Heres our guide to the best parental controls apps and services.

In our guide to the best parental control apps and tools, well show you the best ways to protect your kids both inside and outside your home.

The former controls what your kids can see, using filter lists of websites to either allow or block, typically configured by category.

The latter controls when your kids can use the internet andor which apps they can use.

Best Internet Filter Software Software Uses Very

Its important to note that most filtering software uses very similar lists of websites to allow or block, so the most important thing is to choose the software or service that works best for you.

But what about other devices If your kids have games consoles, smart TVs or even non-supported computers, such as a Raspberry Pi.

The most obvious choice here is with the filtering provided by your ISP, which will block access to adult sites for all devices.

Turn on BTs internet filter, for example, and even adults wont be able to access the sites that they want.

For this reason, we dont recommend using most ISPs filtering controls.

First, if your children have their own mobile phones, make sure that you use the mobile providers filter.

This will protect your kids when theyre outside of your home network.

You can also get similar levels of control with the Sky Broadband Buddy, a subscription service thats based on the Circle parental-control software, the same system that powers the Orbi system.

This is exceptionally powerful, as a child will find the same restrictions in place, regardless of which of their devices that they use.

You can also manually pause a childs internet connection without affecting anyone else in the house handy to get attention for dinner time.

The power with this kind of system is that a child cant switch devices, say putting their laptop down and moving to Netflix on their TV, when their internet time is up for the day: the restrictions apply to the entire profile.

Best Internet Filter Software Install And Run

Not only will software give you more granular control, but you also get two additional benefits on most devices: app control to help control which applications a child can install and run, and web filtering wherever your children are.

The latter is particularly important for devices that can be carried around and connected to different networks, such as mobile devices and laptops.

For example, a lot of parental control software will let you see not only the websites that your kids visited but specifics, such as the videos that they watched.

This kind of information can be useful in any chats you have with your children about safe internet usage.

Of all the software that weve tested, Norton 360 comes out top for protection.

With the Deluxe and Premium Editions, you get parental controls built-in.

Nortons family tools are quite powerful, giving you web filtering controls and time limits for each device.

Best Internet Filter Software For Mac