What is Qustodio and how does it work?
Qustodio is a parental control and digital wellbeing software designed to help parents monitor and manage their children’s online activities across various devices, including smartphones, tablets, desktops, and Chromebooks. It aims to create a safer digital environment for kids, regulate screen time, filter inappropriate content, and provide parents with insights into their children’s device usage.
As a parental control app, Qustodio functions through a companion app installed on the child’s device, with parents managing settings via a web dashboard or a parental app on their own device. Its key features include:
- Content and App Filtering: It blocks access to inappropriate websites, games, and applications, and enforces Safe Search on popular search engines like Google, Bing, and YouTube.
- Time Management: Parents can set daily screen time limits for devices and individual apps, schedule restricted usage times, and remotely pause internet access.
- Activity Monitoring: The app provides real-time reports on browsing history, YouTube activity, social media use, and overall screen time.
- Location Tracking: It offers GPS location monitoring and geofencing, alerting parents when a child enters or leaves predefined areas.
- Calls and SMS Monitoring: On supported devices (Android and iOS with limitations), parents can view call and message logs, read message content, and block specific contacts.
- Alerts and SOS: Qustodio sends daily and weekly activity reports, along with real-time, AI-powered alerts for concerning online searches or social media interactions. An Android-specific “Panic Button” allows children to send SOS alerts.
While Qustodio offers a comprehensive suite of tools, the free version is limited to one device, requiring a premium subscription for full functionality. It’s noted that web filters can sometimes be bypassed with a VPN, and some features, like Android call/text monitoring, might require “sideloading,” which can pose security risks.