Item: Qustodio
Rating: 9.6
Author: Tim Mocan

Question 1

Is Qustodio safe?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Qustodio provides tons of features that help you keep your kids safe online — it provides excellent web filtering to protect your kids from inappropriate sites (like drugs, pornography, alcohol, and violence), and it also lets you monitor your kids’ YouTube usage to make sure they’re not watching dangerous and disturbing videos. There’s also a Panic Button, which allows your child to send out distress signals to trusted contacts if they’re in danger. Plus, you can monitor your kids’s text messages to make sure they’re not being bullied.

Qustodio’s reps also told me that the data collected by Qustodio from monitored devices is stored securely and not associated with any identifiable information. Also, Qustodio doesn’t share your data with third parties.

Question 2

Can my child delete Qustodio?

Accepted Answer

No, as Qustodio comes with uninstall protection — it requires you to type in your parental account username and password to make changes to its apps. So, make sure you store your login credentials outside of your child’s reach.

Question 3

Can VPNs bypass Qustodio’s web filtering?

Accepted Answer

No — I actually tested popular VPN providers FamiSafe on both mobile and desktop and they weren’t able to bypass its web filtering. What’s more, once Qustodio detected the VPN apps on my devices, it even gave me the option to restrict them.

Question 4

Does Qustodio block incognito/private modes?

Accepted Answer

No, but Qustodio doesn’t need to do that, as its web filtering also covers browsers’ incognito/private modes. I tested this on Chrome and Firefox, and I wasn’t able to access restricted sites using incognito/private mode.

Question 5

What browsers does Qustodio work on?

Accepted Answer

Qustodio can monitor and block sites on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and the Amazon Silk Browser. It also has an option that blocks unsupported browsers (like Opera and Tor), so that your child can’t use them to bypass parental controls on their device.

Question 6

What apps does Qustodio block?

Accepted Answer

Qustodio can detect and block almost any apps that are popular with kids and teens — in my tests, it was able to block apps like YouTube, Discord, Netflix, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, and more. A support rep told me that Qustodio can block all apps on Android, Windows, and macOS, and that it can block 9,000+ apps on iOS (some parental controls, like Webwatcher, can’t restrict iOS apps at all).

Question 7

Can Qustodio block YouTube?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Qustodio has a dedicated YouTube feature that can detect and block both YouTube’s site and YouTube’s app on all major platforms. In addition, Qustodio also lets you set time limits for the YouTube app and see what your child searches for on YouTube and what videos they watch.

Question 8

Does Qustodio let you monitor calls and text messages?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can do that by using Qustodio’s Calls & SMS feature, which is available for iOS and Android devices.

However, to use this feature, you’ll need to perform manual setups. On Android, you’ll need to manually download and install Qustodio’s full Android app from the official website. And, on iOS, you’ll need to download and install a separate Calls & SMS app on your macOS device and use a cable to sync your kids’ iOS devices with your macOS device. Fortunately, Qustodio has helpful tutorials that make the setup process very simple.

Qustodio’s Calls & SMS feature is similar to Bark’s call and text monitoring feature, but I think Qustodio’s feature is better because it lets you see all messages (Bark only lets you see concerning content that requires an intervention) and it also lets you block calls and contacts.

Question 9

Does Qustodio have a Facebook monitoring feature?

Accepted Answer

No — Qustodio used to have such a feature, called Advanced Facebook Monitoring, but it dropped support for it due to changes in Facebook’s privacy policy. But the feature wasn’t very impressive, as it only showed your child’s Facebook posts on Qustodio (you can get the same information by just being friends with your child on Facebook).

That said, you can still use Qustodio to monitor and restrict access to Facebook — you’ll receive alerts whenever your child uses Facebook’s site and app. Also, you’ll be able to block Facebook’s site and restrict Facebook’s app, or set time limits for the Facebook app.

Question 10

What devices does Qustodio work on?

Accepted Answer

Qustodio has apps for kids and parents on multiple devices:

Apps for kids — iOS, Android, WIndows, macOS, Chromebook, Kindle.
Apps for parents — iOS, Android, web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).

Question 11

Is Qustodio free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Qustodio comes with a free plan, which you’re downgraded to after the 3-day free trial expires. I think the free plan is pretty good — it provides access to screen time monitoring, time limits, restricted time periods, and web filtering (including the option to enforce safe search). However, the free plan limits you to daily and weekly activity reports and 1 device, and it doesn’t provide access to Qustodio’s customer support ticketing system.

I think Qustodio’s free plan could be enough for some people, but I’d mostly recommend using it to test the service. Then, if you’re happy with Qustodio, you should definitely upgrade to its paid plans — that way, you also get location tracking, app filtering, YouTube monitoring, support for 5–15 devices (depending on which plan you choose), and more. Plus, Qustodio backs each purchase with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Question 12

Can I read messages that are sent and received on my kids’ devices?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Qustodio has a feature that allows you to monitor your child’s messages on iOS and Android — you need to perform a manual setup, but Qustodio provides very helpful tutorials, so the process doesn’t take long. In addition, Qustodio also lets you monitor and block your kids’ calls.

However, Qustodio can’t monitor your child’s messages on social media apps like Instagram and TikTok — if that’s something you’re interested in, I recommend checking out Bark instead.

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