As much as we wish we could protect them, our kids grow up in the digital world where potential hazards may be just around the corner. Monitoring your child’s text messages becomes the only reasonable choice. But with dozens of parental control apps out there, how do you pick the right one? We’ve tested the most popular ones and compiled a list of the top 5 applications for reading your kid’s text messages.
Why Should You Monitor Child’s Text Messages?
As a parent, you most likely feel hesitant about using an app to read child’s text messages. Most parents do. But, at the same time, completely unsupervised texting can leave kids vulnerable to online dangers. Did you know that 59% of U.S. teenagers have been bullied online? Considering these shocking statistics, partial intervention might be helpful.
Downloading an app that allows you to read child’s text messages is a way out chosen by many parents, and for a good reason. Such parental control apps come in handy in many scenarios:
- Watching for concerning patterns
- Verifying your child is not in distress from bullying
- Protecting from dangerous influences
- Checking if kids are disclosing too much to stranger
As you see, moderate but consistent oversight gives kids room to learn while letting you step in if problems arise.
Can I Read My Child’s Text Messages Without Notifying Them?
Generally, it is allowed for parents to read their minor child’s text messages until they reach their legal age. As a minor, children don’t have a recognized expectation of privacy from their parents or guardians under the law. Moreover, kids often lack the maturity and judgment to handle potential online threats independently. Therefore, using an app to read child’s text messages is justified if you believe you have a reason for it.
Top 5 Parental Control Apps to Read Kid’s Messages
Below in our review, you will find 5 best parental control apps that you can use to read your child’s text messages. We tested their core features, performance, payment plans, and working principles to help you make a choice.
Msafely: Best Parental Control App
Msafely is the best text message tracker for Android and iPhone. All iOS and Android devices are compatible. It is also regularly updated to guarantee that it continues to work with any new Android and iOS versions. If you are considering tracking your kid’s text messages online, do not hesitate to choose Msafely phone tracker. Msafely support spy on sent, received and even deleted messages remotely. All data is tracked in real time. Every few minutes, your control panel will refresh to make sure you have access to the most recent data. What’s more, the target user will never notice that you are monitoring his SMS remotely.
Key Features:
- Monitor all sent and received text messages on the desired phone.
- View all images and videos on the target device.
- Look into browsers’ history and bookmark.
- Track GPS Location.
- Track all incoming, outgoing and missedcalls, with details like names, duration, and specific time.
- Track installed apps discreetly in hidden mode.
uMobix: No. 1 App to See Text Messages
uMobix is the top-rated app to read child’s text messages on Android and iPhone, bar none. As you may guess right, it takes SMS and chat monitoring in its stride. That’s only one of many awesome tracking features it offers, with others on the list including:
- Call tracking
- Social media monitoring
- GPS location
- Website history
- Saved media files and more.
This unmatched parental control app allows parents to check their child’s text messages (both coming and outgoing), social media chats, and SMS conversations. But uMobix didn’t stop here. They implemented a deleted messages function, which allows you to see texts erased from your kid’s phone.
All chats can be accessed via an intuitive dashboard of your account. This means you are able to monitor your kid’s online conversations without even touching their phone.
Cocospy: Reliable Parental Control App
Cocospy advertises itself as a trustworthy monitoring app for parents. Just like uMobix, this app lets you read your child’s text messages in a stealthy mode. Cocospy captures all received, sent, and deleted SMS texts along with timestamps.
Key features of Cocospy include:
- SMS monitoring
- Social media chats
- Hidden mode operation
- MMS tracking
Beyond texts, Cocospy also enables parents to view call logs, track location, set geofencing notifications, and check browsing activity. While not packed with as many features as a leading competitor, uMobix, Cocospy offers core text monitoring capabilities that concerned parents need today.
Hoverwatch: App Trusted by 1 Million Users
If you are hunting for a free app to read child’s text messages, there is no better option than Hoverwatch. Not all parental control apps offer a free plan to let you test their features. But this app provides a free subscription using which you can access your kid’s SMS and online conversations on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Hoverwatch is compatible with Android, Windows, and MacOS devices. This cross-platform support allows you to monitor your child’s texting routine across smartphones, tablets, and computers.
If you feel you need fuller access after testing, Hoverwatch offers premium paid plans that unlock more advanced features. With its features covering critical areas of supervision, it’s no wonder over 1 million parents trust Hoverwatch to monitor their kids discreetly.
mSpy: Parental Control App with Interesting Features
If mSpy can swoop into your kid’s phone and secretly take screen snapshots, it’s fair to assume this app can also read your child’s text messages from your phone. And that assumption is absolutely correct.
mSpy allows parents to monitor SMS texts, Snapchat messages, WhatsApp messages, and any other texts sent and received on their child’s device. You get a full picture of messaging conversations happening across multiple platforms. If you don’t want to spend hours searching for taboo topics mentioned in text messages, you can set the keyword alert. mSpy will notify you as soon as any restricted word or phrase is typed.
The mSpy parental control app is also enhanced with other handy functionalities:
- Location tracking
- Safe and dangerous zone alerts
- Screen recorder
- Application and web blocking
- Ambient sound.
So, if you are searching for an app to read child’s text messages and monitor other activities, mSpy will be a good companion.
eyeZy: Simple App to Read Child’s Text Messages
eyeZy is the last app to read child’s text messages on our list. In terms of features, it offers a package that suits basic needs. eyeZy gives you access to incoming and outgoing texts, the recipient’s phone number, and timestamps. No private messages will be left without attention, even if they were deleted, because its screen recorder captures everything on its way. Other key highlights are:
- Files finder
- Customizable alerts
- Web blocker
- GPS and WiFi data
Admittedly, eyeZy won’t surprise you with some advanced features. However, it provides a basic set of monitoring capabilities focused on texts, location, app usage limits, and access logs that make your monitoring comfortable.
Bottom Line
Deciding whether to monitor your child’s text messages boils down to your specific family circumstances. If you believe that temporal surveillance is necessary, consider your particular tracking requirements and choose the monitoring app based on your needs.
References:
Daniel Jackson. How to Intercept Text Messages Without Target Phone. Retrieved from https://spyphone.app/how-to-intercept-text-messages-without-target-phone/
uMobix. How to See Someone’s Text Messages Online. Retrieved from https://umobix.com/read-someones-text-messages.html
Pew Research Center. A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/