Bark comes in two plans: Bark Jr. ($5/month or $49/year), designed for families with young children, and Bark Premium ($14/month or $99/year) for families with kids of all ages. Both plans cover families of every size, have location-sharing features and alerts, screen time management features, and filtering for the websites your children can visit.

In addition, the Bark Premium parental control plan gives busy parents peace of mind by monitoring more than 30 social networks 24/7. The app also monitors YouTube usage, texts, emails, cyberbullying, online predation, and suicidal ideas.

Price: Bark, Jr. is $5 monthly/Bark Premium is $14 monthly after a free trial.

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While it requires a bit of an investment, Qustodio is a popular monitoring app for parents, and for good reason. The app is available on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Kindle and allows parents to receive daily reports on the apps their kids are using and how much time they spend on their devices.

Parents can set specific screen time windows, outside of which the device becomes unusable, and the advanced web filtering limits the content minors can view while surfing the web, whether they use Safari, Firefox, Edge, or another browser. A free account can offer basic protection on one device, but multi-device monitoring requires a membership.

Price: Free; Premium plans start at $54.95.

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It can be difficult for parents to monitor their children’s gaming, but the Microsoft Family Safety app is a free set of tools to monitor and limit what their children do on Xbox One, Windows 11, and Android devices using Microsoft Edge.

This app includes free web filtering, app blocking, and scheduling for up to six family members. The app’s content filters create a safe environment for children of any age by designating suitable sites that are always allowed and never allowed.

Price: Free with in-app purchases available.

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The Google Family Link app is a free tool that parents can use to control the apps their child downloads on their mobile phone, how much screen time they’re allowed each day, and the content they can purchase.

Once it is set up, the Google Family Link app, which is available on iOS and Android devices, can also track the location of the connected smartphone, making this service a solid child tracking app.

Google Family Link is a fantastic tool with almost all the features that other apps charge a monthly membership fee for.

Price: Free

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Sony’s PlayStation 4 doesn’t have a standalone app solution for controlling kids’ screen time like the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but it does feature some solid settings built into the console that can be accessed in Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > Family Management.

Once activated, these parental control settings can limit how much time children can spend playing video games each day and between what hours. Parents can also select which age ratings they’ll allow for video games, digital media, and DVD and Blu-ray discs, which can bring peace of mind whenever the kids play alone.

Price: Free.

Nintendo’s Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app is a free app for iOS and Android that connects directly to your Nintendo Switch. After it’s connected, the app monitors play time limits, what games are played, and who’s been playing. All the data displays within the app in an easy-to-understand fashion, making monitoring video game screen time incredibly easy.

The true power of the app lies in its ability to restrict how much family members can play the Nintendo Switch per day. Parents can set time limits in the app in just a few seconds and suspend the console completely after bedtime.

Price: Free.

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OpenDNS FamilyShield is a free service that prevents everyone who connects to your internet connection from accessing adult or inappropriate content when online.

What’s particularly impressive is how the security settings affect every single device in a household, from personal computers to smartphones and tablets.

Price: Free.