FamiGuard Parental Control Review: Is it Good?
In today's world, where numerous online and social vices prevail, keeping an eye on your kids is very essential. One such tool parents can rely on for their children's protection is parental control apps like FamiGuard. However, with the recent release of the FamiGuard Parental Control app, you might be wondering if it's good.
Don't worry! We've tested the app extensively and we'll guide you in deciding whether FamiGuard is really worth it or not. Let's delve in!
FamiGuard Pros, Cons, Features
Pros
- Offer two features for free
- Block multiple apps by categories
- Lock the child's device with one click
- Capture the child's screen remotely
Cons
- Can't view child's browsing history
- Can't track all apps
- Binding may fail
- No uninstalling protection
All features of FamiGuard Parental Control are listed below:
Location Tracking
Location tracker is a common feature of many parental control apps, including FamiGuard. This app updates your child's live location and records your child's past routes without any hitch. The location feature also comes with geofencing, which allows you to set specific boundaries ranging from 100 miles to 1000 miles.
Kindly note that while the real-time tracking feature is free, the geofencing tool requires a premium plan.
Web Block
You'll also get the web filtering option on the FamiGuard app at no cost. With it, you can simply block any unsuitable website from its 9 website categories. The feature also allows you to customize URL whitelists and blacklists to allow or restrict websites.
Despite the efficacy of this feature, I don't like the fact that parents cannot track their kid's browser history.
Lock Screen
This feature gives you full control of your child's phone. By setting a time limit, all activities on your child's phone are locked at this duration. This ensures your kids don't spend all their time on the digital device and helps to build good habits.
Screen Capture
FamiGuard also offers a remote screen capture feature. This feature acts as an extra layer of monitoring for your child's phone. Imagine being able to access what your child is doing on their phone remotely without them getting noticed.
However, this function is not as robust as Kidslox and FamiSafe, which allows you to enable automatic screen capture.
App Block
FamiGuard also gives you complete oversight over the apps on your kid's phone. It enables you to view all installed apps with each app categorized. You can choose apps to block instantly. Additionally, there's an option to schedule block or access apps during specific times daily or weekly.
App Usage
There is also an app activity management section on the parental dashboard, which includes information like the time your kids spend on a particular app and how often they use the app by day and week. This report is presented in the form of charts, with the most frequently used apps on top of the chart list.
Call Filtering
FamiGuard offers a robust call-blocking feature, which is available on Android and iOS. Although it advertises it can help you see whom your kids called, I couldn't find any call log during the test.
Surely, you'll have access to your children's contact list and the ability to block or allow any number on their phones. This is impressive, the same as the MMGuardian's Contact Blocking feature.
Our FamiGuard Testing Experience
We tested FamiGuard with two Android devices. Generally, one device was designated as a parent device while the one as a child device. Here's our hands-on experience:
1. Installation is easy but buggy
FamiGuard for account creation and binding the devices are straightforward. However, during the test with my Google Pixel 7, it always asked to allow camera permission even after all permissions were ready.
2. App blocking is not powerful
The App Block feature doesn't work well; thus far, some blocked apps are non-responsive. Moreover, the app list doesn't contain all the apps on the device for some reason.
3. Child can remove it easily
The FamiGuard Jr app was very easy to remove on the child's phone. In fact, there was no uninstalling protection like other parental control apps.
FamiGuard Parental Control Alternatives
As we all know, no parental control app is flawless. FamiGuard is definitely the ideal choice if you:
✔ Want to know what your child is doing online: FamiGuard's Screen Capture feature assists you in peeking at your child's phone screen at any time.
✔ Want efficient call blocking: FamiGuard offers a robust call filtering function by setting up a whitelist.
✔ Want numerous parental control features: FamiGuard has an advanced section called - FamiGuard Pro, which provides a plethora of monitoring features. But all features are paid.
However, if your priority is monitoring your child's offline surroundings and keeping them safe while browsing online, consider alternatives like AirDroid Parental Control. Unlike FamiGuard, this app works in 100% stealth mode on children's devices. What's more? Click here to get started!
Surely, for parents who care about their child's SMS and calls, Boomerang Parental Control provides help to monitor all messages and calls from your child's phone.
There is also a parental control app (Norton Family) that customizes screen time usage and blocks websites based on your child's age.
Then, don't forget that Google Family Link provides parental controls for free.
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