FemiSafe App Review – An Overview

FemiSafe App Review – An Overview 

FemiSafe is one of the promising and prominent parental control apps. I have listed it among the top 10 best parental control apps due to being a reasonable option. Its initial three days free trial impressed me so much that I would happily buy its subscription. However, it’s better alternative like FamilyTime was a winner because my children loved its TimeBank feature.

Overall, FemiSafe proved to be impressive in case of multiple features from screen limits to web controls, location tracking, and social media monitoring. However, it does have a few shortcomings that are easy to sort with some updates.

Sometimes you may not get the app detecting potentially harmful terms in the web filters and let the content slide. Bypassing the time limits can be easy on different devices by changing time zones, the TikTok and YouTube monitoring is not that smart as you expect. Plus, the reports or insights are basic readings that apps collect for you.

Overall, it’s an average app that provides you with digital parental controls. For the features of the device coverage, it appears to be a satisfactory deal. You can observe a relatively nice control on your child’s device.

My Hands-on Experience with FemiSafe Parental Control App  

My FamiSafe review is all about my hands-on experience with the app for its free trial period. I marked it as one of the descent parental control apps due to its simple interface, good control options, features and more. The app is designed for the parents to control and monitor their child’s device.From the setup to navigation, it is pretty smooth and convenient.

A pool of features makes it a perfect choice when you are looking for the best controls and management. The screen time settings in the app are pretty extensive with a good range of web and app filters. However, the driving monitor is one of the exceptional features offered by the app and fits really well for the parents of teens.

I rolled out the free trial offered by FamiSafe, though it does have a few limitations on features like TikTok monitoring and social app detection. You cannot access these features, rest is all good to explore. Let’s have a look in detail.

Setting Up FamiSafe Parental Control App

In my opinion, the best parental control app is easy to install and setup.If its setup is a little messy, then you will face issues ahead. And it was the case with FamiSafe. The installation and setup procedure were pretty much simple.

I choose the web to create an account and set up profiles accordingly. It was pretty simple and smooth to set up and organize the profiles. All I had to do was create a profile, then download the FamiSafe Jr app on my child’s device, scan the QR code and it was done.

However, the installation setup was quite extensive just like the other parental control apps (Qustodio, Bark and more). The app does require a few permissions and settings to work in the background and access information. So, you have to be patient with the process and follow the instructions on screen.

FemiSafe Highlights

Top Features 

• Web and App Filtration – Screen the inappropriate apps, websites, or searches on child devices using default and customized filters.
• Screen Time Limits – Limit screen time for specific hours, limit apps to be used for certain time limits. 
• Location tracking – Know the exact location of your child in real time or look at the visited places. 
• Schedules – Set up schedules for no screen time or to block devices for a certain time. 
• Image Detection – Get alerts about any inappropriate image saved on your child’s device. 
• Insight Report – Access detailed insight reports of your child’s digital activities. 
• Drive Monitoring – Get updates about driving patterns of your teen driver and guide them about the best practices. 
• YouTube & TikTok Monitor – Monitor TikTok activities and put filters in YouTube for safer content access. 
• Social App Reviews – Review social apps and their feeds to identify how is your child using these apps 

Screen Time Limits

FamiSafe is designed to offer extensive screen time limit settings, providing numerous options to address prolonged screen time issues among children. The first step is to set up screen time limits for your child. You can set it for 24 hours, but I personally set it for an average of 2 hours a day. This allowed my child to use the device for up to 2 hours each day, outside of specific schedules.

Another valuable feature that FamiSafe provides is the ability to set different screen time limits for each day. This means you can increase screen time during the weekends and decrease it on weekdays based on your child’s schedule.

FamiSafe also offers an interesting feature: the ability to quickly add or reduce time from your child’s screen time, typically in 10-minute intervals.This feature is particularly useful for micro-management when necessary.

FamiSafe is efficient in providing advance notifications on the child’s device when the screen time is approaching its limit. This notification helps the child either complete their task or request additional time. However, there is one downside I encountered. While my child did request extra time, I never received an alert on the desktop portal to grant the additional time promptly.

Downtime Schedules

FamiSafe offers you the ability to schedule downtime for your child’s devices, similar to other parental control apps for Android. Using this feature, you can select a specific time frame for downtime, such as their sleep time, study time, or dinner times.

You also have the option to customize the downtime settings and add new schedules to block device usage for kids. I tried this feature on Qustodio and Mobicip, and it’s really helpful in keeping my kids focused. Additionally, I was able to customize the application of these settings for every day or select days of the week.

Web Filters & Safe Search

Along with screen time management, FamiSafe enables you to control what your child does during their screen time, which is truly amazing. The app offers extensive web filtering to help ensure your child’s online safety.

The app includes more than 19 default filter categories. When you enable Safe Search, these filters ensure that your child won’t access explicit content, including adultery, hate speech, crime, and more. These filters are not limited to the default options; you can add additional filters or search terms to the list based on your preferences. If you feel the need to add specific keywords, you’re free to do so.

Additionally, it’s possible to block inappropriate or explicit websites on various browsers. This feature works with all popular browsers and is challenging to bypass through VPNs. The filters even function in incognito mode.

However, I did notice one drawback. While the filters work well for simple queries, they may not be as efficient for trickier queries. Occasionally,inappropriate results might slip through the filters and appear on your child’s device screen.

App Blocker & Limits

App management with FamiSafe is quite handy but can be a little confusing.The parental control app allows you to organize apps into ‘allowed’ and’blocked’ categories.

Initially, I thought that selecting ‘allowed’ apps would automatically move the rest of the apps to the ‘blocked’ category, but this is not the case.Even after selecting ‘allowed’ apps, your child can still access all other apps on the device, which made me question the purpose of the ‘allowed’ apps feature.

Next, there’s the app blocker, which simply puts a block on specific apps, preventing your child from accessing them.

Lastly, there’s the ‘time limit apps’ feature, which lets you restrict the usage of certain apps. For example, you can allow your child to use specific apps for a limited time during their daily screen time allowance. It’s important to note that the time limit for each app you select is the same for the child. Daily time limits and app limits are coordinated and not additional.

Gallery Monitoring

FamiSafe offers an extensive feature of screening “inappropriate pictures” right from the gallery of your child’s device. Any picture that is harmful and not suitable as per the filters and parental controls will be marked.You will get the notification about this content and can act upon it accordingly.

I found this feature helpful and similar to mSpy gallery monitoring feature.In fact, mSpy offers you complete access to your child’s device gallery. You can check the pictures and video files there. In the case of FamiSafe, you can only access the notifications about disturbing images.

Location & Geofencing

You can keep your child connected with the help of live location tracking and location history track. FamiSafe keeps track of every single ping on a map where your child visits everyday. You can see the live location on your dashboard all the time and receive notifications in insights for the visited places.

FamiSafe lets you add geofence areas on a map for your child. These are the most visited or frequent locations like home, school, or any other regular spot like friend’s place, play zone or more. Whenever the child enters or leaves the place, you get a notification. Plus, the app ping the activity into a daily stat report too.

It was impressed with the location accuracy and the live location enablement of the app. I did not have to ask for locations from my child like Bark. In fact, it was right there on my screen all the time.

Social Media App Monitoring

FamiSafe offers you the app content detection feature, which is smart enough to analyze and screen content within social media apps.

Whether your child is posting, interacting, or watching on social media apps, this detection feature keeps you informed by providing detailed reports of their activities.

However, it’s important to note that this feature is premium and not available in the free trial. To access it, you must subscribe to one of the paid plans among the options.

YouTube & TikTok Monitoring

It’s understandable that as parents, you may have concerns about video-sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok, as they can expose children to various types of content, not all of which may be appropriate. FamiSafe offers monitoring features to help address some of these concerns, although it’s important to note that it doesn’t provide full control over these platforms.

For YouTube, FamiSafe provides a feature called “YouTube App Control,” which allows you to set limits and restrictions. You can create a library of suspicious words and block specific videos, channels, or add keywords and search terms that you find inappropriate. While this feature allows you to monitor and filter content to some extent, it may not completely block access to certain content, as it primarily serves as a notification system.

As for TikTok, it seems that the monitoring feature may not be available in the free version of FamiSafe, and it provides insight into what videos your child has watched or accessed on the platform.

It’s worth considering that parental control apps like FamiSafe can provide some level of oversight and guidance, but they may not offer foolproof solutions for managing access to content on these platforms. Continued communication with your child about responsible online behavior and content consumption remains essential. Additionally, staying informed about the latest features and updates on these platforms can help you make informed decisions regarding their usage.

Driving Safe

The driving feature in FamiSafe appears to be a valuable tool for parents with teenage drivers, providing insights into their driving behavior. It offers detailed statistics, including information on braking, speeding, and hard braking, which can help parents monitor their child’s driving habits.

However, it’s important to note that the feature allows you to set safe speed limits for your child, but it may have limitations in terms of efficiency. Speed limits can vary from one road to another, and setting a single speed limit for all situations might not provide the most accurate results. This limitation could potentially be addressed with more flexible and context-aware speed limit settings in the future.

The collected driving statistics can be a useful conversation starter for discussing safe driving practices with your teenage driver. It can help you identify areas where improvement may be needed and reinforce responsible driving behavior.

Overall, while the driving feature in FamiSafe seems promising, it’s essential to consider its limitations and have open discussions with your teen about safe driving practices and responsible behavior on the road.

Activity Reports

You can have a quick overview of your child’s daily activity on your dashboard. It contains basic information such as the allowed time, time consumed, time remaining, and more. You also have additional controls, such as adding or removing time allowances and immediately blocking the device.

However, for more detailed insights, you need to access the reports. These reports provide a comparative display of all activities and allow you to check statistics ranging from a single day to a continuous 30-day period.This feature helps you monitor your child’s activities over time.

I found the reports to be quite basic and straightforward. They lack any insights or analytics that could offer suggestions for improving your child’s digital activities. All the statistics provided are something you can access daily, with the only difference being the combined data available in the reports.  

What Impressed Me in FemiSafe App?

It’s great to hear that you found FamiSafe to be a good pick for your needs and that it offers several features that you appreciate. It seems like the app’s screen time filters, which allow you to set daily screen time limits and schedules, along with time limits for specific apps, are quite useful for maintaining healthy screen time habits for your child.

The customization options for web filters, where you can block certain websites and even add your own search terms, provide an additional layer of control and security, which is essential when it comes to ensuring safe online experiences for children.

Another interesting feature that made me give FamiSafe points is its alerts.The parental control app keeps you up to date with what your child is doing and if anything serious happens. It’s good for parents to be alert and informed about the things happening in their kid’s life.

A Few Downsides 

Overall the app has been doing amazing but what i observed as a downside was related to the web blocker and filters. For the blocked websites FamiSafe works really fine. However, for the manual searches, it’s concerning that some manipulations of search terms can bypass the filters.

I made two searches to check the web blocker efficiency, for the search term “best drink for a hot summer day” the blocker halted my search and blocked the access to the page claiming it’s in the block list.

However , for the second search “Shot fire sound” exposed me to the gunshot sound effects in the search results. The notable fact here is I made no changes to my search filters or web blocker settings.

Another issue that I observed is related to the app blocker settings. It can be confusing for the parent initially to determine whether the app in the “Allowed app” category will remain accessible even when included in the app limits or will fall into the blocked app category.

Regarding TikTok monitoring, it’s good to know that FamiSafe provides a history of TikTok usage, but it’s disappointing that it doesn’t offer more control over the content accessed on the platform. Comprehensive content filtering and control options are crucial for ensuring a safer online experience for children.

Pricing 

FamiSafe offers you two premium plans to access the ultimate features. Its Annual plan cost around $59.99 and a monthly plan for $9.99. If you are not comfortable with the annual subscription or need parental control for one or few months, you do have an alternative option.

For a before purchase experience Femi Safe offers you to have a 3-day free trial. You can experience and explore most of its features without paying anything or entering your payment details.

Overall, it’s fair to use multiple devices with a single subscription, however comparing its price structure with the FamilyTime, you can get similar and efficient features at a fairly low price range. Plus, play only for the devices you are managing with the app. It’s better to check out the options you can have before making a final decision.

FemiSafe Vs FamilyTime

My Take on FemiSafe!  

FamiSafe is a decent parental control app that offers all the necessary
features nicely bundled together. Within this toolkit, it allows you access to advanced options like extensive social media monitoring and tracking, among others. However, these advanced tools are somewhat less efficient compared to other apps.

It lacks features such as TimeBank, FunTime, FamilyPause, and more, which you can find in FamilyTime, as well as similar options in Mobicip, Qustodio,and Bark. Another reason I recommend exploring other options is the pricing relative to the features. The features available in FamiSafe, at a price of $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year, are offered at far more competitive rates by other parental control apps.

Nevertheless, if you want to experience it firsthand, I recommend taking advantage of its 3-day free trial. You can explore the app without providing any payment details and decide whether it meets your requirements or not. I assure you that interacting with the app will not leave you disappointed.