Lots of the best parental control apps are packed with features but charge a high price for the privilege, but Kroha tries to be different by offering a wealth of features at a more palatable price.

On paper, then, that’s an attractive prospect, and it looks even better when you consider that Kroha offers some more innovative features on certain platforms.

There’s an option to protect young eyes from blue light spectrum colors and a mode where you can listen into your child’s device microphone, which is called Sound Around.

Kroha review: Plans and pricing

Before you get to the features, though, consider the pricing – because it’s very tempting. The one-year deal costs $22.99 and supports five devices, and if you pay $49.99 you get time-unlimited access to the app for five devices.

They’re both excellent prices that undercut virtually every rival, but that latter option is the best one if you’ve got a couple of kids and you want a parental control app you’ll use for a few years.

Alternatively, you can pay $5.99 for one month of access, but that’s poor value when compared to the other deals.

If you want to add thirty minutes or three hours of Sound Around access to your package, it costs $0.99 or $4.99 respectively. It also costs $4.49 if you want to add support for five more devices to your package. And while those extras do add cost, Kroha remains excellent value.

Kroha review: Features

That Sound Around feature, currently only available on Android, is one of the most interesting additions to the app, and it’s handy if you’re concerned for your child’s safety, if they’re not answering their phone or if you need to check their safety.

By pressing the Record button within the app, you’ll take a thirty-second recording of the sound around your child. By default, users get 20 recordings per month as part of their package.

That’s useful, and unique when it comes to parental control apps. It’s also not the only sound-related option available in Kroha. Parents can play a loud siren on the child’s phone – ideal if you’ve lost the device – and parents can remotely disable silent mode.

Kroha also allows parents to take screenshots of their child’s devices – and take photos using the front and back cameras on the device, too.

Elsewhere, Kroha allows parents to block or allow apps, create app categories and alter access for those blocks of apps, and set access and screen time limits for certain apps or categories. It’s an ideal way to allow access to safe, educational tools while limiting access to time-wasting games.

Similarly, websites can be blocked based on categories, and parents can also see children’s internet histories.

Kroha supports geofencing, real-time location tracking, and allows parents to see the photos stored on the child’s device, and parents can see children’s contacts, too.

Android users get YouTube histories and viewing statistics, and the intriguing Eye Protection mode, which warns children if the phone is too close to their eyes, switches to a soothing night mode to reduce blue light exposure and allows for app exclusions – so visual apps, like school video conferencing tools, aren’t affected.

Kroha monitors key messaging and social media apps, like WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and TikTok, as well as text messages. The feature set is completed by a comprehensive call history module and a “news feed” where parents can see how their child has used their app throughout the day, including time spent on particular apps.

There’s an awful lot available in Kroha, then, but we would warn parents whose children use iOS devices to check the feature lists before investing – because many more features are supported on Android than on iOS.

And if you want a parental control app that concentrates on social media, then a tool like Bark is even more comprehensive.

Thankfully, Kroha is available with a five-day trial, so you’ll at least have the opportunity to check if the features you need are available on Apple’s platform before you spend any money.

It’s also worth mentioning Kroha Advanced, which is an app that works on desktop PCs or Mac OS. It introduces many of Kroha’s monitoring features to your desktop or laptop system – ideal if you want the benefits of Kroha without being glued to your smartphone.

Kroha review: Interface and in-use

Kroha’s set-up procedure is fine – very similar to many of its rivals. Once you’ve downloaded the app and told it whether it needs to function as a parent or child tool, you’ll have to run through the permissions required.

It gets a bit in-depth, requiring parents to delve into settings for app usage, notifications and battery optimization, though – these steps aren’t required on many rival tools and may confuse parents who are not familiar with smartphone settings menus.

And when you get Kroha working, the interface is adequate – it’s straightforward and easy enough to navigate, but tools like Bark and Qustodio are much more visually appealing and use visual cues in a much more pleasing way.

Kroha review: Support

Kroha’s support feels a bit barebones, too. There are plenty of helpful articles on Kroha’s website covering FAQs, features, troubleshooting, setup and subscriptions, but that’s about it.

There’s a support email address at the bottom of the Kroha website for more specific queries, but no web form, no indication of how long support will take, and no option to use more immediate types of support, like live chats or phone lines.

When compared to other apps, it’s a weaker offering.

Kroha review: The competition

Indeed, Qustodio, Bark and Kidslox are all far more comprehensive when it comes to support, with more methods of help available and a broader array of online articles. Bark has live chat and a forum, too.

All of those three apps look better than Kroha, too, and some go further in terms of features: Bark is much better for social media, Kidslox is stronger on location-based abilities, and Qustodio has better cross-platform abilities and more in-depth reporting.

Kroha review: Final verdict

This situation leaves Kroha in a tough spot. It’s got good app-blocking abilities, it monitors core social media tools and has geofencing, and it also has innovative features like Sound Around and the ability to access your children’s cameras.

It’s affordable, too, which is a key consideration for many parents who want parental control without breaking the bank.

The low price means weaknesses in other key areas, though. So while Kroha is a competent, affordable tool, its pricier rivals do offer more in terms of support and functionality.

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Companies that make the best parental control apps need to make a philosophical choice when producing software: do you want to assume trust and give children some leeway about their behavior, or is it better to try and protect kids by tracking everything?

The developers behind mSpy have clearly opted for the latter approach, with a slate of features that monitors keystrokes, locations, chats, calls, pictures and more.

This parental control method won’t work for everyone, especially for parents who want to maintain trust in their familial relationships. But if you are keen to take a closer look at your kids’ online behavior, is this the app for you?

mSpy review: Plans and pricing

If you’re a parent who wants to figure out how much mSpy actually costs, good luck: the app’s website makes it quite difficult to actually find this information.

The most affordable option is mSpy Premium. At the time of writing, it costs $11.19/£8.75 per month on Android and iOS if you pay for an annual package.

That price gives you support for one child device and a broad array of features, although some of those only work on Android and some require users to root or jailbreak phones to get them working.

The Family Kit offers support for three devices and delivers all of the features available in mSpy Premium at a price of around $33.25/£26 per month, although the price isn’t actually listed on mSpy’s website at the time of writing.

If your family use Android, the mSpy Extreme tier costs $23.99/£18.76 per month if you pay for a year of access. At this level, you get the full suite of features without any need for jailbreaking – and you get some extra functionality, like remote camera and microphone access, the ability to record calls and an anonymous Instagram viewer.

There’s also an Ultimate option for iOS-based families that costs around $39.64/£31 per month for single device support. It provides most of the features of the other tiers, although it misses out on keyword alerts, app blocking and remote camera and microphone access.

The pricing available on mSpy feels deliberately obscured, then, and those prices are also extremely high. Other parental apps don’t offer the keylogging and sheer detail of mSpy, but they offer lots of conventional parental access features at a fraction of the price.

mSpy review: Features

So, what can you actually do with mSpy? Unsurprisingly, many of the app’s features revolve around information gleaned from keylogging.

Parents can see text messages, images sent and received over SMS, and Facebook Messenger activity – alongside chats from apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Kik, Telegram, Tinder, Viber, Instagram, iMessage and more.

You’ll be able to get information about who has texted your children and who they’re texting, including contact numbers and names. Unsurprisingly, mSpy’s logging and reporting is always comprehensive – access the parent app and you’ll be confronted with a fearsome amount of information.

Parents can rely on mSpy’s keylogger to see every stroke that’s typed on the phone – so you can check deleted messages, URLs and more. It’s also possible to get alerts if your children type specific words.

And because much of this functionality runs in the background, hidden on the target device, your children may not even know they’re being monitored – or, at least, they won’t find it so intrusive.

The app allows parents to monitor call logs and emails, including attachments and the ability to see emails they’ve sent and received. Parents can see browser histories, see data about how often sites are visited, filter based on categories and check their bookmarks – and even see what Wi-Fi networks children are using.

That’s not all: mSpy allows parents to block apps, see what apps are installed, and view photos and videos stored on the device. A screen-recording feature is also available so parents can get visual snapshots of child phone activity – even with disappearing message features that are now popular on many apps.

Parents can view their children’s current location using mSpy’s GPS-based functionality, and also use geofencing to get alerts when children enter or leave places where you want them to visit – or want them to avoid.

And if you pay for the Extreme version, you can also access their camera and microphone, record calls, and anonymously view Instagram.

It has a comprehensive set of keylogger-based features, but bear in mind that mSpy’s Android app is far more powerful than the iOS app – if you want to monitor an Apple device, you’ll need to do some jailbreaking.

Rooting and jailbreaking is particularly concerning because it can, potentially, void your device warranty, prevent access to other apps and make devices more vulnerable to cybercrime.

Parents also need to bear in mind that mSpy’s concentration on logging means this app is lacking elsewhere

Its screen time management is basic, without the detail or granularity found in many other apps, and there’s no category-based website blocking or filtering – this is another area where the functionality is underwhelming.

Other apps also offer more in terms of location-based features, including the option to track children’s driving habits.

mSpy review: Interface and in-use

Unsurprisingly, mSpy’s interface provides a comprehensive and in-depth look at your children’s device behavior. You can see everything, from message content and phone call logs to web histories and even the events in their calendar.

There are separate sections for browsing photos and videos, setting up keyword alerts, delving into the keylogger and viewing what apps your children have installed.

The interface is clean, well-organized and easy to use, with straightforward menus and good organization. Once you’re set up, it’s easy to get started.

It’s a great interface if you want to delve into the data, but other apps make things a little easier to see summaries of daily and weekly activity – mSpy keeps things granular and specific rather than providing top-level reports.

Suffice to say, though, that installation is not particularly easy. On an iOS without jailbreaking the feature set is restrictive, but jailbreaking is a fraught process that many parents may not want to attempt.

On Android, you’ll need to disable Google Play Protection to install the app and use most of its features, and parents need to root the phone to get access to every feature.

We’re pleased to see that mSpy provides installation guides for both platforms, but you get far more information if you pay extra for the Ultimate plan – a frustrating choice that feels particularly cynical.

There’s also an option to pay even more to get remote assistance with installation. But no matter what route you choose, mSpy setup is likely to be complicated, frustrating and potentially expensive.

mSpy review: Support

This is another area where mSpy seems to underperform. The FAQ section is underwhelming, with basic questions and short answers that don’t really answer questions. There’s a tiny chatbot that is hard to see.

On paper, mSpy offers phone and email support, but reports from users suggest that the help isn’t actually very helpful, with answers that are either out-of-date or incorrect.

It’s possible to pay extra for more in-depth support, but that option is expensive.

mSpy review: The competition

mSpy faces tough competition from parental control apps that concentrate on conventional features rather than surveillance and keylogging.

Bark, for instance, has better social media monitoring, Qustodio has superb scheduling and screen limiting options, and Mobicip excels in many of those areas, too. All of those tools also have better location-based functionality than mSpy.

They’re all cheaper, too – indeed, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a parental control app that’s as expensive as mSpy.

mSpy review: Final verdict

If you’re not concerned with ethical or moral questions around keylogging, then there’s no doubt that mSpy does a great job here – on Android, at least, it can monitor virtually everything that your child does using their device.

But for all of its keylogging prowess, it falls short in many of the more conventional areas of parental control and it’s very expensive.

If you want that extensive access and keylogging for your children, then mSpy may be worth the price to you – but we’d urge parents to look elsewhere for more affordable and well-rounded parental control.

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Lots of the best parental control apps try to layer features over the top of conventional software tools, but Boomerang takes a slightly different approach by including its own safe browser, called SPIN.

Beyond that, this app promises 24/7 location tracking, message monitoring and a more positive approach to app control, although there are vast differences between the experience you get on Android when compared to iOS.

Boomerang review: Plans and pricing

Boomerang gets off to a good start with attractive pricing. There’s a 14-day free trial and, if you want to invest, the Family Pack costs $40 per year and includes licences for ten devices. If you want a single licence, it costs $20 per year per device.

That Family Pack is the best option, then, and if you want to purchase the easiest way to get started is to conduct an in-app purchase via Google Play or the App Store. But bear in mind that you may hit that ten-device limit quickly if you’re a large family with lots of devices.

Boomerang review: Features

We’d certainly recommend Google Play, though, because Boomerang is far more powerful on Android than on iOS.

On Android, for instance, you can control your children’s screen time limits and schedules, always allow them to use preferred apps, and inform your children about how much time you’ve got left. Apple’s OS misses out on all of those features – on an iPhone you can only give your children a time-out from Boomerang.

The situation continues to be this one-sided. On Android you can automatically block unfiltered web browsers, set daily timers for individual apps, block apps and schedule app usage – and none of that is available on Apple’s devices.

Call and text messaging safety is far more robust on Android, too: on Google’s platform you can see call logs, restrict calls and block numbers, view text message logs and set filters for specific words. You’ll get notified when inappropriate words are used or when children are texting with unauthorized contacts.

On Android you’ll get notified if your child removes Boomerang protection, blocks access to device settings, tries to uninstall the app or change the date and time – and none of this is available on iOS.

On both platforms you’ll get to see your child’s web history and block certain websites, but Android’s reporting is much stronger thanks to detailed email summaries, daily reports, lists of installed apps and per-app usage reporting. Android is also the only platform where you can control installed apps and use a “find my device”-style feature on your children’s phones.

It’s not all bad for iOS users. The SPIN safe browser works on both platforms, and you can block specific websites on both, too.

Location tracking works across both platforms, you can access location histories and automatic location reporting, and parents can set up impressive geofenced radii on both, too. And no matter what platform you use, you’ll get access to a family messaging group, one-on-one chatting and activity reporting.

Dive into Android, then, and far more is available. You get bedtime routine scheduling, daily app time limits, “encouraged apps” that are exempt from those rules, and the option to give kids a time out to pause their device usage.

Boomerang’s text message monitoring is extensive, with detailed logs and the option to collect all text content, and you can control who your child calls – and who can call them. You can pair family devices with your email address, so you don’t have to create new email accounts for your children, and you can block new app installs or allow for parental approval.

Elsewhere, Boomerang monitors YouTube history and searches on Android, and it’s one of the only parental control apps to use Samsung Knox security if you’re using Samsung devices.

The SPIN browser impresses, too: searches in browsers like Bing, Google and Yahoo are automatically filtered and the browser has strict built-in filtering. It doesn’t have a private browsing mode, those content filters can be customized, and its filter watches out for 20 different categories of potentially inappropriate content.

Less impressive is Boomerang’s social media functionality. It doesn’t natively monitor social media apps or emails in the same way as Bark, for instance. The app will pick up certain things by tracking messaging and typing, and you can add social media sites to its web filters – but it’s not as good as Bark or Qustodio here.

At least, because you’ve got control over what apps are installed, you can prevent your children from installing social media tools in the first place.

Boomerang review: Interface and in-use

It’s not unusual for the installation and setup of parental control apps to be a bit fiddly, and that’s certainly the case with Boomerang.

To get call and SMS monitoring, you’ll have to install Android apps on your children’s devices via the Boomerang website, rather than the Google Play Store. You may also have to delve into the settings on the device to allow for non-store installations.

Thankfully, the parent apps can just be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store, and it’s far easier. And when everything is set up, the interface is a mixed bag: the phone app is relatively slick, but the web dashboard is archaic and harder to use when compared to the web interfaces offered by most rivals.

Boomerang review: Support

Boomerang’s support is rudimentary. Users can submit a support ticket, but the website hasn’t got any indication of how long it’ll take to get a response.

Elsewhere, there’s a knowledge base and FAQ section online, and a forum that wasn’t particularly active at the time of writing. There’s a podcast and a blog, but that’s it for support.

Boomerang review: The competition

We’ve already mentioned Bark and Qustodio, and both rival apps do a better job with email and social media monitoring – but, negatively, both are a little more expensive than Boomerang, too.

Boomerang is stronger than the competition when it comes to geofencing and screen time management thanks to its granular controls in both areas.

Qustodio is better for iOS, with a more robust offering on that platform, and OurPact is also a better alternative for Apple’s platform.

Boomerang review: Final verdict

Boomerang has its negatives, then, especially when it comes to iOS support and monitoring of email and social media apps, but it’s much stronger with geofencing, filtering, scheduling and web browsers – especially thanks to the proprietary SPIN app.

This means Boomerang is ideal for Android-based families with children who don’t currently use email or social media. The price is pleasingly affordable, too.

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