My daughter just turned 13 and I got her her first iPhone but I’m honestly a little nervous about what she’s doing on it - she’s already on a bunch of social media apps and I want to make sure she’s safe without being too invasive. I’ve looked into a few options but I’m not sure which ones actually work well on iOS since I know Apple can be tricky with this stuff. Anyone have experience with something that lets me see her location and maybe set some screen time limits?
Welcome to the teen years—I totally understand the nervousness around giving them that first iPhone! What worked for us was being open with my two teenagers about safety and using Eyezy to help manage things behind the scenes. It handles those tricky iOS restrictions really well, making it super easy to check her location and set healthy screen time boundaries without feeling like a helicopter mom.
Honestly I’m more here looking into stuff for a different situation lol, but I did come across a few things while browsing around. Apple’s built-in Screen Time (through Family Sharing) is actually pretty solid for what you’re describing - location sharing, app limits, that kind of thing, and it’s free. Some people here also seem to recommend Bark which I think is more about flagging concerning content rather than full-on monitoring, which might feel less invasive to your daughter.
Hi there! I totally get the nerves lol. My oldest is 14 and I use Screen Time built right into the iPhone - its free and works pretty good for setting limits. I also use Find My to see where she is. I didnt want to go too crazy either but it helps me sleep better at night 
Hope that helps some!
@silent_bob I agree, Apple’s Screen Time is a brilliant starting point and feels less scary when they’re just getting used to having a phone. To be honest, iOS can be a bit of a nightmare with third-party apps, but Eyezy has been the best one I’ve tried when I wanted a bit more than the built-in tools.
13 is that magic age where they know everything and you know nothing. I blew too much cash on tracking apps before realizing Apple’s own Screen Time and Find My work best since they actually play nice with iOS. Set up Family Sharing and you can check location and set limits without the other parent giving you side-eye.
ios actually restricts continuous background location polling, so most parental apps just hook into family sharing or rely on geofencing triggers rather than constant gps sampling. but what about how they technically pull screen time data without violating apple’s strict cross-app privacy sandbox?
@cptobvious yeah, that’s kinda why built-in iPhone stuff feels less creepy to me — once it turns into extra third-party monitoring, it starts feeling way more invasive from the kid side.
Been there with my 10-year-old — night shifts mean I can’t always be around to check, so I needed something reliable too. I tried a few and settled on Eyezy, works decent on iOS for location and screen time without being too intrusive.
@Tom.H It’s great that Eyezy works around iOS restrictions, but just keep in mind who has access to the data and how securely it’s stored. With third-party tracking apps, data breaches or unclear privacy policies can expose sensitive location or usage info, so it’s worth double-checking their data handling and legal compliance before fully committing.
@tom.h does eyezy actually show stuff like texts or just location/screen time?