{"id":2229,"date":"2022-07-01T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.familyorbit.com\/blog\/?p=2229"},"modified":"2024-03-11T17:40:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T17:40:55","slug":"how-to-see-what-someone-is-doing-on-their-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.familyorbit.com\/blog\/how-to-see-what-someone-is-doing-on-their-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"How to See What Your Child is Doing on Their Phone? [2024]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Smartphones are a Catch-22 situation for parents. On the one hand, you want your child to begin using a smartphone at some point in their development. Those little handheld devices are not going away anytime soon, and if your children don\u2019t have their device, then it\u2019s likely that they\u2019ll fall behind their peers from a technology point of view.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Success in the modern world already depends on a person\u2019s ability to use technology, and that\u2019ll be even more true in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, that doesn\u2019t mean that you can just give your children a cell phone<\/a> without parental control and hope everything will be alright. There are, of course, negative aspects to smartphones and the internet in general.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not all of these negative aspects are especially malicious. Simply looking at a screen for long periods can have a detrimental impact on a child, even if what they\u2019re doing is wholesome. Smartphone addiction is on the rise among children, and it\u2019s something that all parents should keep in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tech companies intentionally make apps and devices addictive by nature<\/a>; if your child is going to enjoy \u201cthe real world\u201d as well as the tech world, then it\u2019ll be important to put some parameters in place.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the matter of the negative aspects of cell phone usage. There\u2019s no shortage of inappropriate content online<\/a>, as well as inappropriate ways to use smartphones. All parents should be keeping a watchful eye on their child\u2019s cell phone use to ensure that they\u2019re not engaging in harmful practices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this blog, we\u2019ll look at the various tools and resources you have at your disposal that\u2019ll allow you to do just that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How to See What Someone is Doing on Their Phone with Screen Time?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Thankfully, you don\u2019t just have to <\/span>guess<\/span><\/i> what your children are doing on their phones or just take their word that they\u2019re telling the truth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The leading cell phone companies have become increasingly focused on making \u201ctech wellness\u201d a priority and have included features that allow people to view useful information about their smartphone use, including how much time they\u2019re spending looking at their screens and the apps\/websites they\u2019re using when they\u2019re doing so.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can do this on your cell phone, and you can do it on your child\u2019s target phone, too. All you need to do is make a few adjustments to the settings. We\u2019ll run through how to do these things on both Apple devices and Android devices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Screen Time for iOS<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Screen Time is the iOS feature Apple included in the latest versions of their software. Once it has been turned on, you\u2019ll be able to see how much time your children are spending on websites, apps, and so forth. You can also set time limits if you like.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll need to activate this setting before you can use it. To do this, go to the screen time section on your child\u2019s iPhone and select \u2018this is my child\u2019s device.\u2019 That\u2019ll allow you to put limits on the device, such as how much time it can be used and what type of websites they can see.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be able to get a general overview of how your child is using their device by looking at the screen time graphs that the phone produces. This will show you how much time they\u2019re spending on the device and how — the time will be broken down into apps, websites, and so forth.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is, of course, a highly useful feature that all parents should be applying to their child\u2019s iPhone<\/a>. However, there are some limitations. It won\u2019t show you exactly what your child is doing on their phone or give you access to some important factors, such as the conversations they\u2019re having on Whatsapp.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But in terms of limiting the amount of time and broadly protecting their best interests, it\u2019s a highly efficient starting point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing App on Android Phone<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"Digital<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing<\/a> is Android\u2019s equivalent of the Apple screen time feature. Once you\u2019ve activated this feature, you\u2019ll be able to control how much time your child spends on their Android phone, select the apps that you want (or do not want) them to have on their devices, and limit the websites they can visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

It works in much the same way as the Apple screen time feature. You can choose to lock the child\u2019s device remotely, if necessary — this is a nice touch when you want to punish them for misbehaving, among other things! If you so choose, you can set it so that you get a notification every time your child wants to download a new app or when they want to make an in-app purchase. You\u2019ll then decide whether to deny or approve the request.<\/span><\/p>\n

As with the iOS version, the Digital Wellbeing app is a good <\/span>start<\/span><\/i> for controlling your child\u2019s smartphone<\/a> use. But it doesn\u2019t go as far as many parents would like; it\u2019s not possible to see what exactly they\u2019re doing on their devices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can only look at how they\u2019re spending their time in general terms. If you want to get an in-depth look at who they\u2019re messaging, their phone calls, and so on, then you\u2019ll need to get access to their phone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How to See What Someone is Doing on Their Phone Without Physical Access?<\/b><\/h2>\n

If you can get access to your child\u2019s phone, then you\u2019ll be able to see everything that they\u2019re doing on it. But the big word there is \u2018<\/span>if<\/span><\/i>.\u2019 If you\u2019ve ever tried to get your children to do, well, <\/span>anything<\/span><\/i> that they didn\u2019t want to do, you\u2019ll understand how difficult this can be. It would be nice if they would just drop their phone in your lap whenever you asked for it, but also, that\u2019s not realistic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus, there\u2019s no denying that some trust between you and your child would be lost if you were going through their cell phone using a spy app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s much better to have a solution that allows you to know what they\u2019re doing on their phone without actively accessing their device<\/a>. Your child may know that you <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> see what they\u2019re doing, but they won\u2019t be as put out by this option as they would if you were rifling through their device.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And in any case, if you did have to access the target device to see what they were doing, then there\u2019s no guarantee that what you would find would be a true representation of what they\u2019re doing on the device anyway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your child may have a sixth sense for when you\u2019re going to look at their device, and that means they could erase anything that they don\u2019t want you to see before handing it over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what can you do? There\u2019s an easy solution — you can use one of the many monitoring apps available. Once you\u2019ve downloaded the monitoring app onto your device and the target device, you\u2019ll have access to a whole host of features that\u2019ll allow you to see what your child is doing on their cell phone. If you\u2019ve been asking yourself how to see what someone is doing on their cell phone, then this is the solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below, we\u2019ll run through three of the most popular parental control monitoring apps<\/a> out there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Family Orbit – Android and iOS Monitoring App<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"Family<\/a><\/p>\n

Family Orbit is considered to be the best monitoring app for Android and iOS on the market. The software comes jam-packed with features that cover virtually everything that a parent would want their monitoring software to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just about checking how much time they\u2019re spending on their devices or which apps they have on their device. This is a full-scale solution that offers information about, well, just about everything.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you install the app and running, you\u2019ll be able to easily see which websites your child is visiting, the contents of their text messages and WhatsApp conversations, and see their photos and videos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And on top of that, there\u2019s also a handy tracking feature<\/a>. With this, you\u2019ll be able to see exactly where your child is. So you won\u2019t just know <\/span>what <\/span><\/i>they\u2019re doing on their device, but <\/span>where<\/span><\/i> they\u2019re doing it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can even set a geofence, and if your child goes beyond the boundary that you\u2019ve set, then you\u2019ll receive a notification. When it comes to getting peace of mind as a parent, it doesn\u2019t get much more thorough than this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a host of other features, too; all in all, it\u2019s the end-to-end solution that many parents dream of. Some of the monitoring features are:<\/span><\/p>\n