Affiliate Disclaimer mSpy is a parental control app that enables parents to monitor various features on a child’s device. With over 39K followers on Facebook and 30K on YouTube, mSpy is one of the most popular family trackers in the industry.
While mSpy offers numerous comprehensive features, it lacks a free trial. At HeyLocate, we’ve got your back with a 15% mSpy discount. You can also try mSpy lite version. But if you want a completely free service, check out our options further.
In this article, we reviewed mSpy free alternatives and other monitoring apps like mSpy.
Phone Tracking Apps Like mSpy
These tracking apps have robust monitoring capabilities similar to mSpy.
Parentaler
Parentaler is a robust parental control tool that is ideal for monitoring a child’s activities. It makes it easy to manage a kid’s online interactions using real-time alerts.
User Experience:
To install Parentaler, I needed physical access to the target device. The app works in the background, which makes it challenging to detect. When experimenting with Parentaler, I could monitor social media apps and block access to inappropriate ones. I could also see their browsing history, with features to restrict access to adult content using the online dashboard.
Parentaler also tracked calls, SMS, contacts, emails, and locations. In addition, the keyword tracker sent me alerts when certain words were typed on the monitored device. Thus, I was always in the loop of my child’s phone activities.
Perhaps its most likable feature is that it costs only $10.17 per month on the annual plan.
Parentaler vs. mSpy
Parentaler and mSpy are both well-rounded parental control apps. However, Parentaler can only monitor one device, while mSpy allows monitoring of up to three devices using the Family kit plan.
Main Pro:
- comprehensive monitoring capabilities.
Main Con:
- requires iCloud credentials to install on an iPhone.
uMobix
uMobix cell phone tracker offers real-time tracking of cell phone activities. Its detailed dashboard shows all the monitored features, which makes it easy to see children’s mobile device usage.
User Experience:
Installing the uMobix mobile tracking software on an Android is simple. All you need is the QR code from the website. However, you will require your child’s iCloud credentials when installing on an iPhone.
uMobix offers complete monitoring of social media interactions, phone calls, messages, and internet activity.
uMobix also had extra features like the keylogger to track all keyboard inputs. This feature allowed me to see passwords that could prove handy when you want to see specific data on social media apps like Facebook Messenger.
The uMobix app costs $12.49 per month on Android and iOS. This is because it does not monitor the same number of social media apps on iOS as on Android.
uMobix vs. mSpy
mSpy monitoring app is more comprehensive since, apart from having all the features available on uMobix, it also has a remote recording feature. mSpy can turn on a phone’s mic and camera to listen to a child’s surroundings remotely.
Main Pro:
- broad social media monitoring.
Main Con:
- lacks some monitoring features on iPhone.
Eyezy
Eyezy is one of the most powerful mSpy alternatives for cell phone monitoring. This tracking software shows all the features on a target phone, allowing you to know what your child does on their phone at all times.
User Experience:
Installing and configuring Eyezy on a target Android device took around five minutes. However, I needed to jailbreak an iPhone to use any of its features.
To this end, Eyezy could monitor live location, set geofence zones, track keywords, and log call logs.
Eyezy also monitored social media apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. Nonetheless, it showed messages on the apps but not app activities like videos watched.
Still, I found Eyezy to be a cheap option, as it costs $7.99 per month when you choose the annual plan.
Eyezy vs. mSpy
Eyezy does not have comprehensive social media monitoring. If you are looking for the parental control app for social media, mSpy is a better choice than Eyezy since it takes screenshots of social media app activity.
Main Pro:
- accurate location tracking with real-time alerts for geofencing and keywords.
Main Con:
- requires jailbreaking an iPhone.
XNSPY
XNSPY is cell phone spy software for parental control. This app has unique attributes for stealth monitoring.
User Experience:
One of the best aspects of the XNPSY mobile tracker app is that you don’t need to install it on an iPhone. With your child’s iCloud credentials, XNSPY will get data from the iPhone and display it on an online dashboard.
On the other hand, I had to install the app to start monitoring an Android device.
XNSPY uploaded all tracked data to an online console. It monitors the phone’s live location and location history and selects specific location zones with notifications when the child enters or leaves the zones.
XNSPY’s unique features include call recording, screen recording for social media apps, and a watchlist for people, locations, and words.
Regarding pricing, I found XNSPY to be the cheapest, with plans starting at $4.99 per month for basic monitoring and $7.49 for premium monitoring features.
XNSPY vs. mSpy
XNSPY offers distinctive features like call monitoring and is cheaper than mSpy. You will find all the features available on mSpy, along with some additional specs like the watchlist and remotely locking or erasing the monitored device.
Main Pro:
- records calls and surroundings.
Main Con:
- no real-time monitoring on iPhone.
mSpy Free Alternatives
We researched free apps like mSpy and found Qustodio, Family Link, and Life360 to be suitable options. Here’s a quick review of these apps.
Qustodio
Qustodio is a comprehensive parental control app with monitoring, screen time control, and content filtering features. This app customizes protection for a safe digital environment.
User Experience:
Qustodio gave me a download link to install the app on my kid’s device. It also gave me a three-day trial to explore features while seeing my child’s phone activities on an online console.
I liked that Qustodio has a rules section that allows me to set up various monitoring features, such as total screen time, app and web activity, web searches, YouTube activity, and calls and messages.
Once the free trial ends, Qustodio provides two plans: basic at $4.58/mo and premium at $8.33/mo. You can set screen time limits, filter web browsing, block apps & games.
Qustodio vs. mSpy
mSpy prioritizes monitoring, including social media and text messages. Meanwhile, Qustodio offers more parental control features such as daily limits, website filters, and pausing internet access.
Main Pro:
- offers customization for all its features.
Main Con:
- limited features on iOS.
Family Link
Family Link is a mobile phone tracker by Google. This app comes with powerful phone monitoring software for children’s mobile phones. Google Family Link is the best mSpy free alternative for Android. Since it’s completely free, you can start using it right away.
User Experience:
The Google Family Link app required installing the app on the parent’s device and linking it to the child’s device using a Google child account.
With it, I could set up daily limits, downtime time, app limits, and content restrictions on Google Play, YouTube, Google Chrome, and Google Search.
I liked the content restrictions feature since it could block age-inappropriate websites.
Family Link vs. mSpy
Family Link offers limited parental control: screen, phone usage, apps, and content. However, mSpy allows you to see how your child interacts with various phone features.
Main Pro:
- it’s completely free.
Main Con:
- it lacks monitoring features.
Life360
Life360 is a family monitoring app with a decent free plan. The app is more of a mobile phone locator for keeping family members aware of their circle’s driving habits.
Still, you can try using it as a mSpy free alternative for iPhone and Android.
User Experience:
The Life360 app is available on the Google Play Store. I installed it on the parent’s device and added my kids to my Life360 circle.
The app’s free plan has a reasonable number of features, including live location sharing and alerts for two saved places. I could also see my family’s SOS help alerts and see their two-day location history.
Life360 vs. mSpy
Life360 is centered on driving and location monitoring, while mSpy is a well-rounded app for location and digital activities.
Main Pro:
- extensive location and driving features.
Main Con:
- doesn’t monitor a phone’s activities.
Bonus: Try mLite – mSpy Light Version
As the leading parental monitoring software, mSpy is available in a lite version called mLite. This cheaper version is available for iOS or Android devices on Google Play or App Store.
User Experience:
I installed the mLite app from the Google Play Store. The app offered a 3-day free trial and then charged $14.99 monthly.
I linked my child’s device by installing it and entering a code. mSpy monitored the phone’s live location with live alerts.
It also tracked contacts and installed apps. The app could turn on the mic remotely, and my child could send an SOS alert to my device.
mLite vs. mSpy
mLite has limited features like live location tracking and monitoring installed apps. With mSpy, you can see all the features on a target device. mLite is ideal if you only want location tracking and being able to listen to your child’s surroundings.
Main Pro:
- cheap with messengers monitoring.
Main Con:
- does not take screenshots of phone’s activities.
Comparison of mSpy Alternatives
Find the comparison table of mSpy and its alternatives below.
| Feature | mSpy | Parentaler | uMobix | Eyezy | Qustodio | Family Link | Life360 | mLite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live location tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x | ✓ | ✓ |
| Geofencing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x | x | x | ✓ |
| Web monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x | x | x |
| Web filtering | Blocks URLs | Blocks URLs | Blocks URLs | Blocks URLs | Blocks URLs and content categories | Blocks explicit websites | x | x |
| Social media monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x | x | x | Messengers only |
| Contacts monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x | x | x | ✓ |
| Screen time limits | x | x | x | x | ✓ | ✓ | x | x |
| Driving monitoring | x | x | x | x | x | x | ✓ | x |
| SOS Alerts | x | x | x | x | ✓ | x | ✓ | x |
Conclusion
While mSpy remains a top-tier parental control app, there are good mSpy alternatives like uMobix and Eyezy.
Free apps like mSpy don’t offer similarly robust features, but can still be a good parental control app if you just need to track location or manage screen time.
Choosing the right app depends on your specific monitoring priorities, budget, and device compatibility.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
mLite is a basic version of mSpy while mSpy offers a detailed set of monitoring capabilities.
Yes, mSpy can block apps.
There are various free parental control apps that can be used as mSpy alternative, like Google Family Link and Life360. Nonetheless, their features are limited in comparison to mSpy.
mSpy does not have a free trial. You can try its light version, mLite that offers a 3-day free trial.
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