Parents in this modern world who wish to keep tabs on the online activities of their children have to face the increasing proliferation of connected gadgets. Right now, a parental control tool which cannot impose rules on each piece of hardware your children use to go online doesn’t really give your money’s worth. ContentWatch’s Net Nanny is one of those tools which can protect and track your child across your Android, Mac, Windows, and to some extent, iPad and iPhone devices. This also has great web filtering abilities as well as a function for internet time scheduling. But, the software didn’t receive any significant updates for several years and is now starting to reveal its age. Net Nanny reviews used to be positive and all but today, mSpy is the highly recommended choice for all parents.
Options and Pricing
The pricing of Net Nanny is pretty straightforward and expensive. At $39.99, it will get you a single license for Mac or Windows. The next step is the 5-license Family Pass which will cost you $59.99 on a yearly basis. This particular tier can add support for internet filler on devices running on iOS and monitoring on devices running on Android. Take note that installation on iOS will not count against your total license number. If you like to monitor more hardware, you can then choose to subscribe to the 10-license Family Pass for an annual fee of $89.99 or a 15-license plan that you can get for $119.99 on an annual basis. For the users of Mac devices, the version 3 of Net Nanny requires a minimum of macOS 10.7. This supports all devices running on a minimum of iOS 8 or Android 2.3.
It is also worthy to note that the associate service Net Nanny Social is presently unavailable for buying. Before, you can track the activity of your child across several social media websites with this particular website. Based on Net Nanny reviews and as the company revealed, Net Nanny Social is no longer available these days because both Instagram and Facebook doesn’t support API services that it utilized. Net Nanny claims that there are some plans in the future to add monitoring features for social media for the parents. In the past, the company has bundled the Net Nanny Social with the subscription to 10-license Family Pass.
Nanny remains to be offering the Password Account Manager made specifically for adults who find it hard to avoid dangerous websites such as the ones focusing on gambling or pornography. Through this particular service, Net Nanny is taking control of the settings of your account and changes the password on a daily basis to stop you from making changes and regaining access. The price will vary based on whether you like unlimited phone or email access at $49.99 annually or only unlimited email access at $29.99 annually.
How to Get Started with Net Nanny
All of the reporting and configuration of Net Nanny happens online and this enforces rules through a local client on every phone, tablet, or PC on which it has been installed. On a personal computer, what you will be seeing locally is the system tray icon that has minimal menu. Majority of parental control services are operating this way. Once you have installed the Windows client, this will prompt you to log in to your Net Nanny account or come up with a new one. During the account creation process, you could choose to name one or several users or children. Aside from that, you will have the option to add more users later on.
For every child, Net Nanny is going to automatically configure settings in order to match your chosen profile: Child, Teen, Adult, or Pre-Teen and then you can customize the settings further later on. If several kids will use the same account on Windows, you have to come up with a password for every account. You can even include the photo and email address of the child.
While several parental control systems will require you to associate every kid with an account on Windows, Net Nanny will give you options. As mentioned, you can require every child to log in first before you go online. But, if the kids are using separate accounts, you will be able to set this so that following the initial login under the provider Windows account, the account in Net Nanny is going to remain logged in. This is very flexible.
Net Nanny for Android Devices
Net Nanny’s PC and Mac edition are totally aligned. When it comes to Android devices, things are a little different. It is simple to get started. All you need to do is to install and launch the app and log into Net Nanny. When you determine which user owns the device, the program will load the settings and will start doing its job.
The interne schedule you have defined basically applies to Android as well. When you impose an online time allowance, the time spent on the device chips away at the allowance. Your kid cannot just switch to Android after running the program using the PC. Every browsing should go through the browser of Net Nanny. That is how it manages to monitor and control access. To retain control, Net Nanny will block the use of every app that makes every browser-related call to Android OS. It gets the major browsers and must catch oddballs as well. Some parental control services like Boomerang and Norton Family also require you to utilize proprietary browsers on Android and will block all things individually. Kaspersky Safe Kids and Qustodio filter out any objectionable content in some browsers.
If you install it in an Adroid device, there will be a new tab that will appear for every user in the console online with title applications. The tab will list the applications found on Android and will allow you to block particular apps. You may also block access to Google Play Store or store’s subsets and prevent changing the settings. Cautious parents might like turning on the option for blocking every new application pending approval.
Net Nanny for iPhone Devices
On iPhone devices, it’s worth noting that installing this program on iOS doesn’t take up one of the device licenses. If you are familiar with the Net Nanny’s full version, it is also easy to get started. The only thing that you should do is to launch the app and consider logging in to the online dashboard with your account on Net Nanny. Installation basically requires several steps to accommodate the stricter rules of Apple on device and access on the app. You must disable some browsers under the tab of Restrictions. It forces kids to use the safe browser of Net Nanny.
It is also a wise idea to disable its capability to delete and install apps and to make some in-app purchases. You have also to ensure that you lock the tab for Restrictions behind the password so children won’t be able to undo the protection. This app has provided some details regarding this on the app itself.
Features that are mobile-specific are limited in the parental control apps of iPhone in general, yet even by such standards, Net Nanny is actually lacking. It does not interact with some services or apps at all. Some parental control apps for iPhone devices provide features including location tracking, time restrictions, and app blocking.
Communicating with the strangers is also a big source of possible danger, particularly on the mobile phones. Net Nanny doesn’t provide any protection with this regard. Majority of the parental control apps don’t offer this capability, yet others like Locategy may at least keep track of the outgoing and incoming calls. The iPhone app of Net Nanny is definitely a safe browser. It keeps the children away from the banned sites, yet that is pretty much of it. Once you try using the online parental dashboard from a mobile device, it will be redirected to the web interface of Net Nanny.
Losing Pace of Net Nanny and Why mSpy is the Best Alternative?
Among the parental control apps, Net Nanny may be the top, yet that was back then. With today’s advancement of technology, it is getting outdated. It still has a comprehensive and flexible content filtering system and its internet time scheduler is still the best. It may control what Android apps your children may use as well. On contrary, it is costly and has gone a long time without a particular update, does not have robust scheduling for time management, and lacks some kind of location tracking for the mobile devices. You may forget about the extras like SMS logging or watched video history as several competitors provide. For all of the features and more, you should check out why mSpy can do.
If you want something updated and equipped with advanced features, you can never go wrong with mSpy. With its functionalities and features, expect the best from mSpy!
