Before settling on a particular parental control utility, you need to make sure that it supports all the device types in your household.

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Weve tested the top hardware- and software-based services to help you choose the right one for your family.

Parental control app Qustodio is a highly configurable, easy-to-manage tool for keeping track of your childs activity on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, though it comes at a premium price.

Kaspersky Safe Kids is a full-featured, affordable parental monitoring system for desktop and mobile platforms that doesnt impose limits on the number of devices you can monitor.

Norton Familys wealth of features and easy setup make it easy for parents to track and manage their childrens activity across many devices, though it doesnt work on Macs.

Parental control device Circle Home Plus delivers good tools for keeping an eye on your home network and protecting your childrens phones and tablets, but it is susceptible to workarounds and its reporting features arent as robust as competitors.

Have kids on the Web Clean Router replaces your home router to apply parental control and monitoring to every device on your network.

Mobicip gives you the basic tools you need to monitor your childrens web and app activity, but the lack of sophisticated time- and location-tracking features hold it back.

OpenDNS Home VIP applies parental control and monitoring at the network level, for all your devices, and its essential features are available for free.

Consider using it in conjunction with a more conventional parental monitoring tool.

Net Nanny boasts customizable web filters along with solid screen time and app blocking features, but its a bit pricey and suffers from a sub-standard web interface.

When you configure your router to use SafeDNS, you can filter out dangerous or objectionable content for every device that connects using your home network.

McAfee Safe Family offers several standard parental control tools and can monitor an unlimited number of PCs and phones.

However, its Windows app is sluggish in testing, it does not support macOS devices, and it lacks a web interface.

In fact, they probably spend more time online than anyone elsecertainly more than their parents.

If you are a parent, this presents a problem, as there are explicit, disturbing, and illegal websites and apps that you dont want your kids to encounter.

Before you start imposing limits and restrictions though, take some time to learn how your connected kid uses technology.

These software and hardware solutions let you block unwanted web content, limit screen time, restrict the use of risky applications, and more.

Basically, they are a way to help keep your kids safer on their computers and mobile devices.

Communicate with your kids before implementing any of these options, as it is important that they feel that you respect their privacy.

Otherwise, theyll make sure to find a way around any protections, even if you had your kids best interests at mind.

Also, as tech addiction increasingly becomes a problem, its important that children learn the value of good device habits for themselves.

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