Here at MMGuardian, we believe our app is by far the best parental control app available to parents who want to protect their children and have peace of mind. In this review, we will provide you with an honest comparison of the features available between MMGuardian and AT&T Secure Family for Androids and iPhones.
Note: The features available depend on the child’s device. The parent’s device makes no difference.
Message monitoring
Android– MMGuardian allows parents to view all of their child’s SMS text messages, as well as chat messages from popular social media messaging apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and more. Secure Family does not offer message monitoring of any kind.
iPhone– MMGuardian allows parents to view all of their child’s SMS and iMessage text messages, as well as chat messages from popular social media messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Secure Family does not offer message monitoring of any kind.
Contact blocking
Android– MMGuardian allows parents to control who their child is able to communicate with. Parents can create a list of contacts to either allow (and all others will be blocked) or block (and all others will be allowed). All texts to and from blocked contacts will be blocked. Secure Family does not offer contact blocking of any kind.
iPhone– Due to Apple’s restrictions, MMGuardian does not offer contact blocking features. Secure Family does not offer contact blocking of any kind.
Alerts
Android– MMGuardian provides AI-powered alerts about concerning topics detected in the child’s messages and internet browsing such as contact with predators, cyberbullying, suicidal thoughts, inappropriate pictures, and much more. MMGuardian also provides alerts for other activities like downloading apps, adding new contacts, contacts being changed, the device being powered off, etc. Secure Familiy does not provide utilize artificial intelligence or provide any alerts, other than for location (see below).
iPhone– MMGuardian provides AI-powered alerts about concerning topics detected in the child’s messages and internet browsing such as contact with predators, cyberbullying, suicidal thoughts, inappropriate pictures, and much more. Secure Family does not provide utilize artificial intelligence or provide any alerts, other than for location (see below).
Anti-tamper
Android– MMGuardian has patented anti-tamper technology to prevent children from bypassing it. The developers frequently release updates to address any new loopholes that are introduced from phone updates. Parents can also download a version of MMGuardian directly from the company instead of the Play Store which can even block the child from using safe mode to bypass or remove the app (click here to watch an instructional video). Secure Family does not have basic removal prevention such as requiring a password to uninstall the app, so parents will have to keep a careful eye out for tampering.
iPhone– Due to Apple’s restrictions, parents will need to use the iPhone’s native Screen Time controls (found in the child’s phone’s Settings) to prevent the child from uninstalling both MMGuardian and Secure Family.
Web Filter
Android– Both apps allow parents to view their child’s browsing history and block or allow websites based on categories or specific URLs.
iPhone– MMGuardian requires the parent to install the app which will act as a web browser. Parents will need to be sure no other browsers are installed and can disable disable the App Store and Safari on the child’s device to ensure they do not have access to another browser. Both apps also allow parents to view browsing history and to block websites based on categories or specific URLs.
Location
Android– Both apps allow parents to retrieve their child’s location on demand and allow parents view their child’s current and past locations on a map, as well as create schedules during which their child’s location will be retrieved automatically. Secure Family also includes geofencing to notify parents if their child leaves a preset location. MMGuardian used to have a geofencing feature, but it was removed due to the imprecise nature of GPS hardware on phones rendering it not very effective from our experiences.
iPhone– Both apps provide on demand location retrieval for parents and allow parents to view their child’s location history. Secure Family lets parents create schedules during which their child’s location will be retrieved automatically. Secure Family also includes geofencing to notify parents if their child leaves a preset location. MMGuardian used to have a geofencing feature, but it was removed due to the imprecise nature of GPS hardware on phones rendering it not very effective from our experiences.
App Blocking
Android– Both apps allow parents to block or allow specific apps and view their child’s app usage statistics. MMGuardian will alert parents to new app downloads and allow parents to view the install/uninstall history of apps. MMGuardian also allows parents to create groups of apps that they can assign daily time limits or block schedules, offering a lot of flexibility. For additional security, MMGuardian provides parents with the ability to set any apps that are downloaded to be blocked automatically so that their child can’t use them until the parent manually unblocks them. Secure Family also lets parents block apps by age.
iPhone– MMGuardian allows parents to disable all downloaded apps, either according to a schedule or on demand. You are not able to disable apps individually. You can also set restrictions on apps based on age. Secure Family utilizes category filtering to allow parents to restrict access to certain categories of apps. It will disable internet access to these apps, but children will still be able to open and use them without internet.
Phone locking
Android– MMGuardian allows parents to lock the phone completely, only allowing the child to contact the admins or emergency contacts. This can be done manually for a set amount of time or according to schedules. Secure Family does not offer phone locking functions, but parents are able to disable the internet on the phone, restricting communications and app usage.
iPhone– Neither app offers a way to completely lock the phone down due to Apple’s restrictions. Secure Family lets parents disable the internet on the phone, restricting communications and app usage.
Pricing
MMGuardian offers a 14 day free trial for both Android and iPhone, and Secure Family offers the first 30 days free to eligible new subscribers.
MMGuardian
Secure Family
$7.99/month for all devices
You can also check our MMGuardian vs Qustodio article to make the best decision about which parental control app is the most suitable for you and your child.
