How to Legally Track Your Child using Android Phone (11 Apps)
Do you constantly need to check up on your kids to make sure they’re ok? Are you afraid that they might be misusing their Android Smartphone? If your answer was a passionate yes, then you should know how to legally track your child using your Android Phone.
Keeping an eye on your children can be really hectic. While giving them smartphones at an early age can lead to them misusing their phones, these devices can also act as excellent trackers. In this guide, we’ll talk about how to track your child on his phone using a third party app.
After installing the tracker on their phone, you’ll be able to get all their information, such as location, messaging details and call logs. You won’t need to constantly check up on your children anymore.
We’ve made a list of 11 apps that can help you track your children’s activity without any effort. So let’s see what this is all about!
1. FamiSafe Parental Control – Free with In-App Purchases
This app from Wondershare that has a broad list of features that are really easy to use. It can be run on Android 4.0 or higher. It can be easily set up on the target device and can locate the monitored device remotely from anywhere, anytime.
Features:
- Real-time location of the target device
- Can set screen time limits and make sure your kids don’t always use their phone
- View Location History
- Explicit Content Detection
- Flexible Remote Control
With this app, you can take over control of your kids’ smartphone and there is no rooting necessary. However, you can’t monitor the calls or their text messages also, you can’t see any contact details.
If you’re in need of a surveillance camera, the same company provides a Wireless Monitoring one, that you can check out on Amazon.
2. Norton Family Parental Control – Free
We’ve all probably heard of Norton at some point. With it, you can keep your kids safe online, block what you think is unsuitable for them to see and perhaps teach them how to protect themselves on the internet.
Features:
- Instant Lock of your child’s device
- Supervise searches and web usage
- Location Supervision
- App and Time Supervision
- Activity Report
This app will let you locate your kid without them knowing it, as well as monitoring their web browsing history from sites including their YouTube history and web browser.
3. ESET Parental Control for Android – Free
Just like Norton, ESET is pretty well known. It also provides an app for parental control, with which you can track the location of your child in real time and supervise their web activities.
Features:
- List of most visited domains
- Application Blocking
- Time-Based App Control
- Unblock Request
- Child Locator
With this app, you can keep an eye on your kid 24/7, you can block apps that you don’t want them to use or locate them wherever they are.
4. Glympse – Share GPS Location – Free with In-App Purchases
This app will let you simply share your live location with others, as it will work silently in the background to locate the device.
Features:
- Share your location in real time
- Runs in the background
- It works anywhere and uses GPS
You can use this to let your family know where you are or to request your kid to share his location. You can easily set up a family reunion with this app.
5. Family Locator – GPS Tracker by Life 360 – Free with In-App Purchases
With the help of this app, you can keep connected with your family and friends at all times. You can also track the phone of your children – even if it gets stolen of lost.
Features:
- Connects to the Internet
- Immediate emergency response
- Live location
- Locate lost or stolen phone
- Create Circles (groups)
Locating your friends and family will be a breeze with this app. You can track devices and share your location – and even create Circles with your family to find each other easier.
6. Find My Kids – Child GPS-watch & Phone Tracker – Free with In-Apps Purchases
A GPS Based location app that allows you to track your children wherever they are in real time. You just install it on your kids’ phone and on yours and you will no longer have to worry.
Features:
- GPS Locator
- Loud Signal
- Family Chat
- Application Control
- Listen to the sounds around your child
This app is easy to install on your kids’ phone and even lets you have a family chat. You can even listen to the sounds around the target device and tell if you children are in trouble.
7. Family Locator – GPS Tracker by ZoeMob – Free with In-App Purchases
For your peace of mind, you can monitor your family with this GPS based technology. It can give you live location, offers you the possibility of having a family chat and even notifies you if your kids are in a car that goes over the speed limit.
Features:
- Location and family map
- Family messenger
- Over Speed alerts
- Places alerts
In order for this app to work, you have to have GPS enabled on the target phone, in order to get live location from it. You can easily keep your children safe with the help of this app.
8. Kaspersky SafeKids – Free with In-App Purchases
Kaspersky is another name everybody knows. You can use this app to keep an eye on what your kid does and also track their live location, their messages, call logs and many more.
Features:
- Block sites and apps for safe use
- Manage app use
- Set Screen Limits
- Get advice from child psychologists
In order for this to work you have to install this app on both your phone and the target phone. It’s really easy to set up and lets you monitor many aspects of your child’s online life.
9. MMGuardian Parental Control – Free with In-App Purchases
This parental control app is used by a lot of people to locate their kids. It also provides features to filter online traffic for your children to keep them safe on the internet.
Features:
- SMS tracker and blocker
- Call tracker and blocker
- Web links tracker and filtering
- App usage tracker and blocker
This app can be used as a screen time limiter, as well as an SMS and call tracker. You can link the Parent App with the Child App by using the email and password used to set up the Parent App.
10. SecureTeen Parental Control – Free with In-App Purchases
Easily track the target device location and even apply some restrictions like screen time to your children’s app. It claims to be very efficient and powerful, and quite easy to use.
Features:
- Screen time limit
- Track online activity
- App Blocker
- Monitor messages and calls
- Web History
- Track Location
This app must be installed on your child’s device as well to work. Once installed, you can monitor remotely and even control your child usage and track their location live.
11. Google Family Link – Free
This Google Service will help you set digital ground rules for your children’s online use. For children under 13, it lets you also create an account, just like your Google Account, with access to most Google services.
Features:
- Track Activity
- Manage Apps
- Recommend safe apps
- Screen times
- Live location
In order to see your child’s location, their device must be turned on, recently active and connected to the internet. Also, the recommended teacher-apps are available only to US-based parents.
What People Ask
Is Tracking Your Children Legal?
Different countries and states have different laws and you should make sure that you’re aware of them before tracking your child. Also, you should make sure that your child is not legally an adult according to your local laws. This guide is not meant to be used for spying on other individuals, you should only use this to legally monitor and protect our children.
Why Track Your Child?
You might want to do this to find out where they are at any moment of the day, what sites or apps they use – and perhaps block the ones you find unsafe. You could also set a certain Screen Time for your kids. It helps you help you worry less about your children overall.
What Tracking app is the best?
They are all different, but if we had to choose, we’d pick FamiSafe, because of its features and easy to use interface.
Tracking your Children – Easier than Ever
If you’re worried about your children all the time and you need to keep checking them to make sure they’re OK, then tracking your children with your Android Phone is your answer. No matter what features you’re looking for, you will for sure find what you need in our list of 11 tracking apps.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
Is there a free app with gps,phone call recording,text message recording,and audio to listen to the environment there in my kids? Or a cheaper one?
Jen,
Here are the free ones – https://joyofandroid.com/free-spy-apps-for-android/
Here are the paid ones – http://spy-apps-software.com/
My main interest is being able to track my child if she gets lost. I don’t care about what web sites she looks at. I read that Android Device Manager can be used to do that and it’s free. There are issues though. The phone being tracked has to have a gps and the setting on the phone has to be that it’s connected to the internet. According to the technical support person I talked to the phone consumes minutes very fast when it’s connected to the internet. I want to minimize costs. Do all the tracking programs require permanent connection to the internet? I heard there are devices such as filip and gizmopal that track children but they require signing up at AT&T or Verizon for monitoring plans. Would they all require permanent internet connections?
Hi Gamaliel,
The tech support person you spoke with is right. If you want to receive info on where your child is in real time, an Internet connection will always be necessary. All of the tracking apps I am aware of require access to the Internet. Hope this answers you questions. Thanks for reading. =-)
I prefer KidTracker. Iho it is much better, because I dont want to spy on my kids, I just want to be sure that they are safe. On kidtracker app I always get a notification when my kids left school or come back home.
Hi There,
Sounds like a great app. How long have you been using it? =-)
My child used straight talk through Wal-Mart month to month limited internet and mine the same accept mine is unlimited minute will this work and can I hide the app so he doesn’t know when I watching