The short list: where to look something up before you say yes, a few screen time and safety apps for when the free controls aren’t enough, and a few books worth your time.
Prices checked September 2026
The controls built into your kid’s phone or computer cost nothing and handle most of what paid apps do. If you haven’t set those up yet, start with the checklist for their device:
Your kid wants a new game, app, or movie. These tell you what’s actually in it.
Age-based reviews written for parents, covering movies, TV, books, games, and apps, with a breakdown of what’s in each one.
The free account is limited. The $3.99-a-month membership unlocks unlimited reviews of movies, books, and TV, plus extras like movie night picks and parenting workshops.
The official age ratings on video games, with a short summary of what earned each rating. Their free app lets you look one up on the go, even standing in the store aisle.
All of these sit on top of the controls your kid’s device already has. Pick one, since parental control apps often don’t play nicely stacked on top of each other.
Block apps, set schedules, and lock a device with one tap, on iPhones, iPads, and Android. A good fit for a family with a mix of devices.
Premium is $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year. It covers screen time limits, block schedules, instant lock, app blocking with alerts when a new app shows up, a web filter, and location sharing, for up to 20 of your kids’ devices.
Premium+ is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. It adds screenshots of what’s on their screen, with AI that flags harmful content. There’s no free plan, just the trial.
A simpler dashboard for Apple’s own Screen Time, with flexible schedules and quick Pause and Lock buttons. iPhones and iPads only.
Grace is built on Apple’s Screen Time, so there’s no special profile to install. Only one parent can be the administrator, and it can’t run alongside another parental control app.
The paid upgrade, Grace+, is $5.99 a month, $39.99 a year, or $119.99 one time in the App Store. Reviews there are mixed, so try the free version first.
Screen time limits, web filtering, and app blocking across iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and Kindle, all managed from one parent dashboard. A solid pick if your family uses a mix of phones and computers.
The free version covers one device with basic protection. Basic Premium is $59.95 a year and Complete Premium is $104.95 a year, which adds more devices and extra monitoring features.
Blocks nudity and sexting as it happens, in any app on the phone, by scanning what’s on the screen in real time. It also handles app and website blocking, downtime, and location alerts.
Visit Canopy · Watch my review
Prices are billed yearly. Essential is $8.33 a month for 1 device, Plus is $9.99 a month for up to 3 devices, and Premium is $12.50 a month for up to 10. Every plan has a one-week free trial, and code FAMILYTECH takes 20% off. Works on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and Chromebook.
Two to read with your kids, and three for you. The book links are my Amazon affiliate links, so I may earn a small commission if you buy one.
Kristen A. Jenson
A gentle read-aloud that gives little ones a simple plan for when they see something online that doesn’t feel right.
Kristen A. Jenson
A read-aloud that helps you explain pornography in calm, kid-sized words, and gives your kid a plan for what to do if they ever see it.
Mindy McKnight
Setting boundaries and building trust with kids online, from a mom who runs a popular YouTube family channel. Tech contracts and plain-English breakdowns of the big social apps included.
Matt McKee and Titania Jordan
A handbook for raising kids in the digital age, co-written by Titania Jordan of Bark.
Jean M. Twenge
A psychologist’s look at the generation that grew up with smartphones, built on large national surveys of teens.