the Screen Time Allowance section. Platforms: Android, Chrome OS, iOS, Kindle Fire, Mac, Windows Alert also lets the kid browse to the site, but it records the instance. These capabilities works well, however the web filters are subject to easy workarounds and its service is purportedly missing geofencing tools.On top of that, competitors offer a better value in terms of the number of devices they cover (Qustodio for example). For iOS devices, the Pause Device and Block Internet settings do the same thing. Net Nanny may be one of the oldest names in the parental control software business, but it's . Here's what you are looking for, complete information on How to Reset Password on Net Nanny. You navigate Net Nanny's interface via icons in the top menu bar, one for Overview and the rest for individual child profiles. Thats how I met PCMags editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. Tips and Warnings. Others specifically restrict the amount of time your kid spends on the internet. You can even block new contacts or view message content with some parental control software. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Ive been writing and editing technology content for over five years, most recently as part of PCMag's consumer electronics team, though I also spent several years on the software team. As noted, Net Nanny offers separate child and parent apps. Zift's influence as a digital-parenting company is still very much present in Net Nanny, which has bits of advice from the Zift editorial team and prominent Zift influence in the App Advisor and Family Feed features. The profile just consists of the child's name, age and gender. One is used to install a monitoring profile on your kid's device and the other is for parents to make changes to restrictions and monitor activities. Geofencing: Yes Note that screen time applies across all of a child's monitored devices. Boomerang enables you to draw custom geofencing borders around a location and most others allow to define a border radius. Note that Net Nanny offers two apps on mobile platforms. Then, you need to tap through and give Net Nanny all the permissions it requests, including app usage, location, device admin, and content tracking using VPN permissions (this is not a true VPN that encrypts traffic), as well as approve a certificate install. These software and hardware solutions let you block unwanted web content, limit screen time, restrict the use of risky applications, and more. Qustodio and Kaspersky Safe Kids handle device setup in a single app. Net Nanny again redirected us from the native YouTube app on our Android test device to YouTube's mobile website. Unfortunately, you have to go back to the main Net Nanny site to manage your subscription. Boomerang enables you to draw custom geofencing borders around a location and most others allow to define a border radius. You tap whether you want to create a new interval that will completely pause the device or simply block the internet. Net Nanny has expanded beyond internet filtering capabilities, with app-blocking and time-management features, which work fine in testing. Once you run out of time on Android, Net Nanny prevents you from launching any apps except for the phone and default messaging app. Net Nanny breaks out social-media apps into their own settings page, called Social Media Protection. Sign up for SecurityWatch newsletter for our top privacy and security stories delivered right to your inbox. Setting up a custom Content Filter is a bit confusing. Net Nanny also lets you quickly block social-media apps that don't support Protect, or simply block all social-media apps. This allows you to view a list with all the videos that your child has watched on YouTube, along with any searches they have made. The service is also constantly improving in response to feedback from both users and reviews, a process that I've seen firsthand. Parents who don't mind spending a little more money to monitor their children online. What I do really like here is the option to give a temporary time boost or retraction on the current day without tweaking the time allotment for that day in the future. 3 Method 3: Bypassing Net Nanny by Stopping during Start-Up. Net Nanny's screen time feature allows you to either set an overall cap on device usage for the current day or for multiple days of the week. As kids get older, content filtering may start to seem pointless. PCMag PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. No other parental-control app that I tested offers anything close to this functionality, which gives you the ability to really fine-tune filters for content that you find problematic. Net Nanny's primary screen is the Family Feed, which gives you the current location of any child devices at the top of the screen with all the most recent activities listed below that. We didn't experience any performance issues or delays in rules taking effect. Circle Home Plus is not an inexpensive option by any means, but it may be a great value for large households with a lot of children who use internet-connected devices. You get the same monitoring options: Allow, Alert, and Block for each of your custom categories. The main screen of the parental app shows the Net Nanny Family Feed, with an icon for the App Advisor on the left and other account settings on the right. Geofencing tools allow you to monitor when your child leaves or enters a geographic region you define on a map, such as your house or a school. Parents can keep tabs on their child's location, monitor the YouTube videos they watch, and manage their screen time limits. Just add a website to the Always Block or Always Allow categories via the plus button. Parental control solutions are only effective if they cover all of a child's devices and activities. On Windows, we tried both the pause and block internet settings. Naturally, you don't get the same fine level of control and detailed monitoring you get with a local agent on each device, but this is a much broader solution. You can't view location history from this screen, but you can browse around the map and perform quick monitoring actions like pausing device or internet time or enabling a time schedule. Net Nanny recently added a Social Media protection feature which works as a quick way to control access to social media sites. Some kids spend more time on gaming consoles than any other device. Your child can thwart most SafeSearch restrictions by using a privacy-focused search engine such as DuckDuckGo. We did find some workarounds though. Has Multi-Factor Authentication Failed Us. Both Bark and Net Nanny give me the power to change screen time rules, adjust web filters, and monitor app use remotely through a cloud-based dashboard. However, it still only offers basic geofencing capabilities and we would like to see more predefined web filters. Also, despite accusations of being in cahoots with the Russian government, no evidence has ever been provided to definitively prove Kaspersky was a bad actor. Text logging: None Most kids are on mobile devices at least some of the time, and many are almost exclusively accessing the internet on their phones. If your kids are strictly smartphone users, take a look at our roundup of mobile parental control apps. Web monitoring: Yes Kids can tap the Go Back button to return to the home screen. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Net Nanny boasts customizable web filters along with solid screen time and app blocking features, but it's a bit pricey and its geofencing features are not yet competitive. Heres how it works. We also appreciate the ease of its setup. Net Nanny now offers geofencing tools for monitored iOS and Android devices. The process to set usage limits is a minor example of this. The most helpful time-based settings apply to all your kids' devices, so they just can't switch between them to evade limits. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. In the center of the page, there's a map with pinpoints marking the current location of each monitored child. One other limitation is that there is not an easy way to see which apps you've blocked. Some services let parents set a daily or weekly schedule for device usage. As noted, Net Nanny offers separate child and parent apps. Parents who want to keep tabs on what their children are doing online with the comprehensive Net Nanny Family Feed, which shows their activity in real-time. The child app on iOS just shows the current rules (Regular, Paused, No Internet) along with the screen time remaining (the Android version also has an Enable Unrestricted Mode button for parents). Net Nanny needs to consolidate its time limit and time scheduling tools in one place. Net Nanny's starting tier costs $39.99 per year, but it only lets you monitor one desktop device (macOS or Windows). It will display a pin on a map for each child device with the device's last known location. Blocking or allowing individual websites is simple. Otherwise, you manage everything online or locally on the PC, where you have fine control over activity reports and restrictions. With that in mind, these are the top parental control and monitoring utilities we've tested, along with information on what to look for to best protect your family. Qustodio also has a preconfigured list of iOS apps that can be blocked. When prompted, click Yes/OK to complete the uninstall process. It gives a quick description of the app, followed by a much more thorough dive into what the app is and how it works along with a section that breaks down how the Zift team concluded that it either is or isn't safe for kids. What Are the NSA's Top Security Concerns? We admire Norton Family's unique approach to parental control, which emphasizes cooperation and open dialogue between parents and children with the House Rules and Request Access features. Net Nanny also successfully blocked offending sites on Android and iOS using the Chrome and Firefox Focus browsers. https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-parental-control-software, Buying Guide: The Best Parental Control Software for 2023, How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files, How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac, Best Parental Control Apps for Mobile Devices, learn how your connected kid uses technology, how to enable parental controls on gaming consoles, 6 Ways to Manage Your Teen's Privacy and Safety Online, Why You Should Set Up Multi-Factor Authentication on Facebook, 10 Things Every Parent With a Connected Kid Needs to Know, Stay Kind Online: How to Talk to Your Kids About Cyberbullying, The Best Password Managers for Business in 2023, The Best Live TV Streaming Services for 2023, The Best Sports Streaming Services for 2023. 2. I prefer this as app blocking isn't something you need to access regularly.