mSpy parental control software review

Companies that make the best parental control apps need to make a philosophical choice when producing software: do you want to assume trust and give children some leeway about their behavior, or is it better to try and protect kids by tracking everything?

The developers behind mSpy have clearly opted for the latter approach, with a slate of features that monitors keystrokes, locations, chats, calls, pictures and more.

This parental control method won’t work for everyone, especially for parents who want to maintain trust in their familial relationships. But if you are keen to take a closer look at your kids’ online behavior, is this the app for you? Read on to find out.

mSpy review: Plans and pricing

If you’re a parent who wants to figure out how much mSpy actually costs, good luck: the app’s website makes it quite difficult to actually find this information.

The most affordable option is mSpy Premium. At the time of writing, it costs $11.67 per month on Android and iOS if you pay for an annual package. The 3-month plan costs $28/month, whereas the 1-month plan costs $48.99/month. Notably, there’s no feature variation between the three options – just the difference in subscription period.

That price gives you support for one child device and a broad array of features, although some of those only work on Android and some require users to root or jailbreak phones to get them working.

Then there’s the mSpy Extreme plan, meant for Android devices, costing $23.99 if you opt for the annual plan. The 3-month plan costs $45 per month, whereas the 6-month plan costs $33.99 per month.

This is the highest level of subscription available with mSpy and unlocks several features otherwise not available in the Premium plan, including remote camera access to the target device, ambient recording through the microphone, a screen recorder, and GPS location tracking.

However, one of the biggest advantages of Extreme is that you won’t need to root the target Android device to get the most out of it.

That said, we noticed several internal inconsistencies within mSpy’s support documentation that hint at the possibility that users might still need to root their devices to access advanced features such as keylogging, geofencing, and social media monitoring.

Even mSpy’s own page on its Extreme product offers paid support specifically for rooting the device.

Lastly, the Family Kit offers support for three devices and delivers all of the features available in mSpy Premium. However, the exact price isn’t actually listed on mSpy’s website, at the time of writing.

The pricing available on mSpy feels deliberately obscured, then, and those prices are also extremely high. Other parental apps don’t offer the keylogging and sheer detail of mSpy, but they offer lots of conventional parental access features at a fraction of the price. Plus, it’s worth noting that mSpy doesn’t offer any free trial, only a demo of its platform.

mSpy review: Features

So, what can you actually do with mSpy? Unsurprisingly, many of the app’s features revolve around information gleaned from keylogging.

Parents can see text messages, images sent and received over SMS, and Facebook Messenger activity – alongside chats from apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Kik, Telegram, Tinder, Viber, Instagram, iMessage and more.

You’ll be able to get information about who has texted your children and who they’re texting, including contact numbers and names. Unsurprisingly, mSpy’s logging and reporting is always comprehensive – access the parent app and you’ll be confronted with a fearsome amount of information.

Parents can rely on mSpy’s keylogger to see every stroke that’s typed on the phone – so you can check deleted messages, URLs and more. It’s also possible to get alerts if your children type specific words.

And because much of this functionality runs in the background, hidden on the target device, your children may not even know they’re being monitored – or, at least, they won’t find it so intrusive. In case your child does end up finding the app and deleting it, mSpy will send you a notification on your dashboard so that you can take appropriate action.

On the same dashboard, you can also see your child’s device’s battery levels. So, if they say they couldn’t text or call you because of low battery, you’d know right away if they're telling you the truth.

The app allows parents to monitor call logs and emails, including attachments and the ability to see emails they’ve sent and received. Parents can see browser histories, see data about how often sites are visited, filter based on categories and check their bookmarks – and even see what Wi-Fi networks children are using.

mSpy has also introduced AI chatbot monitoring, which keeps an eye on two of the most popular apps: ChatGPT and Gemini. Gone are the days when children used search engines like Google to enquire about their curiosities. A large chunk of this ‘search activity’ has now moved to AI chatbots.

However, since most parental control applications didn’t (still doesn't) include chatbot monitoring, it created a blind spot for parents. However, mSpy has this covered as well. It's, in fact, the only child monitoring app we know that offers this feature.

That’s not all: mSpy allows parents to block apps, see what apps are installed, and view photos and videos stored on the device. A screen-recording feature is also available so parents can get visual snapshots of child phone activity, even with disappearing message features that are now popular on many apps.

Parents can view their children’s current location using mSpy’s GPS-based functionality, and also use geofencing to get alerts when children enter or leave places where you want them to visit – or want them to avoid.

And if you pay for the Extreme version, you can also access their camera and microphone, record calls, and anonymously view Instagram.

It has a comprehensive set of keylogger-based features, but bear in mind that mSpy’s Android app is far more powerful than the iOS app. If you want to monitor an Apple device, you’ll need to do some jailbreaking to access mSpy’s whole range of features.

Rooting and jailbreaking is particularly concerning because it can, potentially, void your device warranty, prevent access to other apps and make devices more vulnerable to cybercrime.

However, mSpy's screen time management is basic, without the detail or granularity found in many other apps, and there’s no category-based website blocking or filtering – this is another area where the functionality is underwhelming. Other apps also offer more in terms of location-based features, including the option to track children’s driving habits.

mSpy review: Interface and in-use

Unsurprisingly, mSpy’s interface provides a comprehensive and in-depth look at your children’s device behavior. You can see everything, from message content and phone call logs to web histories and even the events in their calendar.

There are separate sections for browsing photos and videos, setting up keyword alerts, delving into the keylogger and viewing what apps your children have installed. The interface is clean, well-organized and easy to use, with straightforward menus and good organization. Once you’re set up, it’s easy to get started.

It’s a great interface if you want to delve into the data, but other apps make things a little easier to see summaries of daily and weekly activity – mSpy keeps things granular and specific rather than providing top-level reports.

There are three ways you could install mSpy on an iOS device. The first is iCloud Sync, which works on all iOS versions, for which you’ll need your child’s iCloud login details. However, if there’s no iCloud backup activated or two-step verification enabled, you’ll need physical access to the target device.

Secondly, there’s Wi-Fi Sync (iOS 13-16), where you’ll need to physically plug the target device into a Mac or PC for the initial sync. After that, updates will happen automatically when the phone is on the same Wi-Fi network as the computer.

Lastly, there’s the much-feared jailbroken method, where you’ll need a jailbroken device to install mSpy.

However, an important caveat worth noting is that non-jailbroken installation methods largely restrict which features work on the device and are limited to WhatsApp, SMS, call logs, browser history, calendar events, notes, Wi-Fi network history, and new app installation alerts.

Noticeably, you won’t be able to access features like keylogging, one of mSpy’s strongest selling points, screen recording, or camera and microphone access. In addition, tracking platforms like Telegram, Instagram, and Snapchat also isn’t possible with non-jailbroken iOS installations.

Keep in mind that even if you opt for non-jailbroken methods such as iCloud Sync or Wi-Fi Sync, you’ll still need physical access to the target device for a few minutes.

On Android, you’ll need to disable Google Play Protection to install the app and use most of its features, and parents need to root the phone to get access to every feature.

We’re pleased to see that mSpy provides installation guides for both platforms, but you get far more information if you pay extra for the Ultimate plan – a frustrating choice that feels particularly cynical.

There’s also an option to pay even more to get remote assistance with installation. But no matter what route you choose, mSpy setup is likely to be complicated, frustrating and potentially expensive.

mSpy review: Support

We found mSpy’s support options to be adequate for a parental monitoring application. First, there's a handy chatbot named Sparkle, which you can access by clicking the small chatbot icon at the bottom right of your screen and asking any questions you might have.

Additionally, there are several toll-free numbers listed across the website for various regions. Lastly, there’s also email support for non-urgent queries.

On top of this, mSpy also has a decent FAQ section on the website that answers several questions, although some answers can be a little underwhelming and might not really solve the issue at hand.

There’s also a dedicated mAssistant add-on, which you can opt for when subscribing to mSpy. It’ll come in handy if you face any issues installing mSpy on the target device. However, it's priced at a whopping $53.99, which is more than the cost of the core subscription itself.

mSpy review: The competition

mSpy faces tough competition from parental control apps that concentrate on conventional features rather than surveillance and keylogging.

Mobicip, for instance, is far more affordable than mSpy, with prices starting at just $2.99 per month, allowing you to manage up to five devices. Plus, Mobicip also offers a free basic plan for managing two devices, along with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, none of which are offered by mSpy.

One of Mobicip's most notable features is its ability to manage your children’s access to specific categories of websites. Mobicip offers more than 20 categories, including adult websites, cryptocurrencies, and so on.

If you want a more consensual approach towards parental monitoring, you can opt for an app like Bark. It doesn’t include features such as a keylogger, screen recorder, or camera or microphone access, and doesn’t even work stealthily in the background, but it adopts a more transparent approach.

You get comprehensive screen-time and app and website monitoring capabilities, including pre-built content categories to filter. There’s also real-time location tracking and geofencing.

Bark also sells its own hardware, called the Bark Phone – a tamper-proof locked-down device for children – and Bark Home – a router-connected box that extends screen-time monitoring and content filtering to every device on the home network.

mSpy review: Final verdict

If you’re not concerned with ethical or moral questions around keylogging, then there’s no doubt that mSpy does a great job here – on Android, at least, it can monitor virtually everything that your child does using their device.

It comes with one of the best keyloggers we’ve seen across parental control applications and covers a wide range of platforms, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Tinder, and Discord. It even includes AI chatbot monitoring for ChatGPT and Gemini.

mSpy runs invisibly on the child’s device and comes with features like screen recording, camera access, and microphone access.

But for all of its keylogging prowess, it falls short in many of the more conventional areas of parental control such as screen-time management and content filtering and is also pretty expensive when compared to peers.

If you need something more affordable, Mobicip can be a good choice. Or, if you want to adopt a more transparent approach with your children while monitoring them, Bark can be an excellent choice.

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