Among the plethora of parental control apps available today, it can be difficult for parents to come to a clear decision over which tool is right for protecting the younger members of their household. MMGuardian should certainly factor in your decision-making process but the app is somewhat letdown by a clunky user interface.

That isn’t to say that MMGuardian is without its strengths as a parental control app. In fact, the software comes with a generous range of features, including all the basic ones you’d expect. There is custom web filtering, social media monitoring, screen time scheduling, location tracking, and block controls. 

In terms of more advanced functionality, MMGuardian also comes with a Lock/Unlock feature so parents can instantly block access to a certain website or app - or, conversely immediately make it available. You can also adjust how your child’s smartphone behaves when locked.

So, all in all, not a bad parental control app but the main failing of MMGuardian is its user interface. For both the Android and iOS versions, the design is outdated and often frustrating to use. You’ll need to look past that to choose MMGuardian over other parental control apps.

• Want to try MMGuardian? Check out the website here

Getting started

In terms of installation, we’d say that it’s definitely easier to set up MMGuardian via the app, rather than the web portal. If you’re taking our advice, simply navigate to Google Play or the iOS App store (depending on your operating system of choice) and download the app. Be aware that there are two distinct apps to choose from - one for the parents and one for younger members of your household. 

Whichever version of the app you are installing, MMGuardian will walk you through the process, including the permissions you need to enable. As an early indication of the frustrations that can come with using MMGuardian, the app never asks you for your child’s name or age during the installation process. This needs to be added manually once you’re all set up. 

Something else worth pointing out with the MMGuardian installation is the fact that you are offered three different processes - one if you’re the Device Owner, one Normal Download, or the Google Play version. If you select the Device Owner option, you get the most effective protection but requires that you conduct a factory reset on your child’s device - something that probably won’t go down particularly well.

Plans and Pricing

There’s no quick way of detailing MMGuardian’s payment plans. Although the pricing is the same for both Android and iOS smartphones, there’s a separate pricing plan for Android tablets. For a single smartphone - Android or iOS- MMGuardian will set you back $4 a month, $35 a year or $80 for a five-year subscription. Pricing for an Android tablet, meanwhile, is set at $2 a month and $15 a year.

There are family plans on offer too, including a Family Android phone plan that covers up to five devices of any type. This costs $8 monthly, $70 a year or $150 for a five-year plan. If you remain unconvinced, you can try MMGuardian for free for up to 14 days. Alternatively, we’ve highlighted the best free parental control apps so you can see what’s on offer from software solutions that won’t cost you a penny.  

Features

It’s important to point out that the features that MMGuardian provides often vary significantly depending on whether you are using the Android or iOS version of the app. In terms of web filtering, for example, the Android version provides filtering for Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, but you have to block or delete any alternative browsers that your child may use n iOS. That’s because MMGuardian’s filtering works by blocking the native browser and replacing it with its own. 

One positive is that you certainly won’t be short of categories to enable your web filtering. In fact, MMGuardian comes with 150 categories, which to be honest, is slightly excessive. It does mean, however, that there is bound to be one to suit the kind of content you want to restrict. 

Again demonstrating the differences between MMGuardian on Android and iOS, the app’s time-management feature is only available for Android users. This works as expected, letting you set your own schedules, even coming with default schedules for weekdays and weekends.  

MMGuardian also comes with a decent range of location features, including a separate location map, location history, and location-tracking functions. The app lets you view your child's location history for the past 12 hours, today, yesterday, or the last seven days. The location features that come with MMGuardian may not be as good as the geofencing tools that come with other parental control solutions but it’s a decent offering.

Design and UI

And so we come to MMGuardian’s main failing. The interface is split into nine main tiles but the presentation looks very dated - as if you are using something from the Windows XP era. Considering the rapid pace of tech evolution, it’s slightly concerning that MMGuardian is using such a poor design. It doesn’t fill the user with confidence that it will keep their children completely safe.

What’s more, MMGuardian also has to compete with other parental control apps that have a much more user-friendly interface. In fact, MMGuardian’s interface is not just unsightly, it’s also frustrating. The fact that you have to manually enter details that most competitors get you to provide as part of the installation process is a big misstep.

Final verdict

Although MMGuardian has a good range of features, it only has all the basics covered if you’re using the Android version. The iOS offering is much more limited. More importantly, the user interface is very clumsy. If MMGuardian could improve on this, there might just be an effective parental control tool hiding in there somewhere. 

• We've picked out the best free parental control software

Two-minute review

Let’s start with the size of what is a relatively small lens. Packed away, the RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM measures just 6.5 inches / 165mm from end to end, with a diameter of 3.15 inches / 80mm. It’s also impressively light – just 1.4 lbs / 635g. 

The RF 100-400mm lens doesn’t come with a hood, but those who want to cut down on non-image-forming light like a flare – or simply have a bit of protection – can opt for the ET-74B, a £55 / $44 lens hood that’s backward-compatible with the EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS II USM lens. 

To offer some perspective, Canon’s pro version of this lens, the RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM, is about two inches / 50mm longer (physically; not focal length) but is nearly 1kg heavier. Certainly, the 100-400mm has a spectacular amount of reach for the weight. It’s actually so light that you don’t need a dedicated tripod foot. 

In use, although the lens changes length significantly when you zoom in, it doesn’t upset the balance on a tripod. Space is put to good use around the lens. The zoom ring is particularly broad and easy to grab hold of when that elusive subject suddenly appears somewhere different from where you expected.

You get a focal length lock button to stop the lens extending in your bag, although, unlike some other superzoom lenses, it only locks the lens at its 100mm setting – there’s no option to lock the lens at other focal lengths to stop it creeping backwards if it’s mounted on a tripod and pointing up.

The lack of weather sealing might be a consideration for those shooting in inclement weather, and while there’s an image stabilizer, it only has one mode, rather than the panning-and-tilting or tilting-only stabilization of other lenses. 

There’s also no focus limiter, which could be useful if you’re trying to stop the lens going through its entire range of focus distances in, say, low light or when you’re shooting through a busy foreground. As it is, the RF 100-400 will focus from infinity down to as close as 88cm / 2.89 feet. How close it can focus actually breathes a bit as the lens zooms in and out – at 100mm it focuses as close as 120cm / 3.94 feet; at 400mm it focuses as close as 105cm / 3.44 feet.

The RF 100-400 doesn’t have a continuous aperture, which means the aperture closes down as you zoom in. At 100mm, the largest aperture you can get is f/5.6 – not the last word in telephoto f-stops but not a disaster. 

At 400mm the smallest aperture you can get at is f/8 – it sounds tight, so what does it mean for your photography? In reality, if you’re shooting wildlife and want it sharp, reaching for shutter speeds in excess of 1/500 sec is going to cost you in terms of ISO. It depends on the weather, naturally.

In the course of testing our review sample, we spotted a few red kites – a medium-sized raptor. Opting for a definitely-sharp shutter speed of 1/4000 sec, and the maximum-available aperture of f/8 at 400mm, we found ourselves using ISO 3200 on the EOS R6. We could probably have shot 1/2000 sec with no real impact on motion blur, so ISO 1600 would have been an option. That was in pretty good light. 

It’s worth remembering that the EOS R6 and R5 are superb performers when it comes to high ISO imaging, so shooting ISO 3200 for example isn’t the end of the world – but it is high enough that you would notice a difference on a lens that allowed you to open up to f/4.

Elsewhere the lens acquits itself well. It’s not unbelievably sharp but nor is it soft. There’s no barrel distortion to speak of, and while you’ll be able to see a small amount of vignetting at larger apertures at 100mm, once you start zooming in the problem resolves itself. We were also pleased to note a lack of chromatic aberration.

The image stabilization is impressive – we were able to get sharp images from shutter speeds as slow as 1/15 sec at 400mm. We’d recommend shooting continuous bursts at this shutter speed, of course, to increase your chances, but it does mean the RF 100-400 has the potential to do a good job on static subjects if the light really gets away from you.

Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM Sample Images

If you have an RF-EF mount adapter you should know that there are a lot of alternative lens options out there from third-party manufacturers. For example, those who want loads of reach could consider the Sigma 150-600mm (about £150 / $150 / AU $ 300 extra) – but it’s significantly longer and with a larger maximum aperture at the zoom end; albeit with a bit more vignetting at large apertures. 

If you want to shoot using the native RF mount there are options for that as well. For example, if you don’t want a zoom lens you could opt for either the RF 600mm F11 IS STM (about £860 / $699 / AU $1,219) or the RF 800mm F11 IS STM (about £1,100 / $1,000 / AU $1,500). Bear in mind that not only is there no zoom but both these lenses also have a fixed f/11 aperture, making them perhaps a little less suited to those starting out. If you’re feeling flush, the Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L I USM is not only a little longer and brighter than the RF 100-400 but is also weather sealed – albeit for about £2,000 / $2,000 / AU $3,000 (approx) more.

 Should I buy the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM? 

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...