Family Orbit vs Pluckeye

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.

Pluckeye is an Internet filter for people who want to limit access to online activities such as pornography, social media, gaming, gambling, shopping, or email. It blocks Internet images and videos by default. Users can block or allow parts of sites through URL or media-type rules, schedule selected sites, or set periods when the entire Internet is blocked. Configuration changes take effect only after a user-selected delay; the product also says it cannot be uninstalled before that delay passes. An accountability partner can see which sites a user has allowed, and another person can approve a site immediately to bypass the wait. Pluckeye supports Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its manual says it works best with Edge and Firefox, with a caveat for Brave, Chrome, and Vivaldi. The maker describes it as a do-it-yourself filter that takes time to configure and has a steep learning curve. The Free plan costs nothing and includes all Pluckeye features.