Family Orbit vs FamilyTime

Family Orbit is a parental control app for monitoring a child’s phone use, location and online activity. Parents can review text messages, call logs, browsing history, photos, videos, contacts and calendar events, and use content filtering, app blocking, screen-time schedules and activity reports. GPS features include real-time location, location history, geofence alerts, check-ins and panic alerts. The maker describes AI-powered alerts for inappropriate photos, profanity, sexting, cyberbullying and harassment. WhatsApp monitoring is listed, and the pricing page also names iMessages. Family Orbit supports Android and iOS devices, with desktop downloads for Windows and macOS; web is also listed as a platform. A desktop app supports Wi-Fi Sync with iTunes or Finder from the parent’s computer. iCloud monitoring uses the child’s iCloud credentials and does not require installing an app on the child’s device. The Monthly plan costs $19.95 a month for up to five devices, and a 3-day trial is offered. The maker says explicit parental authorization is required and the product is for legal parental monitoring.

FamilyTime is a parental-control service for managing children’s device use, activity, and location. Listed tools include content filtering, screen-time schedules, app blocking, activity reports, live location, visited places, geofences, and teen speed-limit alerts. Parents connect the FamilyTime Jr app on a child’s device by scanning a QR code; settings can prevent the app from being uninstalled. Parent access is available through Windows or Mac dashboards and mobile and web apps. FamilyTime supports Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac, though calls and text-message monitoring are Android-only. Social monitoring covers chats on WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business, BiP, Instagram, TikTok, imo, Twitch, and Signal. The service provides 30-day activity reports and says it uses end-to-end encryption for children’s data and is GDPR-compliant. A three-day free trial is listed. MyFamily is $2.41 a month, billed annually at $29 after the trial, for one child device; MyFamily3 is $4.08 a month, billed annually at $49, for three devices; MyFamily5 is $5.75 a month, billed annually at $69, for five devices. Yearly subscriptions renew after 365 calendar days.