Mac Parental Control Software

Parental control protection for Apple computers

Apple users looking for solid parental control software should consider Safe Eyes (Est. $50) , which works on both PCs and Macintosh computers. In addition to offering customizable settings for up to 10 users, Safe Eyes works on Macs, PCs, iPhones and iPads (mobile coverage costs about $15 extra). While the program, which is owned by McAfee, has many strong points -- such as HTTPS filtering; excellent remote management; reports on social media activity; remote administration that instantly enables filtering changes; and optional email, phone or text notifications when content is blocked -- it has a few drawbacks.

Dynamic real-time detection isn't supported, users can access blocked programs simply by renaming them, and the overall feature set is less robust than other parental control programs. Additionally, the Mac version lacks some of the abilities of the Windows version; for example, it blocks videos but doesn't stop explicit iTunes content from being downloaded. Even so, experts say it's the parental control program of choice for Mac users.

There are fewer parental control programs for Apple computers, and many of the programs have limited functionality. (Most companies say this is because of Apple's restrictions; you can't monitor instant messaging on Apple devices for example.)Qustodio (Est. $50) works on an unlimited number of Macs and PCs. Qustodio offers enormous flexibility and functionality, including blocking websites in 29 categories (violence, hate, etc.) or allowing you to individually block websites.

Norton Family (Free) , which blocks access to sites in up to 50 categories, also works on Macs but has some limits in its functionality for OS X users, especially on Safari, which only has web filtering and blocking. There's also the Best Reviewed parental control program Net Nanny (Est. $40) , but that gets better reviews on PCs than Macs.

OS X also has its own built-in parental controls, which can be set up via the system preferences in applications. The filtering system is reportedly very good, and parents can set time constraints, limit iChat and email and carefully select which applications and websites children can use. It doesn't block HTTPS encrypted content, however, and the parental controls in OS X Mountain Lion have had some performance issues.