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ESET Parental Control (for Android)

Neil J. Rubenking
Jordan Minor
 & Neil J. Rubenking Principal Writer, Security
 & Jordan Minor Principal Writer, Software
Our Experts
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Whether you get it as a standalone app or as part of Multi-Device security, ESET's Android parental control app is a solid solution. - Parental Control
4.0 Excellent

The Bottom Line

Whether you get it as a standalone app or as part of Multi-Device security, ESET Parental Control (for Android) is a solid solution.

Pros & Cons

    • One Android app for parent and child.
    • Online configuration console.
    • Filters the Web.
    • Tracks child's location.
    • Create time limits and schedules.
    • No limit on children or devices.
    • App management.
    • No call or text blocking.
    • No iPhone version.

They may be competitors, but all the parental control apps we've reviewed at PCMag agree on one thing: You must save your kids from the Internet. With these services, parents can protect their children from online unpleasantness wherever youngsters browse the Web. And mobile versions of these programs include extra features tailored for the platform. ESET Parental Control for Android is a solid solution for families, though it lacks call and text blocking.

Getting Started

An annual subscription to ESET Parental Control for Android costs $29.99 per year. This looks more expensive than the other standalone Android parental control app, Net Nanny, but Net Nanny's $12.99 per year just covers a single device. A five-device (cross-platform) Net Nanny license lists for $74.99. ESET truly is more expensive than Kaspersky, though, as Kaspersky offers unlimited installations for $14.99 per year.

You can now also acquire the app as part of ESET Multi-Device Security 10($79.99 at ESET), which starts at $84.99 per year for six licenses. A single license lets you install the app on an unlimited number of children's devices, and you can try out all the premium features in a 30-day free trial. Note that there's no version for iOS devices, however, so if your family is a mixed mobile-platform environment, you're out of luck.

The Android app can function in child mode, for applying the rules, or in parent mode, for creating the rules. Norton and Kaspersky Safe Kids (for Android) also offer a single app that works both ways. You also need to set up a My ESET account, which lets you apply a child's profile configuration to multiple devices.

To start, you install ESET Parental Control from the Google Play Store, optionally associate it with your My ESET account, and enter the license key. During installation, you choose whether this is a child's or a parent's device. If it's a child's device, you select or create a child profile, enable ESET for app monitoring, and register it as a Device Administrator.

ESET Parental Control (for Android) Parental App

Like Norton Family Parental Control (for Android)($49.99 at NortonLifeLock), ESET emphasizes letting the child know what the rules are. Launching the app shows the child exactly what's being monitored, and what activities aren't permitted.

Web Guard

Whether from the My ESET online page or from the parent-mode app, you can choose which of 35 categories the content filter should block, or accept the defaults based on your child's age. There's also an option to monitor visits to inappropriate sites without blocking access.

Net Nanny and Mobicip (for Android)(39.99 Per Year for 5 Device Plan at Mobicip) manage their content filtering by forcing the use of a proprietary browser. Like Norton, Kaspersky, and several others, ESET has no such requirement.

When the child tries to visit a blocked site, the browser displays the simple message, "This site is not right for us. Let's try something else!" Other products, Norton among them, offer a more specific explanation of what triggered the block. There's a button at the bottom to request parental permission for access to the blocked site. In testing, I couldn't find any nasty sites that weren't blocked.

ESET blocks inappropriate sites even when they use a secure HTTPS connection. That's good, because otherwise a child could evade its monitoring using a secure anonymizing proxy.

ESET Parental Control (for Android) Blocked

Application Guard

Application Guard lets you manage your child's use of Android apps. Based on five age ranges, it marks apps as appropriate, inappropriate, or Fun & Games. Naturally you can tweak these settings if you wish. ESET always permits appropriate apps and always blocks inappropriate ones.

As for apps marked Fun & Games, ESET handles those differently. You can set a daily time budget for school days and for nonschool days, and also define a weekly schedule for when the child can use such apps.

Net Nanny (for Android)(12.00 Per Device for 5 Device Yearly Plan at Net Nanny) applies time limits to Internet access, not to specific apps. Kaspersky and Norton limit overall device use, but still allow emergency phone calls outside the time limits.

Reporting

From the parental control home page, you can see an overview of the child's website and app usage, as well as a location map. Norton and Qustodio also let you view the child's location. Kaspersky, Familoop Safeguard (for Android), and FamilyTime, among others, take this concept a step farther, letting parents define safe and unsafe locations, and sending a notification when the child crosses into or out of a defined location.

Parents can click on the Web Guard and Application Guard overviews for detailed reports. Web Guard reports blocked websites and visits to appropriate websites, summarizing each by category, with the option to dig in for specifics. If you set it to simply monitor rather than block, you also see visits to inappropriate websites.

Application Guard reports on the child's most-used apps, and also displays what it calls a usage heat map. This is an hour-by-hour chart that highlights the hours with the most app usage. If you see a spike at 3am, it's time for a little chat. The Fun & Games chart shows the daily cap for the last seven days, along with how much time the child spent using such apps.

ESET Parental Control (for Android) Rules

App-Specific Features

Like Norton and Kaspersky, ESET uses a single app for parent and child. Unlike Kaspersky, ESET's mobile app gives parents full control over all configuration settings.

In fact, you can at any time pick up your child's device, enter the parental PIN, and switch it to parental mode. From the app, you can do everything that's possible online, and more. And when you turn the device off, access to parental features is over.

One useful app-specific feature gets the attention of a child who's ignoring your texts. The Parental Message feature locks the child's device on receipt of a text from a parent's phone number, unlocking only after the child responds. If that seems too draconian, you can set it so that it locks only for texts beginning with an exclamation mark.

SecurityWatch

That's a healthy amount of extra functionality, but there could've been more. Kaspersky monitors calls and texts. Qustodio Parental Control (for Android)($39.95 at Qustodio) and Norton can block unwanted calls and texts. Norton lets parents manage just who can contact the child. Qustodio and FamilyTime include a panic button to call for parental help. Even so, ESET holds its own among Android parental control apps.

ESET Keeps Kids Safe

ESET Parental Control for Android is a great service, and a fantastic addition for users of ESET Multi-Device 10. Symantec Norton Family Parental Control, the PCMag Editors' Choice for Android parental control apps, surpasses it—slightly—when it comes to usability and number of quality features, but it isn't a standalone app. If you're a parent who only cares about securing your children's Android phones and tablets, ESET might be the better option.

Best Parental Control Picks

Further Reading

Final Thoughts

Whether you get it as a standalone app or as part of Multi-Device security, ESET's Android parental control app is a solid solution. - Parental Control

ESET Parental Control (for Android)

4.0 Excellent

Whether you get it as a standalone app or as part of Multi-Device security, ESET Parental Control (for Android) is a solid solution.

About Our Experts

Neil J. Rubenking

Neil J. Rubenking

Principal Writer, Security

My Experience

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that fateful meeting, I’ve become PCMag’s expert on security, privacy, and identity protection, putting antivirus tools, security suites, and all kinds of security software through their paces.

Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Along the way, I wrote more than 40 utility articles, as well as Delphi Programming for Dummies and six other books covering DOS, Windows, and programming. I also reviewed thousands of products of all kinds, ranging from early Sierra Online adventure games to AOL’s precursor Q-Link.

In the early 2000s, I turned my focus to security and the growing antivirus industry. After years of working with antivirus, I’m known throughout the security industry as an expert on evaluating antivirus tools. I serve as an advisory board member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), an international nonprofit group dedicated to coordinating and improving testing of anti-malware solutions.

The Technology I Use

Much of the testing I do, particularly testing with real-world ransomware, is just plain dangerous. To perform such tests safely, I sequester them inside virtual machines managed by VMWare Workstation. For cross-platform testing, I use a MacBook Air, a Google Pixel 4, and a 6th-generation iPad.

I rely on my Delphi coding skills to create and maintain small applications. These include programs to check whether an antivirus correctly handled the malware it detected, launch dangerous URLs and record the security program’s reaction, and analyze the malware that I collect for use in testing. I also wrote a tiny browser and text editor for use in testing security apps that have predefined reactions for known products.

I do my writing and research on a Dell OptiPlex desktop, relying on Microsoft Word (my fingers know all the shortcuts). Many of my articles include charts and analysis; Excel is my go-to for those. When work hours end, though, I escape the bounds of Microsoft and Windows. There’s an iPhone in my pocket, I relax with my oversized iPad, and my Kindle Oasis is always loaded with the best science fiction and fantasy.

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Jordan Minor

Jordan Minor

Principal Writer, Software

My PCMag career began in 2013 as an intern. Now, I'm a senior writer, using the skills I acquired at Northwestern University to write about dating apps, meal kits, programming software, website builders, video streaming services, and video games. I was previously a senior editor at Geek.com and have written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I'm the author of the gaming history book Video Game of the Year: A Year-by-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977, and the reason everything you know about Street Sharks is a lie.

The Technology I Use

I use the newest Android and iOS smartphones for testing, but I currently use an iPhone 14 as my personal phone. I just hate that we gave up headphone jacks.

I've always favored gaming laptops over desktops. On that note, I have a 16-inch HP Envy with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. No matter what machine I’m working on, an alarming amount of my personal and professional life revolves around cloud-synced Google Drive files.

For food subscriptions, my household sticks with CookUnity and HelloFresh for meals. Video streaming is a bit more complicated. While there are too many services to list, we're subscribed to most of the major ones. These days, I find myself drawn to HBO Max's movies and shows, as well as Peacock's reality trash.

I've been a lifelong Nintendo fan, and I sincerely believe the Nintendo Switch will go down as one of the best gaming consoles of all time. It has an unbelievable library of new and old games from Nintendo and third-party companies. The handheld/console hybrid approach makes playing games so much more flexible, a legacy that continues with the Nintendo Switch 2 and Valve’s Steam Deck.

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