Is there a free parental control app for iPhone?

Yes. Apple's Screen Time, with Family Sharing, is a free parental control app for iPhone and it is good; most paid apps are a dashboard on top of it. Set it up properly before paying anyone.

Then the honest limits: no pause from your phone, one downtime window a day, a clock the child can change, and no way to tie the phone to a chore. If those four bite, that is what a paid app is for. SimpleSentinel has a 7-day trial and one price for every child; the price is on the pricing page, not here.

One price, unlimited children and devices. 7-day free trial, billed by Apple.

Set up the free one well, know its four limits, then decide

Screen Time setup that actually holds

Make the child's Apple account a child account in Family Sharing, so the rules follow the child and you can see them from your phone. Set a Screen Time passcode the child has never seen. Turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions and set Allow Changes to Don't Allow. Turn Deleting Apps off and Ask to Buy on. Set Web Content, not only App Limits, so the filter covers every browser. Lock the clock: Set Automatically on and Setting Time Zone locked under Location Services. Then walk the list again after every iOS update, because Apple does not tell you which switch reset.

The four limits

One: there is no pause. You cannot close the phone from your own phone right now; you schedule Downtime and wait for it. Two: one downtime window a day, so school hours and bedtime cannot both be covered. Three: the clock. If the time-zone switch is open the child can end Downtime by changing the date. Four: nothing ties the phone to a chore; the dishes and the screen are separate arguments. None of these is a bug; they are the shape of a free tool built for a parent who sets it once.

Apps with no subscription

A one-time price usually buys a dashboard on Apple's framework with no server behind it. Before paying once, check three things: does a pause work when you are not at home, do the rules come back after an iOS update, and what happens when the company stops updating the app. A rule that lives only on the child's phone is a rule an update can clear. Ask the vendor those three questions in writing.

When paying is worth it, and when it is not

Pay when the four limits are the ones you keep hitting: you need a pause from across town, two windows a day, a clock the child cannot touch, or a chore that opens the phone. Do not pay for monitoring that reads messages; on iPhone no app can read inside another app, and anything promising it works from a backup or a computer, not the phone. SimpleSentinel does the four, runs on Apple's own framework, and never reads what your child types, watches or browses. Try it for 7 days; the price is on the pricing page.

Pricing

Founding Family (First 1,000 Families)

7-day free trial. Unlimited children and devices.

$9.99/mo

or $99.99/yr

  • About 28 cents/day for every device & child.

  • Your price never goes up as long as you stay subscribed.

Regular Price

7-day free trial. Unlimited children and devices.

$16.99/mo

or $149.99/yr

  • About 41 cents/day for every device & child.

  • Compare to A locked-down phone @ $1,000/yr per child.

© 2026 Jubilee Industries LLC. SimpleSentinel™ is a trademark of Jubilee Industries LLC. Patent pending.