Cheapest parental control app for iPhone

The rented phone

Some parental control companies sell a child phone of their own, with a monthly plan attached. On the cheapest calling plan, the first year of phone and plan together comes to $382.68 to $948. With a data plan or a better calling plan, the first year passes $1,000. Some of those phones are paid in monthly installments and locked to the company's network, a rented phone in all but name. When the child outgrows a network-locked phone, the phone can't move to another carrier.

Most families already own a phone that does the job. The iPhone a parent replaced last year sits in a kitchen drawer. On iOS 17 or later, that iPhone runs Apple's Screen Time and the App Store like any new phone.

The device count

Count the devices in the house before reading any price. Two children, three iPhones and a shared iPad make four Apple devices in an ordinary family. Most family plans cover four devices for $50 to $150 a year. The bill grows in the add-ons. One app recommends a $49-a-year add-on for each child before the app can read an iPhone, so two children add $98. On another app, reading an iPhone's messages takes a Windows or Mac computer as well. A three-device tier misses the shared iPad, and the next tier up covers ten devices at $150 a year.

Billing adds a second cost. Paying monthly instead of yearly runs up to twice the yearly price: $168 against $99 on one app, $119.88 against $59.99 on another. An introductory price can end at the first renewal. The number to compare is the yearly total once every device in the house is counted and every add-on is in.

The app that charges nothing

Servers, staff and App Store review all cost money. When a parental control app charges nothing, something else pays the bill. Before installing an app with no price, open its App Store page and read the privacy label. Apple's label has its own lines for browsing history, emails or text messages, location and tracking. An app that shares data for advertising has to say so on that label.

Ask a second question about any web filter: what happens when the filter app is closed, or the connection drops? A filter that fails open lets the whole web through at the worst moment.

Apple's Screen Time, the app every iPhone ships with, has a well-known gap. On a phone where nobody locked the date and time, a child moves the clock forward and Downtime ends early. Bedtime ends with it.

What you are looking for

Run eight tests on any app before an Apple Account or a card is charged.

1. The app runs on the iPhone your child already owns. No new phone, no phone plan.
2. One price covers the whole family, however many children and devices.
3. The app reads nothing. The privacy label lists no messages, no browsing history and no location for your child.
4. The clock is locked. Downtime ends when you say, even after the child moves the time forward.
5. A pause from your phone lands in seconds, and phone calls keep working through the pause.
6. A chore list holds the phone shut until every chore is done.
7. Apple bills the plan, and your Apple Account settings cancel the plan. The company holds no card number.
8. A family in Texas stands behind the app, not a holding company.

We read 6,731 App Store reviews of ten common parental control apps. 311 of the reviews complain about billing, and those billing reviews average 1.20 stars out of 5. Test seven answers most of those complaints before they start.

An app that passes all eight is the one you are looking for.

SimpleSentinel, test by test

SimpleSentinel was built to pass those eight tests. Here is each test on a school night.

The phone your child already has. SimpleSentinel runs on any iPhone or iPad on iOS 17 or later, on the Screen Time framework Apple ships. The phone in the drawer goes back to work, with no plan to rent.

One price for the family. One plan covers every child and every device the family adds. A sitter's link and a second guardian come in the same plan. A third child leaves the bill where the bill was.

Nothing read. The app reads no texts, no browsing, no screenshots and no location. Our server holds the family's rule list and the chore list. The texts, the photos and the browsing stay on the child's phone, unread.

The locked clock. On a phone linked to SimpleSentinel the clock is locked, whether or not anyone found that setting. The bedtime rule lives on our server, not only on the child's phone. Each time the phone checks in, the rule returns to the phone, so moving the clock forward changes nothing. Downtime ends at the time you set.

The pause. Tap pause on your phone, and the child's iPhone stops within a few seconds, mid-level or mid-video. Phone calls keep working, so your child can still reach you.

Chores first. Schedule a chore with a lock on it. The phone stays closed until the child checks off the last chore, and the dishes get done.

Billed by Apple. Apple bills the plan to your Apple Account, and Apple's own settings screen cancels the plan. We hold no card number and no billing login.

A family behind the app. A family in Montgomery, Texas, makes SimpleSentinel.

One more past the eight: a No Ignore message takes over the child's screen. Nothing else opens until the child taps Acknowledge, and that tap reaches your phone.

Questions parents type

Is an app that charges nothing safe on a child's iPhone?

Apple's Screen Time comes with the iPhone and reads no messages. For any other no-cost app, read the App Store privacy label before installing, and look for messages, browsing history and location on the label.

How do I stop my child from changing the time to get around Downtime?

On a phone where nobody locked the date and time, a child moves the clock forward and Downtime ends early. On a phone linked to SimpleSentinel the clock is locked, whether or not anyone found that setting. Downtime ends at the time you set.

Do I need to buy my child a new phone for parental controls?

No. Any iPhone or iPad on iOS 17 or later runs SimpleSentinel, the older phone in the drawer included.

Does a second child change the plan?

No. One plan covers every child and every device the family adds.

Start the 7-day trial
On the App Store. Billed by Apple.

The plan and the price are on simplesentinel.com/pricing.