Beginning to comprehend life on their own, children are bound to encounter previously unknown phenomena and attitudes which, in the best scenario, can leave them puzzled and, in the worst case, directly threaten their safety in the real and virtual world. Therefore, it becomes the parents’ thought and goal to ensure that their offspring can develop independence under some supervision, which can be achieved without their knowing, using a free app to monitor child’s text messages or paid monitoring online tools.

Can I Monitor My Child’s Text Messages Without Them Knowing?

You know how you were through and through with your child about not communicating with suspicious people, not visiting certain places, etc., but as it often turns out, you were preaching to deaf ears. Over time, children learn to distinguish right from wrong, but before they get there, they may secretly exchange text messages with dangerous people, developing attachments to inappropriate speech, behavior, and lifestyle.

One way to determine the presence of such a bad influence in your child’s life can be by using the app to monitor child’s text messages, calls, and other communications on their gadget. Although this can be done completely remotely and stealthily – both retrieving data and viewing it – the initial installation of an application for this purpose, in most cases, involves gaining access to the target gadget. What usually comes in the package? Communications aside, you can pinpoint your kid’s exact location, view their media and messengers, scroll through their browsing history, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Needless to say, if used unobtrusively, such a constantly working tool can be a lifesaver that is constantly at your fingertips.

Ways to Monitor Child’s Text Messages Remotely

However, we’re getting ahead of ourselves a little – it’s worth emphasizing that there is more than one way to monitor your child’s text messages. Moreover, not all of them are paid solutions, and you can count on some to cover many more features than just reading SMS.

• Message forwarding. For starters, this is an intrinsic service presented in Apple devices – although not that popular nowadays. If you and your child are users of this ecosystem, and, quite possibly, your child’s gadget is assigned to your Apple ID, iMessage forwarding can be used without them knowing for free and can be configured as follows:

1.  Open Settings on your device and find the Messages section.
2. Next, tap on Text Message Forwarding and put the toggle on next to your child’s device.
3. You can also click on the Send and Receive section in Messages. Here, you will see devices assigned to your Apple ID. Tap on the desired device for message forwarding.

• Sync phones. Now, it’s Android phones’ turn to show what they are capable of when it comes to the need to monitor child’s text messages – and for this purpose, the Google Backup service comes in handy. For activation, you need:

1. Go to Settings and click Google.
2. Click on Backup (use one email address for your gadget and your child’s gadget).
3. Click on Backup Now or wait for automatic backup after connecting to a power source. The backup details indicate the size of new SMSs.

• Parental control apps. Designed specifically to instill a certain sense of moderation in the youngest smartphone users and provide peace of mind in adults, apps to monitor child’s text messages and other activities allow parents (typically, there is support for both Android and iOS) to select the applications that the child will use, set time limits, view social media texts and content, manage the gadget remotely and engage with it many more ways. Although labeled as parental tracking tools, these feature-rich apps may be used to establish the whereabouts and contact details of other close people, relatives, spouses, etc., even without them knowing.

Best Apps to Monitor Child’s Text Messages

When it comes to subscription-based solutions, there is a whole host of apps – but since we’re not interested in picking the lowest-hanging fruit but something more sophisticated, here are the top 5 apps to monitor child’s text messages.

uMobix – the Best App to Monitor Child’s Text Messages

uMobix allows you to take one step closer to informed parenting, including thanks to its feature for monitoring text messages, the ability to view text messages sent and received, as well as those deleted from the gadget. It supplies the user with the content of such messages, as well as dates, names, and embedded media content.

While certain apps will require you to jailbreak or root the device, uMobix unleashes its potential as a solution that is as lightweight as possible in view of all the features available. The application is also equipped with a hidden monitoring option without a visible icon or any alerts bothering the device owner.

In addition, the user can enjoy such features as:

• keylogger
• call logs
• GPS location
• Instagram, Facebook, Viber, Zoom, and many other messengers at your fingertips
• live streaming option
• remote control of the gadget and individual applications

Pros

• a hidden way to monitor child’s text messages
• availability of 24/7 customer support service
• full access to Instagram and Facebook for iOS tracking
• demo available

Cons

• geofencing not provided

It takes no time to start using uMobix, as the installation process is uncomplicated comparatively to other similar products. If your goal is to monitor an Android device and read child’s text messages on Android (no matter what operating system your own gadget has), you will definitely need to gain access to the target smartphone or tablet to install the software directly. But before that, you need:

1. Create an account on the uMobix website and subscribe to any package.
2. Log in to your account, find and download the APK file for unpacking on your child’s gadget, and send the file to their device.
3. Carry out the installation while having access to the Internet and giving the necessary permissions during the process.
4. After installation, the software will begin to receive data from the target gadget automatically, and you will be able to see updates several times a day and monitor your child’s text messages, among other things.

To monitor an Apple device, the installation process differs at a certain stage:

1. Create an account on the uMobix website and subscribe to any package.
2. Log in to your account to connect your child’s device via iCloud. If you and your child have the same Apple ID for gadgets, this means that you use the same email and password to log in.
3. After entering the credentials, synchronization will occur with the device backup, give it a little time. The information received will be displayed on the dashboard in your account.

Cocospy – an Indispensable App for iPhone and Android Tracking

As their children grow up, many parents go through serious challenges; no wonder there is a saying: “Little children bring on small problems, big children bring on big problems”. Sometimes, it saves them a lot of health and nerves by having a reliable app to monitor child’s text messages to make sure they don’t mix up with the wrong people or that they get to their destination without incident. Cocospy comes around as a remote assistant, willing to provide information not only about basic calls and SMS but also track messages on Facebook, as well as WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, and Viber, along with timestamps, group chats, and contacts.

Having this useful tool at your hand, you, as a parent, will be able to stay aware of the slightest changes in the child’s phone, for instance, SIM card extraction, without them knowing. This is a way to determine their last location and also figure out if the kid is often changing the SIM card to make phone calls.

Pros

• stealthy tracking
• works with all the mainstream messengers
• no jailbreak is required

Cons

• somewhat limited coverage for social media
• no keylogger

xMobi – Is It a Free App to Monitor Your Child’s Text Messages?

Probably, the majority of parents go about their business in the morning with a lingering thought about their offspring’s day at school and extracurricular activities. But you no longer need to guess if there’s an app to monitor child’s text messages because solutions like xMobi allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of events throughout the day.

Modern children communicate not only through messages but also actively exchange media files, selfies, and short videos. While on a coffee break or in transport, you can read child’s text messages on iPhone, iPad, or Android in a few minutes and also learn about their activity in Meta messengers (WhatsApp, FB) and the web browser.

This is a subscription-run app that is capable of tracking:

• current location and former routes
• call logs and contact list
• DUO Messenger and Discord
• all the keystrokes on the target gadget

Pros:

• keylogger feature without rooting
• you might not need physical access to install it on an iOS gadget
• option to hide the app icon

Cons:

• limited range of advanced features (no full access to social media or streaming)
• updates for Android every 15 minutes only (solutions such as uMobix offer 5-minute updates)

XNSPY – Compatible with an Android, iPhone, or iPad

This is not only the best app to monitor child’s text messages for many, but it is also quite capable of competing with top monitoring solutions due to its features. You name it: device usage reports, the ability to set up alerts for specific phone activities, and a keylogger, to name a few. The developer claims the ability to monitor 12 social media applications and is also equipped with an on-demand screen and environment recording function.

In addition, you can view what applications your child installs on their device and, if necessary, remotely block an unwanted program. In the Screen Time tab, the parent can also see which applications and how much time the child spends most often. Besides the ability to monitor your child’s text messages, if necessary, you can take a screenshot of the screen at any time and view video screen recordings made by the program during the day.

Pros

• vast screen-recording possibilities, along with keylogger
• great screen time controls
• Android and iOS coverage

Cons

• long uploading periods
• some of the features are reported unavailable by users

Hoverwatch – Track Kid’s Activities Without Them Knowing

Hoverwatch is an old-timer in the world of monitoring devices, but it doesn’t quite strive to keep up with the most breakthrough monitoring solutions and lacks many features. However, if your main goal is to monitor your child’s text messages, as well as WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook, consider it done. Although the tool does not allow full access to Instagram, for example, you can see any saved photo and video files on the device itself.

Other basic features of Hoverwatch include location and call logs tracking and web history browsing.

Pros

• provides a completely invisible operation
• uses keylogger feature
• call recording feature
• alerts of SIM card extractions

Cons

• no remote controls, screen time, etc.

Should I Monitor My Child’s Text Messages Without Them Knowing?

After you’ve hopefully answered your question ‘how to monitor your child’s text messages’, you may have found yourself wondering if you’re going too far by using an online tracker for your child. The advantages of using such a solution are undeniable, but it is essential to understand that you do not necessarily need to become a control freak and view absolutely all content and monitor your child’s text messages on a daily basis but can treat such applications as once-in-a-while solutions.

It might be a good idea to let your kid know about the presence of an iOS or Android app to monitor child’s text messages and provide examples of the benefits that stretch far beyond your desire just to stick your nose into their affairs – the ability to remotely lock the phone in case of loss, quickly determine the child’s location in case of emergencies, help them interact with really useful content, etc.

Conclusion

While each child is already an individual and will one day become an adult and independent person, due to their innocence, they most often become the target of various online fraudsters and predators and simply can show great interest in content not intended for them. Sometimes, it can be difficult to force a child to study or do other important things when there is a distraction in the form of a smartphone and apps with games and media content – although we cannot imagine our modern life without gadgets. This is when an app to monitor child’s phone and remotely manage its activities can help parents gain information and correct unwanted behavior. When chosen and introduced properly, such a tool can be used in various life situations and scenarios.