What’s in a name? If you’re considering FamiSafe for parental control, you’re likely hoping a lot. The family safety app combines “family” and “safe” to bring you a suite of useful tools designed to keep your kids safe. But does it live up to the hype — or its name?
This FamiSafe app review will provide you with everything you need to know to make a smart decision.
Table Of Contents
Why Use a Monitoring App?
If you’re like most parents, you want to keep your kids safe wherever they are, and especially when you can’t physically be there to protect them. And there’s a lot to protect them from online. Cyberbullying. Harassment. Sextortion. Meeting up with strangers. You name it.
That’s why many parents turn to the FamiSafe app for Android and iOS — and Kindle Fire too. It peels back the curtains and lets you see what your kids are doing online — on their phone, from your own phone.
If you’ve been searching for FamiSafe reviews, you might be hard-pressed to find one that keeps things simple and makes it clear what the app actually does. A relative newcomer to the parental control scene, FamiSafe was launched in 2018 by Wondershare Technology.
The company boasts over 2 million active users, but that seems to be overall users of its entire suite of products (FamiSafe is just one of them, and it’s not quite clear how many users they actually have).
But the FamiSafe app reviews have been hit-and-miss, so we’re going to sort it all out and help you make an informed decision.
FamiSafe Features to Keep Your Kids Secure
Packed into FamiSafe are several features designed to give you an idea of what your kids are doing online. The useful parental control app delivers on a lot of major fronts, like activity reports and FamiSafe location tracking. But it falls short on a few other things, like social media monitoring and the ability to peer into your kids’ chat apps.
More on that shortly, but first, here’s a rundown of the key features that make many parents consider the FamiSafe app for parental control.
Activity Report
See your kids’ activity each day at a glance on a timeline. You’ll know what apps they’ve recently used, installed, and uninstalled. It’s a simple way to see how your kids are spending their time each and every day.
While useful, iOS users will find some crossover in functionality with Apple’s own Screen Time feature, which some argue replaces some parental control app functionality.
Location Tracking
Track your kids’ location on a map, so you’ll know where they are at any given time. You can also see where they’ve been through a handy Location History feature. And you can set geofences, so you’ll know when they’ve arrived or left a given location.
App Blocker
Some apps just aren’t suitable for kids. FamiSafe lets you block those apps from being installed. You can also set limits on how much they use a specific app, helping them focus on things like schoolwork and exploring educational apps.
Suspicious Text Monitoring
Get alerted when suspicious or controversial words are entered or searched for. It’s ideal for knowing if your kids are talking about sex or drugs, or if they’re being bullied.
Website Filtering
If you don’t want your kids visiting certain websites or categories of websites, FamiSafe lets you set limits. You can also stop them from viewing violent websites or those with adult content or block them from accessing specific websites.
FamiSafe App Rundown
| Compatibility | iOS Android Kindle Fire |
| Pricing | $9.99/month $19.99/quarter $59.99/year |
| # of devices | 30 devices with an annual subscription 10 devices with a quarterly subscription 5 devices with a monthly subscription |
| Demo | Yes |
| Free trial | No |
| Location tracking | Yes |
| Social media tracking | No |
| Call logging | No |
| Text logging | No |
FamiSafe Subscription Options
How much does FamiSafe cost? We’re pleased to report that the FamiSafe price is competitive and available through multiple subscription models — yearly, quarterly, and monthly.
For $9.99 a month, you can install FamiSafe on 5 devices. For $19.99, you get 3 months of use on up to 10 devices. And paying $59.99 gets you a full year of FamiSafe on up to 30 devices.
FamiSafe App Pros & Cons
There are a number of decent features that make FamiSafe worth a look, including:
- The ability to see what they’re watching on YouTube
- Getting alerted when they enter or leave a specific location
- Seeing what apps have been installed or uninstalled
But if you’re looking for a full-featured parental control app that lets you dive really deep into your kids’ online lives, FamiSafe might not be the right choice due to a few fundamental features it lacks:
- You can’t monitor their calls
- You can’t read all their messaging apps, like Skype, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Snapchat, Tinder, KiK, and Instagram
- You can’t see the photos in their library and those that they share, including deleted pics
Do Parents Like FamiSafe?
Is FamiSafe safe? After deep-diving into the app, we can confirm it’s safe to install and use. But do parents actually like the functionality? That depends on who you ask and what operating system they’re using.
While there are a number of positive reviews, it’s the negative reviews that really stand out and make us second-guess whether the app is right for parents looking for something that delivers. One FamiSafe review stands out in particular:
On IOS can’t track or know anything about social media apps or texting. It does not flag keywords.
FamiSafe vs mSpy: Which One Is Right for You?
The FamiSafe app for parental control is popular for a reason. It provides a number of surface-level tools to help you feel good about what your kids are doing online.
But when it comes to completely take the worry out of their online activities, second by second, FamiSafe falls a little short, especially when compared to mSpy. Let’s dig a little deeper now.
Reading Social Media Messages
FamiSafe alerts you if keywords are used in a text, but you can’t go in and review all their texts. mSpy lets you see sent and received messages. And not just SMS messages. You can also review text messages in all kinds of messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Tinder.
WINNER: mSpy
GPS Location Tracking
With FamiSafe, you can see where your kids are, with their location pinpointed on a dedicated map. mSpy also offers you the option to see their whereabouts and check their route history.
WINNER: Tie
Viewing Photos and Videos
FamiSafe alerts you if it detects any suspicious images or controversial pics on their phone, like those with nudity, for example. But you won’t be able to see all their images, including ones they’ve wiped from their phone.
On the other hand, mSpy lets you browse all pictures downloaded on their phone, access photo logs, and get date and time stamps for each photo.
WINNER: mSpy
Does FamiSafe Deliver Real Parental Control?
Bottom line? Yes and no. FamiSafe is a decent app if you want a simple birds-eye-view of what your kids are up to. Is the FamiSafe app free? No, but if you have a few bucks to spare, it might be worth doing a quick FamiSafe app review of your own.
But if you need more information or you want to really understand what your kids are talking about online and with whom, you might want to consider other options. mSpy is a worthwhile competitor that delivers the type of monitoring features parents demand to keep their kids safe online.
