What is Mobicip? What parents need to know

Mobicip is a monitoring software with a wide range of parental controls intended to help parents stay aware of what their children do online and nurture positive digital habits in them.

The app is available for download on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Chromebook devices.

Mobicip works through a paid subscription model, which has 3 subscription tiers. Lite costs $2.99/month and gives coverage for 5 device. The Standard plan costs $4.99 per month and covers up to 10 devices. Both give access to most of Mobicip’s features.

The most expensive subscription, Premium, costs $7.99/month and gives coverage for 20 devices. Premium includes all the features of Lite and Standard. It also offers social media monitoring, app timers, and parenting tips.

A free 7 day Premium trial is available. This means you can try out Mobicip before deciding to commit to a subscription.

To begin using Mobicip, you must create a Mobicip account and add profiles for each of your children. Then download the Mobicip app on to every device you wish to track and manage.

Once you complete this, you can begin setting controls on your child’s devices from your own phone or laptop. From this dashboard you can view your child’s activity and see what search terms and websites they have been searching.

Mobicip offers all the essential tools that are present in most popular parental control apps. These include:

• Screen time management: Parents can set limits on how long children can use their devices each day. You can set schedules to allow screen use at specific times. This means you can block screen use at mealtimes or when your child should be sleeping. Vacation Mode lets you change schedules during holidays, setting a date for when the schedule returns to normal. Parents also have the option to instantly lock all devices if they need their children’s immediate attention.

• Social media monitor: Mobicip tracks your child’s social media posts and interactions to see if there is any inappropriate language or content. Parents will receive alerts if Mobicip identifies any cyberbullying, self-harm or predatory behaviour. This monitoring only works on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat on Android devices.

• App blocking: You can set time limits on apps or block them altogether. Apps can be blocked or have time limits set using 3 predetermined categories: Social Media, Games and Entertainment.  However, it is not made clear what category different apps fall into. If you choose to block all entertainment apps you may block an app you did not mean to restrict access to. Limits can not be set on individual apps either, meaning if you want to set a time limit on one specific game, you have to set a time limit on all games apps. All 17+ apps are blocked by default and can not be allowed.

• Activity reports: Parents can view their children’s online activity from the dashboard. Mobicip tracks daily screentime and time spent in specific apps, browsing history and child’s location history. An Alerts tab is on this dashboard, which shows all of the activity that Mobicip has flagged as concerning. This will make it easier to find any bad habits than looking through every single site your child visited.

• Web filtering: “You can set filters to block inappropriate websites based on 20 different categories, such as Dating, Gambling, and Alcohol. The app includes a porn blocker and sends alerts if your child attempts to access it. It also has a YouTube filter that lets you set time limits or block it altogether. If you have a young child, you can set the web filter to Whitelist-only mode, which will block every website except ones which you have specifically allowed.

• Location tracking: Using the GPS on their device, Mobicip allows parents to track their child’s location. They can also create geofences, which means parents can create a boundary and will receive an alert if their child goes outside of it.

• Child dashboard: Children have a dashboard too, where they can self-regulate their screen time, request access to blocked sites or more screen time, and add their schedule. Giving children this control encourages them to be more open to monitoring, as it makes the process feel more collaborative.

Premium subscribers can also read expert parenting tips, giving advice on how to keep kids safe online.

• Wide range of parental controls
• Social media content alerts
• Web filtering, with Whitelist-only mode for young children
• Child dashboard can improve communication and trust
• Location and geofencing capabilities

Mobicip offers social media monitoring, which is something some other monitoring apps lack, but it does not monitor all social media platforms. It tracks activity on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, but children can still use X and TikTok without the app monitoring their activity. Because of this, it is still important to discuss your children’s online lives with them, so that you can learn about what they’re doing on these platforms. You can set controls on your child’s social media to keep them protected on platforms that Mobicip does not monitor.

There is also no call or text monitoring on Mobicip, so while children may not be able to send bullying or inappropriate messages on Instagram without parents being notified, they could send these messages through text.

As with all parental control apps, children may dislike being monitored. Discussing why you’re doing it, emphasising that it’s for safety and not to spy on them, will make it less likely that they try and find ways around the controls.