Alternatives to Apple Screen Time: what the other kinds of app do.

What does Apple Screen Time already cover?

Screen Time is free and built into every iPhone and iPad. Once Family Sharing is set up, it lets you schedule time off, cap categories such as games, choose who your child can contact, set content ratings and approve purchases, all from your own device.

Apple reorganised it in iOS 27. If every device in your Family Sharing group is on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27 or visionOS 27 (whichever each device runs) and you have updated the group’s parental controls, your child’s controls are under Settings › Family › your child’s name, and the features are called Screen Time Schedules, Time Allowances, Allowed Contacts, Always Allowed and Content & Privacy Restrictions. Otherwise, Apple says you can keep using the previous version, under Settings › Screen Time, where the older names are Downtime, App Limits and Communication Limits. Our step-by-step guide to Screen Time covers both.

Why do parents look for an alternative?

Usually because they want something Screen Time isn’t designed to do, not because it fails at what it does. Common reasons:

• A mixed family. A child with an Android phone, a Windows laptop or a Chromebook as well as an iPad.
• Monitoring and alerts. Some parents want alerts about messages, social media or web searches, or a child’s location, in one dashboard.
• A different way to manage. A web dashboard, or managing from a device that isn’t an iPhone.
• A reason to put the screen down. Limits say no; some parents also want a way for children to earn time by doing something else first.
• The menus moved. iOS 27 renamed and moved the controls, and parents who set things up years ago sometimes start again from scratch.

It is worth being clear which of these you want before you choose, because the apps below solve quite different problems.

What do parental-control and monitoring apps do?

They add filtering, time limits, reports and, in many cases, monitoring and location, often across several kinds of device from one parent dashboard. Each description below is a summary of what the company says on its own website on 25 October 2026; check their sites for current details and prices.

• Qustodio describes itself as parental control and digital wellbeing software with website filtering, time limits, app blocking, activity reports, alerts and location. Its download page lists child devices running Windows 10 and later, macOS 10.15 and later, Chromebooks with Google Play, Android 9 and later, Amazon Kindle (Fire OS 6 and later) and iOS 16 and later, with parents managing from an iOS or Android app or the web. It notes that calls and messages monitoring for iOS needs a Windows or Mac computer.
• Bark says it monitors texts, 30+ social media apps, browsers and email for safety alerts, with screen time schedules and GPS location. It says its app works with iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, computers, Chromebooks and Amazon Fire tablets. For deeper monitoring on iPhone and iPad it offers an optional charger, Bark Sync, that scans the device when it plugs in. It also sells its own phone and watch for children.
• OurPact says it manages iPhones, iPads, Android phones and Android tablets, with screen time schedules, app blocking, a Screen Time Allowance, location alerts and a content monitor that captures screenshots of the child’s device. Its FAQ says that on iOS 26 and later Apple no longer allows its management profile to be locked, so a child can remove it, and that it alerts the parent if that happens.

Questions worth asking of any of them: what it can see on your child’s device, what data it collects (the App Store’s App Privacy section is a start, though Apple says it is self-reported by the developer), which devices it covers, what it costs after any trial, and how your child will be told about it.

Does Google Family Link work on iPhone and iPad?

Not for supervising a child’s iPhone or iPad. Google’s own help page says iPhones, iPads and computers other than Chromebooks can’t be supervised with Family Link. A parent can install the Family Link app on an iPhone or iPad (iOS 16 or later), so it suits a family where the parent has an iPhone and the child has an Android device or a Chromebook.

For an iPhone or iPad, the equivalent built-in tool is Apple’s Screen Time.

What is an earn-it app, and how is it different?

An earn-it app doesn’t monitor anything. It gives children a way to earn screen time by doing something first, such as exercise or chores, and keeps the tally for you. On iPhone and iPad, Apple offers app makers a Screen Time API for this, the Family Controls framework, and MoveToPlay uses it. Apple’s developer documentation says authorising parental controls for a child through it needs approval from a parent or guardian in the same Family Sharing group.

Earn-it apps sit alongside Screen Time rather than replacing it. Screen Time is still the right tool for bedtime, school hours and content ratings; the earn-it app adds a reason to do something else first. Our guide to rewarding screen time instead of just limiting it covers the idea, with or without an app.

Can I use more than one?

Yes, and many families do. Give each tool one job, so two apps aren’t both trying to decide when the same game unlocks. A common split is Screen Time for schedules, content and purchases, plus one other app for the thing Screen Time doesn’t do for you, whether that is monitoring, a mixed-device family or earning time.

Where does MoveToPlay fit?

MoveToPlay is a screen time app for kids on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Children earn screen time by exercising and doing chores you approve. Minutes go into a bank that never expires, and on an iPhone or iPad you can lock the apps you choose until that time has been earned. It is an earn-it app, not a monitoring app, and it does not replace Screen Time.

It can’t see messages, browsing history or what happens in other apps, and it doesn’t use location. The optional app lock works alongside Apple’s Screen Time, using Apple’s Family Controls on your child’s iPhone or iPad: a parent picks apps in Apple’s own picker, and the app only receives Apple’s opaque tokens. There are no ads, and no advertising or analytics SDKs. There is no account and no sign-up.

Some honest limits. Locking is optional; with it off, play sessions run on the honour system with a visible countdown. Apple Watch and Mac cannot lock apps. There is no Android version, so it isn’t a fit for a child with an Android phone. It needs iOS 18 or later. MoveToPlay by Duke & Duke is an Apple-only app and is not connected with the Android app at movetoplay.app. Free to download, and setup is free. To use the app, a parent starts the Annual or Monthly Family subscription (new subscribers get a 2-week free trial, then it renews unless cancelled in Settings) or buys Lifetime once for $19.99 (US price). Read how MoveToPlay works and the questions parents ask, or download it on the App Store.

Sources

Apple claims were checked against Apple’s pages, and descriptions of other apps were taken from each company’s own website, on 25 October 2026. These pages change; if something differs, trust the company’s current page over this guide. We haven’t tested the other apps described here, and nothing in this guide is a ranking or a recommendation.

• Use Screen Time to manage your child’s iPhone or iPad (iOS 27 changes; every device on iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27 or visionOS 27 for the new controls; keeping the previous version; feature names)
• Set up parental controls to manage your child’s iPhone or iPad (iOS 27 paths)
• About privacy information on the App Store (self-reported by the developer)
• Apple Developer: Family Controls (parent or guardian approval in the same Family Sharing group)
• Qustodio: home page (features) and download page (supported devices)
• Bark: home page (features, supported devices, Bark Sync, Bark Phone and Bark Watch)
• OurPact: home page (features, supported devices, FAQ on iOS 26 management profiles)
• Google: Get started with Family Link (iPhones and iPads can’t be supervised; parent app on iOS 16 or later) and Family Link

Apple, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Screen Time and Family Sharing are trademarks of Apple Inc. Other product names belong to their owners. Duke & Duke is not affiliated with Apple or with any of the companies named here.