What is TeenSafe?
TeenSafe found at Teensafe.com, is an online software that gives parents the ability to monitor their kid's digital activities. TeenSafe was established in 2011 and was an idea of friends and parents Sukant and Ameeta Jain, Scott and Terri Walker, and Allan and Lindsay Legator.
How Does TeenSafe Work?
https://youtu.be/GJ4Pfg2lq1M
TeenSafe is a smartphone app that is developed for parents who want to ensure their kids are safe and sound. The App works with all Apple (iPhones and iPads) and Android devices and costs $14.95 per month, but a new user has a 7-day free trial period.
Once you (parent) set up a TeenSafe account, you will have a personal and secure dashboard that, according to the company, can be used to access the following data:
- Incoming or outgoing call logs, alongside information such as contact name, call duration, number, and dates
- Current location
- Received, sent, and deleted SMS and iMessages
- Location history
- Installed apps on a device
- Facebook and Instagram activity
- Web browsing history and bookmarks
- Deleted Kik and WhatsApp messages
- Web search history
To be allowed to subscribe to the service, a parent needs to be at least 18 years old and be legally authorized to monitor a child.
TeenSafe Features
TeenSafe provides two applications for Android and iOS. Both Apps are meant to increase flexibility and control.
- TeenSafe Monitor – this app enables parents to view their kids’ texts on their phones without the need for a PC. TeenSafe Monitor is a phone version of your TeenSafe.com dashboard.
- TeenSafe Control – this app enables parents to set restrictions, pause, or block apps on their teen's phone at any time; and this is done It can:
- Pause your teen’s phone during designated times: when driving, during dinner, or at bedtime
- Block access to the app store, and block apps like SnapChat
- In 2017, a new feature is being introduced. It will make it possible to use the app to schedule restrictions on phone and app usage during certain times.
Pros:
No need for jailbreaking or rooting: Jailbreaking a phone can be like rocket science especially for parents. But fortunately the TeenSafe App relieves you from this 21st-century madness because the app does not alter your phone.
Monitor unlimited number of teens at the cost of one subscription: With a single account, you can monitor as many kids as you want, and you will not pay extra.
Pause your kids’ phone at any time: You can literally pause your kid's phone when you need to get their attention from POKEMON GO or whatever they're playing nowadays. You also get the chance to stop them from texting while driving. How sweet is that?
Positive BBB Rating: Some of you live and die by the approval of the Better Business Bureau. So you'll be happy to know Teensafe has an A+ BBB rating at the time of this review.
TeenSafe Complaints:
Images and Videos cannot be displayed: While you can see that a picture/video was sent, it is not possible to view the exact image or video. How will you know if your kid is sexting?
TeenSafe is limited to specific devices: Unfortunately the appl only works with Apple and Android. So you Blackberry and Windows phone fanboys and girls are ass out.
TeenSafe does not monitor SnapChat: Given the popularity of SnapChat, being unable to control it means parents could be missing out on plenty of potentially useful information.
It is not discreet enough: Setup is hardly discreet. For example, when setting up an account, you will need the verification that will be sent to your kid’s phone. This tips off your child that he/she is being monitored. Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the app? Furthermore, you need your kid's iCloud username and password for your tracking.
Additional Complaints Against Teensafe.
The tracker is not accurate: This may probably result from the fact that it needs to update information when your kid changes location. This can be misleading and means it is hard to keep track of your child’s location in real-time. So, forget about following your kid's every move with this app.
No refunds for you: Whenever a subscriber ‘accesses data,’ they cannot receive a refund. So if you're not happy with the service, then tough luck.
The data is old: Because iCloud backups need to be made, the data is a bit old (12-24 hours) and makes the app irrelevant if you want instant access to texts. Nothing is up to the minute.
Requires some technical skills to set up: Let's face it most parents aren't technically savvy. That's why you have kids to help you with that stuff. If that's the case in your house, setting this up may be difficult for you.
So Is Teensafe Actually Legit and Useful?
Overall, TeenSafe has a fair amount of negative and positive reviews. So it's clear that there are some people that are happy with this service and some that aren't for the reasons we listed above. Most people seem to be happy with Teensafe so it may be worth a shot considering the free trial. But you better be tech savvy and have access to your kids phone and their passwords to make this effective.
In any event, we'd love to hear your opinion about Teensafe.com. So chime in below with your comments or personal review. Feel free to watch out TeenSafe youtube video as well.
TeenSafe Review
-
Our Overall Rating
-
Support
-
Quality
Summary
Teensafe provides you with a way to snoop on your kid's phone activities. But it's not as discreet and easy to set up.
I heard about this app when my daughters were a bit younger. I did not install the app and seeing this review, I think that the negatives outweigh the positives, in my case anyway. The point is to keep tabs on your kids so how effective is it if it is not in real time. My son is only 7 so he does not need to be looked after when he leaves the house but if all of the kinks are worked out by the time he does, this is something that would interest me.
Thanks for sharing your insight and reservations about this app. It definitely has some areas of improvements. I like the overall concept but the excecution could use some work given some of the complaints.
I’m constantly looking for an app like this to regulate my son’s screen time. The one problem that I constantly run into is that he is smart and just deletes the app from his iPad, rendering the app useless. Yeah I need to be able to control my son more but there has to be an app out there that will prevent this. Does this app?
I think that’s the problem with apps like this. Your tech savvy kids will figure out a way around it especially if the set up requires getting their login details and sending a confirmation. I guess the argument would be that we’re the parents and if our kids decide to delete the app or adjust it in any way, we should discipline them by taking away their phones. I can’t believe that this is the type of stuff parents have to do nowadays. The joy and curse of technology. I don’t know if this app does what you want. You may want to download it.
Hey Eddy, Thanks for your thorough review of TeenSafe. I think the point in this type of smartphone app is not that parents are secretly able to spy on their kids but that it’s a level of accountability. The fact that a teenager knows their parent can access their online engagement would alone deter, if not prevent, poor choices with their smart phones.Do you have first hand experience with this app?
I hear what you’re saying but teenagers are very tech savvy. I doubt it acts a deterrent if they know about it. I think it’s more of a challenge to them on how to circumvent the app’s ability to monitor them. lol But I appreciate your feedback.
I think the concept of this app to protect your child is a good one. But the app does seem to have a lot of bugs in it right now.
It is important for your teenagers to have their own phone today to be safe when they are out and about. But could this be invading your kids privacy by putting this app on their phone without them knowing it?
I guess it all depends on the parent and their child. In some households a child’s so called privacy is privilege not a right. So it’s definitely a slippery slope.
This is a wishy washy app. It’s good for people to be able to track your child’s location and be able to pause their phone to get attention from them. But all the other functions are just a straight up an invasion of privacy.
I can’t say I agree with this app because it would kill any boundaries that your child needs to feel comfortable. Quite frankly this app seems like it will ruin parent-child relationships depending on what kind of parent uses this app.
Hey Garth,
I can see both sides of the argument regarding this app. There is a level of an invasion of privacy. It all depends on the type of parenting style you have. I was raised old school. There was no such thing as privacy. Their philosophy was very simple. You live in my house and I pay the bills so you don’t get any privacy unless I want to give it to you. It’s not your right. And now that I’m a parent I understand the mentality but don’t totally buy into it. So I guess it all depends on your relationship and parenting style. But I definitely appreciate your point of view.
I have 4 grandchildren and they all have phones. In today’s world it is unfortunately necessary to do all we can to protect our kids.
I was wondering if the additional features you mentioned that were going to be added this year would include the coverage of SnapChat?
Also, did I get it right that one account will cover multiple phones?
Lastly, are the agreements with TeenSafe a binding contract or is it month to month?
Thanks for sharing.
Agreed, we live in that type of world where you gotta do what you gotta do to keep your kids safe.
The contract is month to month. I don’t know if those other features will be added. It could be the social networks don’t allow certain access. But you could email them directly to find out what their plans may be.
So if they have a phone with a sim card, can’t they just get another phone and switch their sim card and use that one instead without restrictions? Or is it attached to the sim? I was thinking of upgrading phone plans to include 25g of data per phone. I don’t need it but apparently the kids do. We have a family plan and i have 5 lines. Each has 5gb of data. One line hasn’t been used for used for over a year. It was mu grandma’s and she passed away. Each line is $20. If i change my plan i have to remove the unused line which will change my plan because tha plan is no longer available. I like that my son’s data runs out because i have some control for about a week each month. I would have to get teensafe to control his data usage othwrwise. The other two are over 20 yrs old so idc what theyre doing.
Did you find this review helpful? Yes No
That’s a good question. I wouldn’t know. You may want to contact them to verify this or not.