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.

Mobicip 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 devices and Standard is priced at $4.99/month and covers up to 10 devices, and 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 setting controls with Mobicip, you must first create a Mobicip account and add profiles for each of your children to the account. 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 also view your child’s activity and see what search terms and websites they have been searching for.

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. Schedules can be set, defining at what times screen use is allowed, meaning you can block screen use at mealtimes or when your child should be sleeping. A Vacation Mode option lets you change these schedules during holidays or other occasions, with a set 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: Time limits can be set on apps or outright blocked 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, so 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, requests for more screentime or access to sites, and child’s location history. An Alerts tab is on this dashboard, which shows all of the activity that Mobicip has flagged as concerning, so this will make it easier to find any bad habits than looking through every single site your child visited.

• Web filtering: Filters can be set up to block inappropriate websites, based on 20 different categories such as Dating, Gambling and Alcohol. A porn blocker is included, and you will receive alerts if your child attempts to access it. A YouTube filter is also included, allowing you to set limits on how long it is used 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 will make them more open to being monitored, as it makes being monitored feel like more of a collaborative situation.

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 this means that children could still use X and TikTok without their activity being monitored. 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 also set controls directly on your child’s social media accounts 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.

Like with all parental control apps, children could be unhappy with 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.