Parental lock app for my child's iPhone

The lock that ends early

Apple's Screen Time comes on every iPhone, and Downtime is its scheduled lock. On a phone where nobody locked the date and time, a child moves the clock forward and Downtime ends early. Apple's support article notes that Date & Time may go gray once a Screen Time passcode is set. A parent can't close a gap nobody told them about.

Our team went through 6,731 App Store reviews covering ten well-known apps for parents. Of those, 353 describe rules and limits that did not hold. Another 283 describe a way around the controls. A bedtime lock that ends an hour early gives back the hour the lock was bought for.

The filter that fails open

Many lock apps send the child's web traffic through a filter of their own. Ask the seller one plain question: if the filter shuts down or the Wi-Fi drops, does the web shut too? When a filter fails open, every site gets through until someone turns the filter back on.

Read the App Store privacy label while you are on the listing. Apple's label names location and browsing history as separate entries, with a Tracking section too. A lock that reads every page your child opens holds a record somebody else keeps.

The phone sold with a plan as the lock

Some companies sell the lock as a child phone with a monthly plan attached. Year one on the lowest calling plan runs $382.68 to $948, with the handset and the plan counted together. Add a data plan or step up to a bigger plan, and year one runs past $1,000. A few of those handsets get paid off month by month and work only on the seller's own network. A phone bought that way can't follow the child to another carrier later.

The lock app carries surprises of its own. Picture two children with an iPhone apiece, a parent's iPhone and one iPad the children pass back and forth. Four Apple devices fit inside most base family tiers, which run between $50 and $150 yearly. The extras are where the total climbs. One seller tells parents to buy a $49 add-on, renewed yearly, for every child whose iPhone texts the app should see. Two children add $98 more. A different app needs a Windows or Mac computer on hand before the app can show texts from an iPhone. A third seller caps the middle tier at three devices, so the shared iPad forces a jump to ten devices at $150 yearly.

Check how often the charge lands, too. Paying month to month can come to double the annual figure. Over a year, monthly payments add up to $168 where the annual plan is $99, and $119.88 where the annual plan is $59.99. A first-year discount may vanish at renewal.

What you are looking for

Before your Apple Account is charged, put any lock app through seven tests.

1. Your child's current iPhone runs the lock, with no handset to buy and no contract.
2. A single subscription locks every child and every device in the house.
3. The privacy label lists no browsing history and no location for your child.
4. Bedtime ends at your hour because the clock is locked, even if somebody tries to change the time.
5. A pause tapped on your phone shuts the child's phone in seconds, and calls still ring through.
6. A chore holds the phone shut until the final item on the list gets a check mark.
7. Apple does the billing, cancelling lives in your Apple Account settings, and no card number sits with the seller.

An app that passes all seven is the one you are looking for.

The lock we built, test by test

SimpleSentinel takes that list one line at a time, lock by lock.

The handset your child already has. iOS 17 or newer on an iPhone or iPad is all the lock needs, on Apple's Screen Time. You need an iPhone of your own. Kid Mode locks your own iPhone to one child's profile, so a toddler can use your phone instead of owning one.

One plan for the household. Every child and every device sit under one subscription. A sitter's link and a second guardian are part of the subscription. A new iPad on the birthday list leaves the bill alone.

A lock that reads nothing. We never see a text, a web page, a screenshot or where the phone is. On our side sit the family's rule list and chore list, nothing else. Texts and photos stay on the child's iPhone.

The locked clock. On a phone linked to SimpleSentinel the clock is locked, whether or not anyone found that setting. Each bedtime rule lives on our server, and the rule returns to the phone each time the phone checks in. Moving the clock changes nothing, and Downtime ends at the time you picked.

The pause. Press pause in your app, and your child's iPhone shuts within a few seconds, whether a game level or a video is half over. Calls keep ringing through, and your child can still call you. The pause lifts when you tap Resume.

Chores before the screen. Type "Dishes" on your phone, pick the child and put a lock on the chore. The phone stays shut until your child checks off the final chore. Then the phone opens by itself.

Billed by Apple. Your Apple Account carries the charge, and Apple's settings screen is where you cancel. No card number reaches our company, and no billing login does either. Find My and Ask to Buy go on working the way they always have.

Two more locks go beyond the seven tests. Deleting an app waits on your permission, so an app comes off the phone only when you say. A No Ignore message holds your child's screen until Acknowledge gets tapped, and that tap lands on your phone.

Questions parents type

What does a parental lock app do on an iPhone?

A parental lock app closes your child's phone from your own phone. The lock lands right away as a pause, on a schedule as Downtime, or until a chore is done. On an iPhone each lock rides on Apple's Screen Time.

Can a child turn the lock off by changing the time?

On a phone where nobody locked the date and time, a child moves the clock forward and Downtime ends early. On a phone linked to SimpleSentinel the clock is locked, whether or not anyone found that setting. The rule comes back from our server on every check-in, so the lock holds until your hour.

Can my child still call me while the phone is locked?

Yes. Calls ring through under every pause and every Downtime window. Your child can reach you from a locked phone.

Does one lock app work for two children on a shared iPad?

Yes. Each child signs in to the shared iPad with a private code and gets separate rules. The one subscription spans every child and every device in the house.

Start the 7-day trial
On the App Store. Billed by Apple.

The plan and the price are on simplesentinel.com/pricing.