Qustodio

Editors' Note: PCMag is no longer rating or recommending third-party parental control apps. In recent years, our testing has found that these apps can be unreliable at protecting your children online, and they can even be counterproductive if they alienate your kids by making them feel spied on. Instead, we encourage you to try free native OS parental monitoring and screen time-limiting apps from Apple, Google, and Microsoft. They aren't consistently effective either, but you don't have to pay for them. Our roundup of the best free parental control apps has our current recommendations.

A parental control tool that only runs on your family PC is almost useless when it comes to keeping an eye on modern connected kids. Qustodio has just about every feature an anxious parent wants, including web content filtering, robust app blocking, and a detailed activity log. You handle all configuration and monitoring either via Qustodio's online dashboard or the parental mode of its mobile apps, which means you can set rules and review your child's activity from anywhere.

How Much Does Qustodio Cost?

Qustodio for Families is expensive, but it does have a permanently free option. The free version limits monitoring to just a single device and only keeps seven days of activity history. You also get basic controls like web filtering and time quotas for certain activities. Qustodio has two plans: Basic and Complete. Basic is $54.95 annually, which includes app and game blocking, screen time-limiting options, web content filtering, geofencing, and the ability to shut off access to the internet for your child's device. Complete is $99.95 per year, and with it, parents can get all of the above, plus custom alerts, time limits for games and apps, unlimited device monitoring, and call and message monitoring.

Qustodio is not just for families. Qustodio for Schools aims to keep students on track when using school computers, while Qustodio for Business is designed to make sure employees are working, not watching cat videos—or worse. These products have similar features to Qustodio's parental control applications.

(Credit: Qustodio)

Qustodio runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Kindle devices. Qustodio launched a version of its software for Chromebooks, too. Keep in mind that some Qustodio features are platform-specific and that the iOS app is more limited than its Android counterpart—as is common, given how Apple tends to lock down iOS settings. Look at Apple's built-in Screen Time feature as an alternative to a third-party parental control solution.

To test Qustodio's desktop capabilities, we used a Macbook Pro running macOS 11.6.1. For evaluating Qustodio on mobile, we primarily used an iPhone XS running iOS 14.8.1 and a Samsung Galaxy A71 running Android 11.

Setting Up Qustodio

Once you purchase your Qustodio subscription, you get started by logging in to the website and creating a profile for your child. Qustodio requires your child's name and birth year, and you can choose whether or not to specify a gender.

After creating a profile, you need to install a local client on every device you intend to track. Windows and macOS installs are easy. Just download and run the installer, login, and add a name for the device. You can apply configuration settings to all user accounts on a computer or configure each login account separately, later from the web interface. Qustodio includes a silent install option that hides Qustodio's presence from the monitored user. This setup seems closer to spying, rather than consensual monitoring. Norton Family does a much better job of explaining what rules are in place for a child. Communication is a key part of keeping kids safe.

There's only one Qustodio app on the Google Play Store and App Store, and you specify whether you are on a parent or a child device during setup. We prefer the single app approach since it is simpler for parents to find, rather than having to search for separate versions. You need to grant Qustodio all sorts of permissions on Android, including Apps with usage access, Accessibility access, and device-level access (call, SMS, location, contacts, and media), in addition to enabling it as a device admin app. On iOS, you need to download and install an MDM device profile and VPN to correctly configure Qustodio. It's possible for a child to delete the MDM profile on their device, breaking some of Qustodio's functions.

These requirements are mostly standard for any full-featured parental control app on mobile devices. Make sure to lock down the Android settings with your password and remove the guest account, since none of Qustodio's restrictions and rules apply to it. Kids can access this generic account even if the device has reached its time limit and even create new users from Android's Quick Settings pull-down menu if you don't block that capability.

Qustodio Web Interface

Qustodio's online dashboard is simple and clean with a white background and pastel accent colors. Elements are consistent and well-organized. Performance is quick as well.

You navigate the interface using a series of icons in a left-hand menu: Your Family, Your Devices, Your Account, Help Center, and Logout. Unfortunately, there is no option to enable multi-factor authentication in the Your Account section, but you can make changes to your subscription and opt out of email notifications here. The Help Center is well-designed, with easy-to-access categories, readily available user guides, and a search bar.

(Credit: Qustodio)

To change rules and restrictions for a child, click on their profile in the Your Family section. From their profile page, you can filter the data to show the last day or the past 7, 15, or 30 days.

The Activity Timeline lists all your child's activities across the web, app, search, call and SMS, and location categories. The timeline is interactive too, so, for example, you can block or allow apps right from the screen. The Activity timeline also supports filters, which is handy for when you only want to see one of the categories of data, such as app activity.

You can make changes to restriction categories by clicking the filter icon on the page and choosing Set Rules. Restriction categories include Daily Time Limits, Restricted Times, Web Filtering, YouTube Monitoring, Games and apps, Calls & SMS, and Location.

Qustodio Web Filtering

By default, Qustodio blocks all access to websites matching any of ten undesirable categories, among them Drugs, Gambling, Pornography, Proxies/Loopholes, and Violence. Several other categories, including Social Network and File Sharing, are available for parents who want to fine-tune web content filtering. Your options for each category are Allow, Alert Me, and Block. We wish Qustodio included short descriptions of each category to make it easier to choose, but most are self-explanatory.

There are additional options for blocking unsupported browsers, blocking uncategorized website domains, and forcing Safe Search (Google, Bing, and YouTube). You can also choose to receive notifications when Qustodio blocks a site. However, you cannot block pages based on specific keywords or profanity. Net Nanny features a profanity filter. Note that privacy-focused search engines such as DuckDuckGo are also beyond Qustodio's controls.

Qustodio's content filtering works on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, blocking even secure (HTTPS) websites from restricted categories. It does not work on browsers like Brave, Opera, and Tor and blocks unsupported browsers by default. You can also block specific web addresses. We wish it integrated a Request Access option, such as the one found in Norton Family, so kids can ask their parents to give them access to sites.

(Credit: Qustodio)

Qustodio is not truly browser-independent; It blocks browsers it does not support. For instance, it prevented us from launching both the Brave and Tor browsers.

In testing, we found that the web filtering capabilities disappeared while using a VPN. VPN sites are blocked, but if a child already has a VPN installed on their computer, they will be able to browse websites freely.

We tried the web filters on Android, too. Qustodio blocked us from using the Firefox Focus and Tor browsers and successfully blocked sites in forbidden categories in Chrome, even after we installed a VPN. Qustodio's web filtering capabilities work with the Chrome and Safari browsers on iOS. We downloaded a VPN from the App Store on iOS, installed it, and were able to browse without a filter. You should block VPN app downloads if you want web filtering to be effective. In contrast, Norton Family's web filter worked well with a VPN during testing.

Web filtering also includes secure anonymizing proxy sites, so a child can't circumvent monitoring and control. We attempted to visit HMA's proxy site, and it was blocked by the web filter.

Qustodio Time Usage Limits

Qustodio divides its time-restriction tools into a few different sections. Daily Time Limits allows you to set a cap on device usage for each day of the week. You can also block device access entirely for that day. Qustodio lets you choose what happens when the time limit is up. You can either lock navigation or lock the device. Qustodio can optionally send you a notification if a child reaches that limit.

(Credit: Qustodio)

The Lock Navigation and Lock Device settings do different things depending on the platform. Locking navigation on Windows and Macs blocks internet access and web browsers, but the lock device option means your kids won't be able to sign in to the device. On Android, locking navigation blocks most apps, except for the home screen, notification bar, and recent app lists. Children can only make outgoing emergency calls while the device is locked. For iOS devices, the lock navigation toggle is greyed out. The lock device setting hides all apps on the device.

Qustodio's Restricted Times section lets you control what times during the day your child can use their device. Qustodio divides the day into Morning, Afternoon, and Night, and you can block out large periods of time by clicking on the hour of each day. You can choose to lock navigation and lock the device when time's up, which also prevents your child from getting around the block by changing the system time on the device.

All of these time-blocking features worked as advertised in our testing. Note that Qustodio also lets parents set time restrictions on individual apps, as we discuss below.

Qustodio App Blocking

For app-blocking settings on Android, Windows, and macOS devices, head to the Games & Apps section. Here, you can search for apps your child has used across any of their supported devices. Instead of pre-populating a list of common apps, Qustodio adds apps to the list as your child starts using them.

(Credit: Qustodio)

For any app entry on the list, you can toggle whether you'd like to apply no restrictions, set a total time limit for each day of the week, or just block it outright. This feature could be useful if you wanted to always let your kid access the calculator app for homework but also wanted to keep the time they spend on social media to a minimum, without totally locking them out. We had no issues blocking apps on our Mac and iPhone test devices.

Qustodio's app blocking extends to iOS, but the functionality is spotty. If the parent blocks an app while the child is using it, the app will continue to function as usual. App blocking also only works with certain apps. The list of compatible apps includes most of the basics, but you certainly might encounter some entries that are not supported. For example, Qustodio's tools no longer work with games published by EA. Boomerang lets you block iOS apps based on their associated age ratings.

Qustodio Location Tracking

Qustodio's location-based monitoring varies by platform. On the web, these settings are under the Location tab, but on mobile, there is a dedicated Family Locator section. On the web dashboard, you see a map marked with the last known locations of your children. If you click on one of the profiles, a timeline of the child's reported location history pops up with up to 30 days of past data.

Qustodio includes geofencing capabilities for mobile devices, a feature it calls My Places. Geofencing is simple to understand. You define a virtual boundary around a geographic place and then receive a notification when a child (or their device) leaves or enters that area. With Qustodio, you pick a place on the map, give it a name, and define how large a boundary to create around it (minimum of 350 feet).

Qustodio YouTube Monitoring

Qustodio can monitor your child's activity on YouTube, though the capabilities vary by platform. For Windows, macOS, and Android devices, you can see what videos your kids watch and what they search for on YouTube's website and the Android app. For monitored iOS devices, you can only see searches and their viewing history on the mobile YouTube site.

Qustodio gives you the option to specifically restrict the YouTube app or website from this section, as well as set a time limit on usage. This is more convenient than making you go to the regular app-blocking or web filter sections.

Qustodio Calls and Messages Monitoring

Qustodio allows parents to monitor kids’ calls, SMS messages, and iMessages. Parents must download a separate Qustodio Calls and Messages app to their Mac computer or download an app from the web onto their Android mobile device.

We do not encourage anyone to download software to their mobile devices from any source other than the App Store or Google Play Store. This act is called sideloading, and it can potentially compromise the security of your mobile device because the software is not thoroughly vetted and approved by the teams at Apple or Google.

In testing, calls and messages monitoring with Qustodio were effective on an Android mobile phone. From the web portal, parents can block or allow calls and messages on their child's devices.

Calls and messages update automatically every hour. You can also manually update them by clicking the ‘refresh’ button in the Calls & Messages app.

Parents have access to the following information:

• Who your child is exchanging phone calls, FaceTime calls, and WhatsApp calls with
• Who your child is exchanging SMS messages and iMessages with
• The complete content of the SMS messages and iMessages they’ve sent and received
• The timing of the calls and messages

You can change the amount of information that you can see by going to your child’s profile and choosing calls and messages in the rules menu. There, you can choose whether or not to view message content. You can also switch monitoring on or off. Keep in mind that Qustodio's monitoring features do not apply to third-party messaging apps such as Signal or WhatsApp.

Qustodio on Mobile

Qustodio has apps for Parents and Kids. The Parent app is well-organized, modern, and highly functional. The default page, Your Family, shows icons for all the children associated with your account. You can set up another user profile from this screen via the Add a Child on the bottom center, which requires you to choose an avatar, name, whether or not to specify a gender, and birth year. You click on a child's icon in this section to configure restrictions. There are no limitations to the app here; the mobile app offers full control of all the rules categories.

The app allows you to delete child profiles and reassign what device is assigned to which child. A left-hand menu gives you access to all the sections from the web, including Your Devices, Family Locator, Your Account, and the Help Center.

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A feature specific to Android is the Panic Button. To start using it, define up to four trusted contacts, each with an email address or mobile phone number. A child who's lost or in trouble can tap the SOS bubble from within the Qustodio app. Once activated, it sends the child's location and an alert to those contacts. The app will continue to broadcast the child's location every five minutes until the child turns off the panic mode or a parent deactivates it via the web portal.

Qustodio's parent mode on iOS looks identical to its Android counterpart and its features work as advertised.

Sidestepping Greatness

Qustodio enables parents to watch over their child's activity across desktop and mobile devices. Its best features are its robust time restrictions, geofencing tools, and app blocking on web and mobile platforms. Its clean web interface and well-designed mobile apps are high points, too.

Qustodio's main drawbacks are that it requires sideloading for call and text monitoring to work on Android devices and that the software is expensive.