10 Best Hidden Parental Control Apps in 2025: Tested Reviews & Guide

Keeping an eye on your child's digital use has become one of the most significant aspects of parenting in this tech-savvy world. With growing access to the internet, parents always wonder about the content their child is consuming, and ensuring that they are not exposed to age inappropriate content. This leads to the need for the best parent-control software and apps that cannot be deleted and ensure the digital safety of your growing child.

Parental control apps and content filtering software for home restrict your child’s access to unsuitable online content and track their browsing history. These apps filter inappropriate content to track your child's social media activities, restrict research, app alerts, and track their device’s location. With the stealth mode, your child cannot remove your device access. Many of these hidden parental controls work for both Android and iOS devices, as well as PCs.

This article puts together tested best hidden parental control apps you need to raise your kids, tweens, and teens in the digital world.

Part 1. Quick Overview: 10 Best Hidden Parental Control Apps

Part 2. 10 Best Hidden Parental Control Apps: Our Tested Reviews in 2025

1. Msafely

Msafely is one of the best hidden parental control apps for Android and iPhone. It provides phone tracking through a cloud-based solution and monitors digital dangers and threats.

With Msafely, you can monitor your child’s online activity and stay updated on their whereabouts remotely. The best part is that it works in stealth mode, enabling you to monitor your child’s phone activities without them knowing. Msafely is compatible with iOS and Android devices, and can be connected via cloud credentials. However, the accessible features may vary. Android users also have the option to install the app on the phone; choose what suits you the most.

2. SpyX

SpyX is a popular text monitoring app for parents that helps you track your child's online and offline activities. It is one of the best internet filter for families to remotely manage their children’s online activity. Parents can monitor and access their child's social media activities, including deleted texts and images on the target phone. It also offers Wi-Fi control for parents to control the Wi-FI connection per need.

You can easily install the app on your child's and teenager's devices, regardless if they use an Android or an iOS device; SpyX offers unique solutions for both. You can easily connect Android devices with their Google Drive credentials and iOS devices with iCloud details. Once the dashboard is set up, parents can invisibly access their child's mobile data.

3. KidsGuard Pro

KidsGuard Pro is a reliable content filtering software for home with extensive mobile monitoring features. This app is compatible with all Android users, including Windows, iOS, and macOS devices. From digital control to location tracking, KidsGuard Pro has all the features to ensure your child's safety and online security. You can track your child’s social media apps, current location, media files, browser history, app activity, and much more. KidsGuard Pro also allows parents to take pictures remotely and get notified on the use of specific words through keylogger.

4. Qustodio

Qustodio is another parent connect app for Android and iOS users that also offers parental controls for Windows. It blocks app content and allows you to see websites accessed by your children. Qustodio also provides an app blocking feature to protect against unauthorized content consumption. It offers different plans with additional features. This app is compatible with Android and iOS devices, including macOS and Chromebook. Setting up Qustodio can be slightly tech savvy, and require specific connection and installation methods.

5. uMobix

uMobix is a well-known app for parents to track text messages and many other monitoring features. It gives parents a detailed overview of their children's social and internet browsing activities. Features like call logs, SMS, GPS tracking, browser history, media access, keylogger, social media, and many others make it a preferred choice among users. uMobix is compatible with Android and iOS devices, allowing you to keep a close eye on your child’s activities, regardless of the device they use.

6. mSpy

The mSpy parent control app has impressive features to help you discover what's happening in your child's digital life. This powerful monitoring application gives you remote access to your child’s private social media chats and app data. mSpy works on all kinds of devices, including Android and iOS. You can monitor your child’s call logs, text messages, location, browser history, emails, social media messages and media, and much more with mSpy.

7. Eyezy

Eyezy is among the top rated internet filters because of its extensive features and ease of use. It is best for monitoring your child’s online and phone activity, whether they use an iPhone or an Android device. Eyezy offers in-depth social media monitoring along with location tracking, file access, web activity monitoring, keylogger, and many others. Install the advanced Eyezy app on your kid’s devices to help control their phone activity. You can easily install it on iOS and Android devices, but the accessible features might vary.

8. Spylix

Spylix is a text monitoring app for parent with various practical monitoring features, such as call and contact spying. It is a perfect tool to protect your children from potential molesters and predators online. Moreover, Spylix is perfect for Wi-Fi network monitoring, call and SMS tracking, and browser history. The best part is that this app works in stealth mode.

9. XNSPY

XNSPY is a parental control app that can monitor many features of Android devices, such as call logs, location, photos, media, and remote device control are among the most popular features of this parental control software. Installing and connecting the app to your target device is incredibly easy, making it suitable for all parents (even if they’re not technically well-versed).

10. Hoverwatch

Hoverwatch is one of the hidden parental control app for Android phones. It is easy to use and can track various types of data, including social media, SMS, call history, web history, calendar, and many more apps. You can easily connect and use this app on Android devices, such as Android phones, Chromebook, tablets, etc., to monitor your child’s online activities. This best hidden parental control app for Android ensures your child’s online safety even when you’re not around them.

Part 3. Key Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Hidden Parental Control App

When choosing the best hidden parental control app, you must consider those with features best suited to your needs. In general, parental apps' features are organized into several categories. Parents can block content, manage screen time, handle app permissions, monitor their child’s location, and review their activities. Moreover, the ease of use, remote control features, and budget also makes a significant impact on the final choice.

• Content filtering

The primary purpose of content filtering is to protect children from harmful content online. The best internet filtering software restricts access to sites related to specific themes, such as gambling, or block particular websites. A good internet parental control app can control search settings so that engines like Google, Bing, and YouTube do not show inappropriate results. Make sure you can also block or accept access to certain websites or applications on the app you choose.

• Activity monitoring

Using location and text monitoring app for parents, you can monitor everything your child does and has on their phone, including their contact list and the downloaded media. With parental controls, you can find out which apps the child uses, how long they are online, which sites they visit, any blocked content, and any time spent on social media. When selecting a hidden parental control app, make sure it offers text and media monitoring on all social media platforms.

• Remote control

Apps such as Msafely allow you to control your child’s phone activity remotely through your dashboard. You can limit your child’s device use or time on certain apps and block websites and apps unsuited to their age. For example, you might want to choose times during the day when they are not allowed to use their devices, such as bedtime, homework, or dinner.

• Ease of use

Another vital aspect is user-friendliness. The app or dashboard for parents should be simple to use, easy to access, and allow quick settings changes. It would be very beneficial to be able to set up a profile for each child with personalized options. While selecting an app for parents to track text messages and other elements on your child’s phone, the ease of use can make it convenient to track your child’s activities for their safety.

• Budget

You might like parental and content control software for your child’s phone, but it may be too expensive for your family’s budget. Always consider your budget before short-listing your top three apps and choose the one that meets your functionality and stealth mode criteria.

After considering all the features of the top hidden parental control apps (content filtering, activity monitoring, remote control, ease of use, and budget), we rank Msafely as the best hidden parental control app for iPhones and Androids.

Part 4. How to Use the Best Hidden Parental Control App: Step-by-Step Guide

Msafely is one of the best hidden parental control apps to track your children’s whereabouts and online activity, enabling you to stay updated on their daily activities. Here’s how you can use Msafely:

Step 1. Go to the Msafely website and register a free account online.

Step 2. Select a subscription plan and connect the target phone to your Msafely account.

Step 3. Open your Msafely Control Panel and monitor the target device’s activity remotely.

Part 5. Conclusion

Children are often not aware of the risks online, such as inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and threats from online scammers, or be unsure how to handle them, making internet unsafe for young kids. If you’re worried about your child’s online safety, a parental control app for parents, such as Msafely can help you monitor your child’s text messages, calls, location and much more.

Other than Msafely, SpyX, mSpy, Hoverwatch, uMobix, and similar other best hidden parental control apps enable parents to watch over their child’s web activities to keep them safe and help them make good online choices. Choose the one that suits your needs and preference the best.

Part 6. FAQs

Q1. What is the safest option among hidden parental control apps?

It is usually safe to use parental control apps that do not require jailbreaking or rooting your phone, since the jailbreaking process makes it possible for your data to be stolen. Msafely is among the safest options among hidden parental control apps as it does not require rooting or jailbreaking your phone.

Q2. How can I turn off parental controls permanently?

To remove parental control, disconnect your child’s phone by logging out of the parental control app. If the app is not installed, you can go to the settings on Android or iOS to remove parental controls.

Q3. Can an iPhone user be stopped from accessing certain apps?

Yes, you can restrict your child’s apps on iPhone using content control software or screen time settings. Go to the Screen Time menu in Settings and set the feature to Blocked for the app you want to manage. Then, open the Family setting in Screen Time and block or limit apps for your child. If you prefer not to do it yourself, download an app for parental controls that someone cannot easily delete.

Q4. Can young users bypass parental controls?

Children under 18 generally cannot turn off Parental Control to offer a comprehensive control to the parents who worry about their children’s online interactions and location. Yet, if the app has uninstalled protection, parents cannot turn off the parental control system.

Q5. Can parental controls see everything?

The features available through parental control apps vary based on the option you pick for your family. Some applications let you use all the social media apps, whereas others do not. Likewise, some apps do not give you access to all the messages sent on the target device, but only notify you when something suspicious occurs, compared to others.