It is crucial that parental control solutions encompass all of a child’s devices and activities. Net Nanny has grown beyond its internet-filter roots and offers tools for blocking apps and restricting screen time. These tools work well with Net Nanny, as do the web filters. Net Nanny is available for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Fire OS (Kindle) devices, which is typical for the category. Be aware that Net Nanny offers two mobile apps. Parents can install monitoring profiles on their children’s devices using one app, and the other allows them to edit restrictions and monitor activities. If you’re considering using Net Nanny for the safety of your children or other young family members, keep reading below for an overview and pricing info.
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The Net Nanny 411
Pros and Cons
The Good: Easy setup, simple plan selection, it has screen time options, Specific app blocking, and even custom web filters
The Bad: Costly, web filters overcome by Tor, only a few preset web filters, geofencing features are limited
Getting Started
To begin with Net Nanny, you must first register for an account, which requires an email address and payment information. Every device that you wish to track must be downloaded with Net Nanny monitoring software. Net Nanny has been tested on a Surface Book running Windows 10, a Google Pixel running Android 10, and an iPhone XR running iOS 13. Before you make any modifications, you should first learn what every parent should know about their connected kids.
To install Net Nanny, you must download the installer, open it, and sign in. After you assign each user account to a child profile, the Net Nanny app will live as an icon in the notification tray. To view basic screen time statistics, manually sync with the Net Nanny servers, or log in to Net Nanny parent dashboard, right-click on the icon.
On your child’s Android device, install the Net Nanny Child App, sign in to your account, and select the appropriate child profile. You must then allow Net Nanny all the permissions it requests, including app use, location, device administration, and content monitoring via VPN (this doesn’t encrypt traffic, but does monitor content), as well as accepting a certificate installation. Net Nanny also prompts you to manually enable SafeSearch in the Google App; however, this isn’t an optimal implementation because that setting isn’t password-protected. Non-admin profiles cannot be set to boot up on Android devices, so you must manually flip to the kid profile after each reboot. As a result, a parent would need to log in and then switch to the kid profile after each reboot.
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Key Features
Easy to Use Interface
You can set up Net Nanny parental controls from the Parent Dashboard, but finding it on Net Nanny’s homepage is difficult. Some elements and menus have been rearranged since our last review, which makes Net Nanny less crowded. The interface works better this time around, too. The icons in Net Nanny’s top menu bar lead you to Net Nanny’s Overview page and the other pages to individual child profiles. You can also access Net Nanny’s App Advisor to see what apps your children are using, as well as create child profiles and install Net Nanny on your device. You have to return to the Net Nanny homepage to manage your subscription, although there is no option for two-factor authentication on your account.
Web Filtering
Net Nanny’s content filters, custom filters, and the ability to block or allow specific websites are the three areas of web filtering. You can set Net Nanny’s predefined filters to Allow, Warn, or Block by default. If a child wants to visit a site that is blocked, he can do so, but Net Nanny will log the visit. If Net Nanny detects mature content, it will alert the user and prevent the user from accessing the website.
If Net Nanny detects death or gore, drugs, gambling, mature content, pornography, suicide, or weapons, it will alert the user and prevent them from accessing the site. Other parental control products offer a wide variety of preconfigured options, including proxies, VPNs, file sharing, and social media websites.
Geo-Fencing
Net Nanny has added geofencing capabilities to its monitored iOS and Android devices. Net Nanny’s geofencing mechanisms are less sophisticated than those of other businesses. A geofence can only be set up around a location that appears in a child’s location history. You cannot specify the size of the geofence or even draw your own border. You can customize geofences with most other geofencing services, but with Kaspersky Safe Kids, you can set up a schedule for when your child should be within a perimeter. With Boomerang, you can draw custom geofencing borders around any location.
App Blocking
It’s possible to block Android and iOS apps with Net Nanny. Qustodio is one of the apps that you can block on both the Android and the iOS platforms. However, there are some stipulations. The app blocks a list of both Android and iOS applications. It’s possible to block a wide range of iOS applications that are predefined. You can either block an iOS application or prevent it from connecting to the internet
As a result, your child can still use offline apps. You can only prevent your child from using those apps you select in Mobicip’s whitelist-only mode. During testing, Net Nanny’s app blocking worked flawlessly. On Android, Net Nanny prevents the app from launching if it has been blocked. The Go Back button leads back to the home screen.
Net Nanny Cost and Pricing Plans
Luckily, Net Nanny has an easy-going plan system to follow. The starting level of Net Nanny is $39.99 per year, and it allows you to monitor only one desktop computer (either a Mac or a Windows machine). You can also purchase two different family protection plans from Net Nanny. The five-device package costs $54.99 per year, and the 20-device package costs $89.99 per year.
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