Can I Mirror My Child’s Phone to Mine? Step-by-Step Guide

Have you just given a personal phone to your child because everyone else in their class had one and they felt left out? Or, have been you been seeing your child act strange lately?

In any situation involving your child’s safety, wanting to track phone app usage is understandable. Monitoring your child’s phone activity enables you to see who they are interacting with, and if they’re in trouble.

But the question arises, “Can I mirror my child's phone to mine?” Yes, you can.

Third-party parental control apps allow you to mirror your child’s phone to see what they do and who they talk to all day. Furthermore, built-in phone features, cloud backup, or SMS mirror apps can mirror your child’s activity on their phone.

This article explains all these phone mirroring methods in detail along with their usage methods, requirements, and pros and cons, so you can decide which one is best suited to your needs.

Part 1. What is Phone Mirroring

Phone mirroring or screen mirroring is the remote projection of the current activities of one device's screen on another device. In simple words, with phone mirroring, you can remotely view all the activities going on in one device on the other in real-time. For instance, if you get to phone mirror my iPhone with your laptop, you can see apps on my phone and my current screen activity on your Android phone.

Phone mirroring serves as a great tool for parents wanting to keep an eye on their children's activities to protect them from potential danger. These apps make it possible to detect any suspicious activity timely and save your kids from harm.

Part 2. Can I Mirror My Child's Phone to Mine? A Complete Guide for Parents

Yes, you can mirror your child's phone to your phone. However, it's not as simple as it may sound, and you must know the different phone mirroring methods for Android and iOS parental control; some methods might work for one, but not for the other. Also, you should know the perks and drawbacks of each method before choosing one. Follow our step-by-step guide to different phone mirroring methods, along with their pros and cons, and see how you can keep an eye on your kids.

Method 1. Via parental control app-Msafely

Msafely is the only app you need for parental control iPhone from Androids and vice versa. It is undoubtedly the best parental control for iOS and Androids.

Msafely helps you track all activities on your kid's phone in real time. You will love to know that there is no app installation, jailbreaking/rooting devices, or complicated set-up process. The connection is a simple 3-step method without the need to physically access the target phone.

Let’s start with the simple 3-step connection method of Msafely:

Step 1. Go to Msafely's official website and sign up for a free account.

Step 2. Select and connect your target phone and subscribe to a plan.

Step 3. Start monitoring right away.

Once you've connected your kid's phone to your Msafely account, you will see all the apps on their phone on the Msafely Control Panel. The control panel will act like a phone mirror, showing all the apps active on your kid's phone. In addition, the screenrecorder and keylogger features help you record every activity and keystroke made on your target phone.

Not only that, you can also track SMS, calls, contacts, photos, videos, browsers, real-time locations (with geofencing), emails, installed apps, dating/chatting apps, and 16 social media apps. Plus, you can block adult apps/websites and track phone app usage. All these fantastic monitoring features without getting caught by your target, that is, in this case, your kid.

Method 2. Use built-in features

Apart from the best apps for parents keeping an eye on their kids, there are some phone built-in features like Apple's Screen Time and Google's Screen Time for phone mirroring. Let's see how you can take advantage of these features for Android and iOS parental control:

#1. Apple's Screen Time

Apple's Screen Time is a built-in iOS app to shut down phone at certain time or time lock apps remotely. You can control your children's iPad or iPhone with Screen Time and monitor teenager phone usage and the most used apps. Here is how to turn off child's phone remotely with Apple Screen Time:

Step 1. Turn on Screen Time from your child's iPhone settings.

Step 2. Follow the rest of the prompts and create an app passcode.

Step 3. Now, go to Settings > Screen Time > Set up Screen Time for Family on your phone and follow any new prompts.

Step 4. Once done, go to Screen Time in Settings again (on your phone).

Step 5. Tap on Family > Add Family Member and add your child's iCloud account credentials to complete the setup.

Step 6. From here, you can just go to the Screen Time app on your iPhone, click your child's account and see their app usage and other activities.

You can also set a timer to turn off iPad remotely or schedule iPhone downtime to prevent your kid from using the phone excessively.

#2. Google's Family Link

Google's Family Link app is among the best apps to limit screen time on Android phones. It helps you track location, set timers for specific apps, block/approve apps, limit child screen time on Android phones, and more.

Here's how to put parental controls on an Android phone using Google's Family Link app to monitor your child’s activity:

Step 1. Log in to your Google account or create a new account on your child's phone.

Step 2. Now, install the Family Link app on both phones from the Google Play Store.

Step 3. Connect the app on your child's phone to your Family Link app.

Step 4. Start tracking.

Easy, wasn't it?

Method 3. By Cloud backup

Cloud backups are yet another way to track phone app usage of your children. Let's see how well iCloud and Google Drive backups work to monitor teenager phones:

#1. iCloud backup

Most parents are at least curious to know the answer to the question, 'Can I mirror my child's phone to mine?' Then, hear from us: Yes, you can mirror your child's phone to your device. Using iCloud backup is one of the easiest ways to mirror iPhones for iOS parental control. With iCloud backup, you can see most app activity performed on your kid's iPhones, and that too for free.

Have a look at how to use iCloud backup for phone mirroring your kid's iPhone to your iOS device:

Step 1. Get access to your kid's iPhone and go to Settings > iCloud.

Step 2. Now, enable all the apps that you want to sync with your phone to track activities.

Step 3. Go to the icloud website on your iPhone and log in with your child's iCloud account credentials.

Step 4. Here, select your kid's device from the dashboard and see all the synced apps.

Step 5. Lastly, click on the app that you want to track on your kid's phone.

With this iCloud backup phone mirroring method, you can track emails, calendars, notes, Safari, contacts, and more.

#2. Google Drive

Google Drive backup works for Android app syncing just the way iCloud backup works for iOS devices. By syncing your kid's Google Drive backup with your phone, you can track phone app usage, browser history, location history, and most of the backed-up data.

Follow these below instructions to know how you can track activities on your child's phone with Google Drive backup:

Step 1. Get your hands on your kid's Android phone and see if they have their Google Drive backup on. If not, back up their data on Drive.

Step 2. Now, log in to their Google account on your phone and restore the backed-up data.

Step 3. Once the backup is restored on your primary phone, you can monitor their phone activities, including location history and search history.

Method 4. Through SMS Mirror app

Have you ever had a question like, 'How can I monitor my daughter's text messages?' If yes, then the SMS Mirror app is your answer. This app is an ultimate text tracker that also offers call logs and contact monitoring, all via Wi-Fi.

This step-by-step method below will help you mirror your kid's phone texts on your phone with the SMS Mirror app:

Step 1. Install the SMS Mirror app on your kid's phone and create an account.

Step 2. Now, install the app on your phone (iPhone or Android) and log in to the account you just created on your kid's phone.

Step 3. Once logged in, you can mirror your target phone's texts on your phone in real time.

Part 3. What is the Best Way to Mirror My Child's Phone to Mine

After the above comparison between all six discussed methods of phone mirroring/monitoring, Msafely turns out to be the safest and best available option for parental control. Despite Msafely being a paid software, it shows superiority in terms of ease of use, customer service, unmatched tracking features, and its ability to work discreetly. Also, Msafely is priced quite reasonably compared to other parental control apps with similar features, making it a popular choice among parents who want to mirror their child’s phone.

Part 4. FAQs

Q1. Is it possible to mirror my child's phone to mine?

Yes, you can mirror your child’s phone to mine via built-in phone features like Apple’s Screen Time and Google Family Link. For detailed insights into your child’s phone usage, a third-party monitoring app like Msafely can be the best pick.

Q2. Is it legal to monitor my child's phone without their knowledge?

While tracking someone’s phone without their consent is not considered legal in most parts of the world, the rules may vary regarding your child’s phone monitoring. Many jurisdictions allow you to monitor your child’s phone when it’s for their safety.

Q3. What are the best apps for mirroring my child's phone?

Msafely, SpyX, and mSpy are among the best apps for monitoring your child’s phone remotely. While Msafely and SpyX can be connected to the target phone via iCloud, SpyX might require jailbreaking, depending on the features you want to access.

Q4. Can I monitor my child's phone without installing software on their device?

Monitoring your child through iCloud or using the phone’s built-in features doesn’t require installing an additional app on their phone. Even parental control apps like Msafely and SpyX work in stealth mode and can be connected to your child’s device via cloud.

Q5. What features do parental control apps offer?

While phone’s built-in features might give you access to specific apps on the target device, parental control apps offer a comprehensive approach. You can monitor calls, text messages, calendars, location, emails, reminders, notes, and various social media apps with parental control software.

Part 5. Conclusion

You can mirror and monitor teenager’s phone and track phone app usage on their device via cloud backup, SMS mirror app, and phone’s built-in features like Apple’s Screen Time and Google Family Link. These apps allow you to limit child screen time on Android and iPhone by tracking their phone activity to ensure their online safety.

Moreover, parental control apps like Msafely also give you access to your child’s phone enabling you to mirror your child’s phone. With Msafely, you can monitor your child’s text messages, call logs, media, location, emails, reminders, notes, social media, and much more. Pick the best apps for parents according to your needs, preference, and budget, and mirror your child’s activity remotely.