The best phone tracking app Galaxy Note

Go to the Settings app.

Tap on the gear icon of the Settings app in the apps drawer to access it. You can also pull down the notification window and tap on the gear icon to directly open the Settings app. Access the Security menu. Add or create a Samsung account. The option will redirect you to the Samsung account page.

Here you can either sign in with your existing Samsung account credentials or create a new Samsung account. The switch will now turn green, which is a sign that the Find My Mobile service is active. Track your device. If you lose your Samsung Galaxy device, you can visit the Samsung website and track the location of your device at findmymobile. Method 2 of Open the Google Settings app. Open the apps drawer and access the Google Settings app. The Google Settings app has a gear icon similar to the Settings app, but with the Google logo embedded in the center.

Activate the Android Device Manager options. The first tab under Security would be the Android Device Manager, which has two options under it. If you lose your Samsung Galaxy device or if it gets stolen, you can visit the Android Device Manager website at google.

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FRP is factory reset protection. You can manage only a few dozen apps on iOS, as opposed to all Android apps. Web filtering is more powerful on iOS, while monitoring texts and calls works on only Android. Read our full Qustodio review. Once the most powerful parental-control app for iPhones, OurPact was hobbled by an Apple rule change in late that nixed the service's geofencing, location tracking and time allowances on iOS.

At its peak, OurPact was the only parental-control app we tested that could manage or block any iOS app. It can still do so for Android devices. OurPact also gets kids involved in managing the daily allowance of screen time that you give them, and it does a good job of scheduling. Yet, its website filtering simply blocks porn, and it can't monitor calls or texts at all, even on Android. However, you can block messaging apps, and OurPact remains a joy to use. Read our full OurPact review.

Screen Time -- not to be confused with the "Screen Time" feature in iOS -- does an excellent job of managing and scheduling kids' device access.

Four best phone tracker apps

Unfortunately, it doesn't do a whole lot else, at least on iOS devices. App management and web filtering are for Android only. Screen Time also has baffling upcharges for location tracking and web filters, both of which are arguably essentials and come standard with other parental-control apps. You can get both features in the day Screen Time premium trial.

We did like how Screen Time lets you dole out additional, yup, screen time to kids who perform chores or good deeds. But you can't block apps on iOS, and there's no call or text monitoring at all, although geofencing and location history were recently added -- for Android phones only. Read our full Screen Time review. ESET Parental Control for Android sticks to a single platform, but it doesn't shine even there, lacking text-message- and call-monitoring and number blocking features and implementing clunky controls on what it does have. The app management and time management you receive with the free version of ESET Parental Control for Android do work well, as do the location tracking and geofencing you'll get if you pay for a subscription.

There's a day free trial. And we liked the feature that lets a kid send an SOS message to designated phones with a single tap. MMGuardian has nearly every parental-control feature you might want on Android phones, but its abilities are severely limited on iOS and the user interfaces are outdated and frustrating on both platforms.

The iOS and Android smartphone apps offer location tracking and excellent web filtering, and MMGuardian recently added an artificial-intelligence component to spot nudity in saved images. On an Android phone, the parent can use MMGuardian to read every text and block any number. Unfortunately, time management and screen-time scheduling are Android-only, and the separate MMGuardian app for Android tablets has no location tracking.

Even by the lowered expectations of what an iOS parental control app can do, MMGuardian doesn't offer a lot for iPhone users. Read our full MMGuardian review. What you need from a parental-control service mainly depends on how old your kids are. If you're the parent of children under 12, you absolutely want to be able to block objectionable websites, but you might also consider an app that's available on Amazon Fire tablets.

If you've got teenagers, you might want to let them have a look at objectionable things online, but only if you're aware of it. You might also want to see whom your teens are talking to in messenger apps, and to see where they are late on a Friday night. And you might want to consider a service that monitors your kids' Windows and Mac devices as well as their smartphones.

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The best parental control apps will offer, at a minimum, a website filter, location tracking, screen-time limits including a scheduler, and an app blocker that works at least on Android. Useful extra features include geofencing, which alerts you if a child's phone leaves a designated "safe" area like school or a relative's house. Some of these apps let you block and log the calls and texts a child makes and receives, but only on Android.

A couple even let you read a child's text messages, but none lets you listen in on call, because that's illegal. And most let you monitor your child's phone from a desktop computer web interface as well as your own smartphone. They include the usual array of find-my-phone features like GPS tracking, phone locking, and sending alarms through the phone. Spyera is one of the most intense spy apps for Android.

It boasts simple features for people like parents. It has a bunch of features, including the ability to hide itself from basically everywhere. It also comes with remote control support, SMS spoofing, and all kinds of other admittedly shady behavior. Carrier Family Locators are family location services by mobile carriers like T-Mobile and others. These services work about as expected. You can keep track of the phone location of any phone on your plan. They usually feature things like on-demand location, alerts of various types, and it works on most devices.

Several phone manufacturers have phone finding services as part of their software experience. One notable example is Samsung. You log in with your Samsung account and you can find your device with its service. You can lock or unlock your phone, find it on a map, and there are other features as well. XNSPY is a bit of a weird case.

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It has all of those frightening features like monitoring call logs, GPS tracking, monitoring web browsing, access chats, and all kinds of other tracking stuff. However, it goes for less than most of its bigger competitors like FlexiSpy and Spyera. The basic version lets you look at some stuff while the premium version lets you look at everything.

This is a good option for businesses or families with some money to spend, but families may want to try Google Family Link or Kiddie Parental Controls before something more powerful like this.