The best free solutions
No need to pay for third-party software: here are the free tools that cover the essentials, plus one option that goes beyond simple filtering.
Google Family Link
Google's native solution for supervising an Android smartphone from a parent's phone.
- Website filtering (Chrome)
- Screen time limit and bedtime
- App install approval
- Device location
Screen Time
Built natively into iOS via Family Sharing, no extra app to install.
- Age-based content restrictions
- Per-app limits and scheduled downtime
- Purchase and download controls
- Remote management from a parent's phone
Devoirs d'abord
Complements classic parental control by making smartphone access conditional on homework being done.
- Phone locked until today's quiz is done
- Quizzes matched to level (ages 7 to 15)
- Setup in under 3 minutes
- No data resold
Filter at the network level too
For home-wide protection covering every device, without installing anything on each one.
Your router/ISP parental control
Most ISPs offer free parental controls activated from their app: scheduled internet cutoff, blocking site categories for the whole household.
Play Protect / native protection
Make sure the built-in protection against malicious apps is active on your child's device — an essential complement to content filtering.
ControlKids for Windows
Our own parental control app for PC: DNS filtering (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 for Families), custom site blocking, and password protection — no account required.
- Automatic filtering of adult content and malware (Cloudflare DNS)
- Custom block list, editable at any time
- Password-protected settings
- Starts automatically with Windows, icon in the system tray
- No data sent to any server, no account required
Compatible with Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit), free. Windows SmartScreen may show a warning on first launch (unsigned installer) — click "More info" then "Run anyway".