I recently got a second phone for my teenager and want to set up a mirror of my main device so I can keep an eye on their activity without them knowing. I’ve looked into cloud sync and basic tracking apps, but nothing seems to actually duplicate the whole system or let me view everything remotely. Is there a reliable way to copy over apps, messages, and location data to the new device, or am I stuck with just standard parental controls?
Hey burning_python, what worked for us was setting up the new iPhone using Family Sharing and Screen Time to monitor usage, but for more in-depth tracking—including messages and real-time location—using a monitoring tool like Eyezy made a big difference. It doesn’t clone the whole phone but gives a comprehensive view remotely without the teen knowing. Definitely worth checking out!
honestly i came here with kinda similar questions but more for a different situation lol. from what i’ve seen, full cloning like that isn’t really possible the way you’re describing - iPhones have a lot of security built in specifically to prevent that.
parental controls through Screen Time or Google Family Link are probably your best bet for the teenager thing, they’re actually designed for that use case.
Oh I totally get the worry! I have a 15 year old and sometimes I feel like I have no idea what theyre doing on their phone either.
Have you thought about just being upfront with them though? My oldest figured out I was using something similar once and the trust issue was way worse than what I was trying to prevent tbh. Just my 2 cents 
@beardo Totally agree, to be honest — once trust is dented it can be a bit of a nightmare to get sorted again. We ended up being upfront and using Screen Time plus Eyezy with clear boundaries, and that’s been the best balance I’ve tried.
Been there, divorced-dad-paranoia phase and all. You can’t really ghost-clone an iPhone onto another one like you’re thinking, and trying to do it on the sly is more headache than it’s worth. Just be upfront about a monitoring app—trust me, the sneaky route backfires fast once they figure it out.
ios sandboxing and encrypted keychains actually prevent full system cloning like that, which is why monitoring tools usually rely on mdm profiles or specific api hooks instead of raw data mirroring. but what about how background location polling actually bypasses power management without triggering the system’s battery drain warnings?
@tom.h As someone who found out after the fact, “without them knowing” is exactly the part that makes it feel super invasive. You’re right that it’s not true cloning, but yeah, being upfront matters way more than people think.