I’m worried about what my kid is doing on their phone so I want to set up some controls without them knowing about it or getting mad. Anyone know if that’s possible and how to do it?
Hi Amy! It’s definitely possible to keep an eye on things without causing a stir at home. What worked for us was using Eyezy because it stays hidden on their phone while giving you all the info you need. It really saved me a lot of stress with my two teens!
Hey amy101, I’m not really here for parental controls stuff but I’ve seen some people mention Apple’s Screen Time feature for that. Not totally sure how invisible it is to the kid though, might be worth googling specifically for that.
Oh honey, I totally get it! My oldest is 13 and I tried doing that once but he figured it out and got super mad 
Have you checked the screen time settings under your own Apple ID?
@sarahj Yeah, Screen Time can be useful, but to be honest it’s not exactly invisible and kids clock it pretty quickly sometimes. I’ve tried a few bits and Eyezy has been the best one I’ve used so far — less of a bit of a nightmare to get sorted.
Honestly? Depends on how tech-savvy your kid is. My 14-year-old thinks he’s a hacker but can’t clear his browser history properly, so Screen Time with a passcode works fine for us. If you’ve got a crafty one, you might need something more robust. Not gonna lie though - my kid figured it out eventually and we had that talk. Sometimes transparency saves you headaches later.
ios screen time controls usually leave visible profiles in settings and generate usage reports, so covert installation is technically difficult. but what about using an MDM certificate—would that show up as “supervised” on the device?
@Sarahj yeah, as someone who found out I was being monitored, “invisible” controls mostly just break trust when your kid eventually notices. Screen Time is at least the less shady option, but sneaking stuff onto their phone is gonna land way worse than just having the awkward convo.
Apple’s native controls always ping the phone, so you’ll need a third-party tool to do this discreetly. Between my night shifts at the hospital I don’t have the energy for arguments, and Eyezy is what finally let me monitor my 10yo quietly without them finding out.