Summary
There is a possibility that Net Nanny is the oldest name in the field of parental control software; nonetheless, it continues to be one of the most cutting-edge and all-encompassing solutions. Following the acquisition of the firm by Zift in 2016, the company had a temporary name change before returning to the more well-known Net Nanny brand in May of 2019.
The impact of Zift as a digital parenting firm is still very much evident in Net Nanny. The app has obvious Zift influence in the App Advisor and Family Feed features, as well as pieces of advise from the Zift editorial staff.
Net Nanny parental control app review
When compared to the majority of its rivals, Net Nanny provides a web filtering strategy that is among the best available. Instead than relying just on block lists, like many other parental control systems do, it also does an analysis of the sites that are shown on a child’s device as they are being accessed. The removal of undesirable material from your child’s online experience is accomplished by Net Nanny with the use of a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer instead.
Since the last time I evaluated the app, improvements have been made to address some of its other inadequacies. These improvements include the addition of a web portal and geofencing, in addition to a variety of other new features. With a monthly membership charge of $54.99 that covers up to 5 devices, Net Nanny continues to be one of the more expensive alternatives for parental control; yet, it continues to be the finest parental control tool available on the market. Continue reading for the remainder of our review of Net Nanny.
COSTS AND WHAT IS COVERED FOR NET NANNY SERVICES
Technically, you are able to download and use the Net Nanny app without cost; but, it will function just as a parenting guide to applications and a source for pertinent news surrounding digital parenting. Therefore, I do not believe that this really qualifies as a free tier for the actual service.
A “Family Protection Pass” subscription is required in order to make use of any of the parental controls that are available on the device(s) that belong to your child(ren). You may pay either $54.99 per year for up to 5 devices or $89.99 per year for up to 20 devices. Both of these options are available.
The one and only exception to this rule is if you are attempting to monitor a single desktop or laptop computer running Windows or Mac. If this is the case, you may purchase Net Nanny for Windows or macOS for a yearly fee of $39.99; however, this plan does not include support for various mobile platforms or numerous devices.
All of these membership payments are reportedly thirty percent off of the standard rate, however this discount has stayed the same for years, and officials from Net Nanny have said that there are no plans to raise prices in the near future.
Considering that Net Nanny is already among the most expensive parental control choices, this is a very positive development. A comparison of apples to apples is not possible since OurPact is the only product that has a higher beginning price, but that price is for an infinite number of devices.
Taking into consideration the benefits that come with the premium tier of Net Nanny, I believe that the price is well worth it. The online filtering capabilities of this company are unparalleled, and its mobile applications and web site are among the most well-designed in the business.
In addition to providing support for all of the main platforms, Net Nanny also performs well on both Android and iOS alike. In addition, the service is continuously making improvements in response to input from users as well as reviews, which is a process that I have personally seen.
In addition to Kindle Fire, Net Nanny is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Chrome OS.
SETUP FOR THE NET NANNY
The installation process for Net Nanny is quite similar to that of the majority of other parental control applications. Start the procedure from either the mobile app or the website. Both options are available to you.
In the same way that some other parental-control companies do, Net Nanny employs a two-app structure in order to differentiate itself from the kid app that often receives negative ratings from children in app stores. Creating your account is the initial step, and after that, you will go to the kid device (or devices) that you will be using.
Net Nanny’s website has an installation page that, if you access to it from the device that the kid is using, will guide you through the full process of installing the software. To do this, the youngster will first need to create a profile for themselves, after which they will download the appropriate software from the app store on their smartphone. The only information needed to complete the profile is the child’s name, age, and gender.
When using iOS, you will need to install a Mobile Device Management profile on the device that the kid is using in order to allow the full functionality of Net Nanny and to provide access to the application. The procedure operates in a manner that is pretty comparable on Android, with the application guiding you through the process of obtaining the required rights and allowing device management.
It is not possible to offer permanent location access to an application during the installation process on recent versions of both Android and iOS at this time. You will need to make sure that you go to the options menu and adjust the location privileges of Net Nanny to “always” in order for its location monitoring to function properly.
APP MANAGEMENT IN THE NETTED NANNY
With regard to its app management, Net Nanny has made certain adjustments, including the removal of applications as a key category on both the parent app and the web gateway. The settings, which were a secondary entry point in the past, are now the location from where you may access the app administration. My preference is for this since you do not need to utilize the app blocking feature on a frequent basis.
In comparison to many of its rivals, Net Nanny is able to ban a few more applications on iOS. It has a little more than one hundred applications that are eligible to be prohibited. On the other hand, this is still a very little amount, and in this respect, no one is able to compete with OurPact.
Therefore, if you want to use Net Nanny and your kid is using an iOS device, the most effective option will be to remove any applications from your child’s device that you do not approve of. After that, you will need to set up Apple’s Ask to Buy feature so that you will be able to approve all app downloads in the future.
On Android, Net Nanny offers you full control over the applications that your kid uses, including the power to restrict or permit any application that is installed on their smartphone. Even though you will be alerted whenever your kid downloads a new app, if you want to have control over the apps that they install, you will need to utilize the parental approval system that is incorporated into the Play Store on Android mobile devices.
The app management on Android that Net Nanny provides covers the fundamentals, but it does not have certain additional features, such as the capacity to schedule particular applications or to impose time limits on them.
Through a feature known as Social Media Protection, Net Nanny separates social media applications into their own personal settings page. For example, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube are among the seven applications that enable a “Protect” option that applies the content filters that you already have installed on Net Nanny. It is also possible to rapidly restrict social media applications that do not support Protect, or you may just stop all social media applications using Net Nanny.
THE WEB FILTERING NET NANNY SCHEME
Filtering websites is without a doubt the most important feature that Net Nanny offers. Compared to the previous time I examined it, it seems that its advantage in this particular domain is much more obvious than before.
As I have previously indicated, Net Nanny does not only use block lists; rather, it does real analysis on the content of the web sites that your kid accesses as they are being accessed. Both the prevention of false positives and the guarantee that a website cannot abruptly change things up and circumvent its filters are significantly improved as a result of this.
The fundamental category-based filtering that is available in many of Net Nanny’s rivals is also presented in this service. A total of fourteen distinct categories are already included into this system. When it comes to websites that fit into any of these categories, you have the option to either allow them, ban them, or prompt a pop-up notice.
In addition to allowing your kid to read the item, the “alert” choice will also cause an alert to be shown in the Family Feed with the content. Despite the fact that I was unable to circumvent any of the obstacles on my test devices, which were running either Android or iOS, this works really well.
In addition to these fundamental filter categories, Net Nanny gives you the ability to construct your very own filter by using its Custom Content Filters. You begin by selecting a name for your filter, and then proceed to add as many words and/or phrases as you are comfortable with in order to construct it.
There is no other parental control tool that I tried that provides anything even somewhat like to this capabilities, which enables you to truly fine-tune filters for items that you perceive to be harmful.
Net Nanny also provides the more standard block or allow list, which allows you to specify certain websites that you would want to ensure your kid does not have access to or does not have access to at all.
In the event that your kid visits a website that is restricted, they will be presented with a screen from Net Nanny that explains why the page is restricted. In the event that the youngster believes that access should not be restricted, they may then press a button to make a request for it.
An additional filtering feature offered by Net Nanny is the capability to conceal offensive language on the internet. The “#” sign is used to cover up any profanity that may be present in the text, which is a very impressive demonstration of the live page analyzing capabilities of this tool. It is possible for rare or complex profanity phrases to get past the filter, although it performs a good job overall. The filter is flawed in this regard. There is no other service that I tried that provides anything like to this.
TIME MANAGEMENT: WE ARE THE NET NANNY
Net Nanny offers a comprehensive set of time-management capabilities that are comparable to those offered by the majority of the other leading choices. You have the option of pausing the device on a daily schedule, setting daily time allotments, establishing overall use limitations, pausing the device on a daily schedule, or just pausing internet access. The setup is the one thing that I have a problem with since it takes more time than is required.
A small illustration of this is the procedure that is used to establish use restrictions. Choosing the limits for any day is a simple process: all you have to do is touch on the day in the Screentime management menu, and then choose the amount of time you would want the kid to have for that particular day.
This takes a full minute to complete, but it is simple enough that it might be simplified such that the restriction is applied over a period of many days. The ability to provide a temporary time boost or retraction on the current day without affecting the time allocation for that day in the future is something that I found to be really appealing about this particular feature. The genuine task-based allowance system that can be found in the competing Screen Time program is still my favorite, but the one that Net Nanny offers comes in a close second.
The most significant issue that I had was with the schedule arrangement. The fact that you are able to apply the same schedule over many days is a good feature of this area; nonetheless, the actual time selection was initially a source of frustration.
When you touch, you are given the option to either set a new interval that would totally halt the device or only block the internet during that period. After that, it will display an interval, and you will be able to specify the beginning and ending times for it.
One of the issues was that Net Nanny made an effort to be as clever as possible, and as a result, it would prohibit me from setting the timings as I want. What I came to discover in the end is that after an interval is created, you have the ability to relocate it to any location you choose by long-pressing it and then dragging and dropping it, as well as its beginning and ending times, in any manner you choose. Managing scheduling in this manner is without a doubt the most effective method, and to tell you the truth, I believe that Net Nanny would be smart to make this the main control since it is both quicker and more user-friendly.
After the plan has been established, it gives you a perspective of the whole week, which is something that I truly like. To reiterate, once I had mastered the new approach to managing the calendar, it was quite easy for me to make adjustments whenever they were required.
TEXTING MANAGEMENT: ENTITLED “NET NANNY”
Despite the fact that Net Nanny does not include any capabilities for monitoring calls or texts, this lack of functionality has grown relatively widespread in the field of parental control platforms.
If your kid has an Android smartphone, you have the option of using Net Nanny to entirely ban messaging applications. If you are interested in monitoring or restricting your child’s texting and/or calling, Qustodio provides the features that you are searching for.
LOCATION TRACKING: NET NANNY SEARCHING
Over the course of the last several years, Net Nanny has made significant progress in expanding this function, and it currently provides a rather extensive collection of capabilities that allow users to monitor their whereabouts. Live tracking, location history, and geolocation are all features that it provides.
In addition to being shown at the top of the overview page, live monitoring may also be accessed via the Location tab for each individual kid. For each kid device, it will show a pin on a map that contains the device’s most recent known position to the user. Updates to your location will be included in the location history for the last thirty days.
You have the option to get alerts whenever your kid arrives or departs from one of these sites, which is referred to as geofencing. Geolocation was the most recent innovation, and it enables you to designate areas that your child has visited as “Our Locations.”
In spite of the fact that you have opted not to get the alerts, Net Nanny will still identify these places by the name that you have selected rather than just providing an address when you are browsing your location history.
In general, I believe that the location functions of Net Nanny are currently sufficient to meet the requirements of the majority of users. However, it would be wonderful to be able to designate places in advance rather than having to wait for the kid to visit one of them.
The monitoring of YouTube by a NET Nanny
The ability to access a list that contains all of the videos that your kid has viewed on YouTube, as well as any searches that they have conducted, is provided to you via this feature. Despite the fact that you are unable to restrict anything from this location since it is just monitoring, it is a wonderful method to keep track of how much time your youngster spends on YouTube.
The ability to apply your Net Nanny content filters on YouTube is a component of the Social Media Protection that I discussed in the App Management section. YouTube is included in this section. The ideal answer for you would be to use those tools if you want to actively regulate what kids watch on YouTube without limiting them to YouTube Kids.
NANNY ON THE NET: EXTRAS
The Family Feed is the major screen that Net Nanny provides. It displays the current location of any kid devices at the top of the screen, and it lists all of the most recent actions that have occurred below that.
Given the level of online activity that your children engage in, it is possible that this is not the most effective method for viewing certain activities. The fact is, however, that it is a convenient choice for either skimming through the day to determine whether or not anything is worthy of your attention or just taking a short check to see what is going on at the moment.
The App Advisor
Net Nanny has yet another one of its ones-of-a-kind offerings. This article, which is written by the editorial team at Zift, is an attempt to assist you in determining whether or not certain applications, games, and services would be suitable for your kid. Each app listing includes a heading that provides an indication of whether or not the app is considered safe for children by the Zift team. Following this, the listing provides a comprehensive explanation for you to follow in order to make your own decision.
This contains a “Zift Advisory” that provides a list of some of the possible issues that may arise with the application. These issues may include chat, live streaming, location tracking, picture sharing, stranger danger (which allows for interactions with strangers), and lastly, adult material.
There is a brief explanation of the application, which is then followed by a much more in-depth exploration of what the application is and how it functions. Additionally, there is a part that explains how the Zift team came to the conclusion that the application is either safe for children or not safe for children. Finally, it contains screenshots of the software that were taken from the app store.
Despite the fact that this function is included within the App Management portion of Net Nanny, it is also accessible for free on the Zift website, where it is accompanied by a variety of articles on digital parenting. This is a wonderful resource that may assist you in making selections about new applications for your children, depending on how well-versed you are in the most popular apps that are now available.
VERDICT: NET NANNY REVIEW OF THE NET
Net Nanny continues to be the most effective parental control tool currently available on the market. Its web-filtering technology simply beats that of every other service that I examined in terms of both its effectiveness and the breadth of functions that it offers.
Both the mobile applications and the online site have been thoughtfully built and are easy to use, and the entire feature set now satisfies almost all of our requirements. The two components that are lacking are total app control on iOS, which can only be accomplished by using OurPact, and text/call monitoring, which is now only available via Qustodio, which is one of the services that came under my evaluation. One other thing that can be a worry is the annual membership fee that Net Nanny charges. If this is something that you are concerned about, then you might want to choose Kaspersky Safe Kids, which offers an excellent deal.
In light of all that has been said, I believe that the premium price of Net Nanny is rather justified when taking into consideration its excellent online filtering, vast features, and wide platform support.
