SimpleSentinel puts you in charge of every app, website, contact, and setting on your child's iPhone & iPad - and alerts you when an app update silently adds chat, tracking, or anything else you'd want to know about.
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Apps, websites, contacts, screen time, and location - all the scattered settings on your child's iPhone, gathered into one simple dashboard.
New apps, websites, and contacts wait for your approval. Each request arrives with an easy to understand risk report so you know exactly what you're saying yes to.
A "safe" app can quietly add chat, tracking, or purchases overnight. SimpleSentinel checks every update and alerts you when something you'd care about changes.
We report facts - what an app does, what it collects, what changed. No algorithm decides for your family. The control stays in your hands.

The first is "Screen Time," the one we're all familiar with. It works device-to-device, and it's what every other parental app is built on: time limits, filters, schedules. That's useful, but the App Store stays open, updates install on their own, and determined kids know the workarounds.
"Supervision" is the second, deeper layer of security. It's the same system schools use to manage thousands of devices. This is where the real authority lives: blocking new apps until you approve them, holding updates for your review, protection that can't be deleted.
To keep families safe, Apple made this level impossible to switch on device-to-device. It requires that your child's device be connected to your computer through a one-time guided, wired process that SimpleSentinel has made truly simple!
No parental app can reach this level without the wired step, which means no app that skips the computer connection can do what SimpleSentinal can do. Not one.
Start unwired in minutes, then unlock the deeper level with a guided, wired session on any Windows PC or Mac, one time.
Level one, instantly. Every control in one dashboard, risk reports, and update alerts, set up from your phone in about 10 minutes.
Level two, once. One wired session unlocks approval over every new app, a hold on every update, and protection that stays put.
The wire is the dividing line. Any app that never asks for a computer connection is working from level one, no matter what its marketing says.
Before setup, SimpleSentinel backs up your child's entire phone. Their photos, messages, contacts, and memories all come back exactly as they were.
Their apps come back too, but through you: each one is checked against your preferences, apps that fit, along with their data, are restored automatically, and anything questionable is held for your review with a simple-to-understand risk report.
Nothing starts from scratch, nothing is lost, and nothing gets back on the device without passing through the rules you set or your explicit permission.

I used to be absolutely frustrated with the management of my kid's devices. It was always so confusing to find all the settings and close all of the backdoors to the internet, and it seemed like a new one would pop up with every update. One day, my children informed me they were being "prospected" by strangers through the comment feature on a popular Bible app. I couldn't believe it! What parent would think to check an app like that? That's when I decided to find a solution to my problems and I found SimpleSentry. It checked every box for me. Setup was quick, easy, and nothing was lost in the process. The app revealed huge loopholes in the settings I previously had. Now I have the peace of mind knowing my children are accessing what I choose. It's also easy for my kids to request new apps, website access, etc. And it's easy for me to review the risks for a decision. Thank you again! I recommend this to all the parents I know!

This app is exactly what we were looking for when it came to managing the devices of our children 10, 14, and 16. We've tried other apps in the past that just left us wanting. One of our friends recommended this app as it was appropriate for both younger kids and teens; exactly what we needed. At first, we weren't sure a wired setup would be as simple as it sounded, but it really was. The setup flow is well-done and it backed up our kid's info and restored it with no trouble. In the past, we had no idea the control we wanted required a wired connection. Other apps never offered that level of security. We especially love the location maps and the push notifications that come to our phones. Everything is customizable to anyone's desired specification. We also love that you can set a "trust-but-verify" setup, so our kids can learn to navigate the waters on their own as they get older. We highly recommend SimpeSentinel to anyone.
Set up from your device in minutes. See everything, get alerted to changes.
or $49/yr
Every control in one dashboard.
Risk report for every app on the phone.
Alerts when an app update adds chat or tracking.
Community danger warnings.
Screen time, schedules, and location.
Covers every kid and every device.
Most popular option. The wired level. Rules that hold even when you're not looking.
or $149/yr
Everything in Watch, enforced.
New apps blocked until you approve them.
Updates held for your review.
Protection your child can't remove.
One-time guided setup, any PC or Mac.
Covers every kid and every device.
First 1,000 Families Get Full-Control at the founding price, locked in for good.
As long as you stay subscribed
Everything in Full-Control.
Your price never goes up.
Help shape the product with direct input.
First access to new features.
Covers every kid and every device.
Every parental control on your child's iPhone and iPad, brought into one dashboard. New apps, websites, and contacts wait for your approval, each with a plain-language risk report. We check every app update and alert you when something changes that you'd care about. You set the rules once; we keep watch; you always decide.
No: Apple doesn't let any app read another app's content. Instead of watching what happens inside apps, SimpleSentinel controls what reaches your child in the first place, and tells you the facts about every app before you say yes. Prevention at the door, not surveillance inside.
Every iPhone and iPad has two levels of control built in. "Screen Time" is the familiar one, and it's the level that any app-only tool can use. The deeper level, "supervision," is what schools use to manage their devices, and it unlocks what others can't offer: blocking new apps until you approve them, holding updates for review, and protection your child can't delete. SimpleSentinel is built to use both levels.
Apple requires a one-time, wired connection to enable supervision, so no one can ever impose it on a device remotely. That's a security feature, and it's also the dividing line: no app that skips the wire can do these things. You do it once, on any Windows PC or Mac, about 20 to 30 minutes hands-on, and never again. You can also start without it: the unwired level sets up in about ten minutes and you can upgrade it whenever you're ready.
No. Setup backs up the entire device to your own computer first. Photos, messages, contacts, and app data all come back. Apps return through your informed review: ones that fit your rules restore automatically, and anything questionable is held with a risk report so you decide. It's the same device, minus the things you didn't want to approve.
With Full Control, protection is attached to the device: it survives restarts and updates, can't be deleted, and can't be switched off in Settings. A full factory erase does remove it, but it can't happen quietly: you're alerted immediately, and your child is left with an empty phone that needs you to set it up again. Erasing doesn't defeat SimpleSentinel; it announces itself.
The backup stays on your computer, never our servers. Inappropriate-image detection runs on the device itself using Apple's own technology, so photos never leave the device. Our servers hold your family's rules and approval requests, never the contents of the device. We don't sell data and we don't run ads. We can't lose what we never hold.
Screen time limits, downtime and bedtime schedules, web filtering with your choice of strictness, location with "made it safely" arrival alerts, contact management, purchase approvals, and a community danger database where human-verified warnings from other parents reach every family.
No, you're halfway there. SimpleSentinel builds on what you've set up and brings it into one place, then adds what the built-ins don't offer: risk reports with every request, update alerts, and protection that doesn't fall to a guessed passcode.
SimpleSentinel works on both iPhone and iPad. Your child's device needs iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later (most iPhones and iPads from 2018 onward), so hand-me-downs are welcome. The parent app runs on iOS 16 or later, and setup works from any Windows PC or Mac. Android support is on the roadmap. One honest note: location and "made it safely" alerts work best on devices with cellular service; a Wi-Fi-only iPad can only estimate location, and only while it's connected to Wi-Fi.
One price covers your whole family: every kid, every device, no per-child charges, ever.
Full Control is $149 a year (or $16.99 monthly). That's the wired level: approval over every new app, updates held for your review, and protection your child can't remove. The only other way to get control like this is a locked-down replacement phone at $300 to $1,000 a year, per child. Full Control does it on the iPhone your child already has.
Watch is $49 a year (or $5.99 monthly). It sets up from your phone in about ten minutes: every control in one dashboard, risk reports, and update alerts. Start here, upgrade to Full Control whenever you're ready, and your settings carry over.
Founding families: the first 1,000 families lock in Full Control at $99 a year, and keep that price for as long as you stay subscribed.
Start with whichever matches your next ten minutes. Watch gets you real visibility today with no computer, and most families use it to see what's actually on the device before deciding. Full Control is for when you want the rules to hold even when you're not looking. Both come with the full 7-day trial, and moving between them never means starting over.
The unwired level sets up in about ten minutes, so you'll see real value on the first day of your trial, before ever plugging in a cable to your computer.
Your 7-day free trial lets you try everything before you're ever charged, so you'll know early if SimpleSentinel is right for you. After that, because SimpleSentinel is sold through the App Store, any refund is handled by Apple under Apple's policies. You can request one at reportaproblem.apple.com or in your Apple Account settings, and the decision rests with Apple. A refund never locks the device; you can return it to normal use anytime, refund or not.
We never trap a family, and we never yank protection out from under a child. You cancel anytime in your Apple Account subscription settings, and your service runs through the period you've already paid for. If a renewal payment fails, Apple keeps your service active while it retries your payment method, and only if it can't recover does the subscription end. When service ends, alerts and reports stop, and so does your ability to make changes: rules stay exactly as they were, new apps and requests wait with no way to approve them, and nothing can be adjusted until you subscribe again. Your child's existing protections stay in place rather than suddenly opening up, until you choose to return the device to normal use, which you can do anytime with one guided session.
Apple's account-based controls do wind down with age: purchase approvals end at 18, and an adult child can leave Family Sharing. But the deeper protection SimpleSentinel uses is tied to the device, not a birthday, so it never silently expires. That's by design, and it's why we built a graduation path instead: as your child matures, loosen the rules stage by stage, and when they're ready, return the phone to fully independent use in one guided step. The goal was never control forever. It's a kid who no longer needs it.

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