Norton Family Review 2024: A Lightweight Solution With No Conversation Monitoring

Norton Family is a parental controls app that helps you monitor and restrict your child's devices, including screen time monitoring, location tracking, and content restrictions.

During our hands-on testing of the app, we found it to be a very lightweight option that helped keep us informed without imposing on our child's privacy too much. The alerts were in real-time with little delay and we were able to easily and quickly customize settings at will.

While Norton Family gets most things right, we were surprised to see we couldn't restrict screen time for each app. You can only really limit overall screen time or block certain apps during certain time periods. There also isn't an option to monitor text or social media conversations, which could be a big deal depending on what you want to get out of this app.

Here's everything Norton Family offers as it compares to the top parental control apps available.

Norton Family review at a glance

4.4

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Editorial Rating

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On Norton Family's website

Parental Controls

Norton Family

• Excels at app blocking and content filtering across 47 categories
• Offers age-specific restriction levels to enhance safety and unlimited device connections
• Can't add screen time limitations on a per-app basis

Our experience testing Norton Family

Overall we found Norton Family to have some truly useful tools. It was easy to set up, easy to add a child, and it gave us a nice overview of the content being accessed on the monitored phone.

When testing the app on our Samsung Galaxy S10, we were able to see and receive alerts for searches, videos watched, apps used, and locations. We also saw the overall screen time and were able to lock the phone remotely or set bedtime and school hours.

The biggest feature missing for most people will be the inability to monitor conversations happening on the device, including text messages or any other type of online chat. If one of your main priorities for installing this app is to make sure your child is safe from cyberbullying or predators, you may want to go for a more heavy duty option (like Bark).

When we went to try and uninstall the app, we were unable to do so without first signing in as a parent, which makes it safe against older kids as well as younger.

Here are more details about our testing experience.

Norton Family setup

We were prompted almost immediately after purchase to download the Norton Family app onto our child’s device. We received a special QR code that conveniently linked to the proper download based on our device. Once we downloaded the app, a code appeared which let us link the app to our desktop login.

After installation and login, we were prompted to add the first child to our dashboard. We were able to add a photo or select an avatar for the child or leave it blank, but had to add the child’s name and choose a restriction level before being allowed to proceed. Once we did, we were linked and able to monitor the device from our dashboard.

The restriction levels give general permissions and exclusions to the profile, but you can customize each of those further in your dashboard. 

Norton Family monitoring in action

Norton Family monitoring sends out alerts when your children come across content that isn’t recommended by their specific filter. Depending on the level of restriction you enable, a website is either blocked or the child is sent a warning. When we tested this out with low restriction levels (recommended for teens 15+), we tried accessing adult websites. Norton warned that the website had adult content.

We were also sent an alert for the warning, and it let us know that the site wasn't visited after the warning showed up.

We then tried searching terms that were geared toward adult content. All of the search terms turned up in the dashboard.

Additionally, we could customize the settings to restrict phone access during school hours or even remote lock it completely at anytime. From the child's perspective, they received a notification that the phone was locked and couldn't open any apps.

The app also monitored for overall screen time and screen time per app. We were impressed with how quickly these alerts and statistics updated, as some of the other parental control apps we've tested were quite delayed.

The last thing we tested was location. We set up our home address as a favorite location and set alerts to go off whenever the device left or entered that location.

We then left in our car to drive around the block and was happy to see we got an alert and an email when we left and entered the location.

We also tested out the Check In feature while we were out, and were able to easily update our current location accurately.

Though you can't send a notification to your child's phone requesting a check in, you can click "Locate Now" at any time in the location tab to see where the phone is.

Who is Norton Family good for?

• Recommended for parents who don't want to monitor their child's conversations

If healthy boundaries are a big part of your parental style, then Norton Family can allow your child to keep their privacy while you're able to keep them safe. You won't be able to see any of the conversations they have on their device, but you can still make sure they're safe and monitor screen time.

If you want an app that alerts you to potential bullying on social media or similar apps, Norton Family doesn't currently have this capability.

Norton Family prices and subscriptions

If you’re looking to purchase Norton Family by itself, the current price of $4.16/mo (billed annually) is on par with a lot of other parental control apps. For example, the popular Bark app costs between $4.00–$14.00/mo and Qustodio is Free-$8.33/mo (billed annually).

If you’re looking to bundle Norton Family with other Norton products, you have two different options that can help you increase your overall security.

• Norton 360 Deluxe offers antivirus, cloud storage, a password manager, and other features in addition to parental controls.
• Norton 360 with LifeLock Select offers these features as well as identity theft protection. Where there are device limits with the security software, you’ll be able to add multiple profiles and devices to your Norton Family subscription.

Here's how the different options compare.

Norton Family features

Norton Family offers seven features for monitoring and regulating your children’s devices. You’ll be able to see what content they’re viewing, including websites and videos, as well as regulate their screen time. While we found some of the features robust, we found others lacking.

Content monitoring

The web filtering feature will monitor content. Depending on the level of restriction you set, this may be a full-on block or a warning that the site they’re about to visit is restricted.

We had our content filters on low, which is recommended for older teens. When we tried to visit adult sites, the Norton Family informed us the site had content not intended for our restriction level. Since we were set to low, it gave us the option to visit the site anyway.

In the dashboard we could see what sites were accessed, if a warning was issued, and if we visited the site despite the warning.

There are no specific blockers for topics, just websites. If you want to restrict certain sites or allow others, you can do that within the Web feature. This helps you bypass the restrictions for a site that might be necessary without disabling all protections. You can also block and unblock sites from your dashboard.

Phone apps

Norton Family allows you to keep tabs on what mobile apps your child downloads and how long they're spending on each app.

This feature doesn’t monitor content on the apps, only time spent on them and which ones are installed or uninstalled.

We were able to block an app from being used completely, which went into effect immediately, but we weren't able to find settings that let us set time limits for specific apps. This is one feature we wish we could've seen from Norton Family.

Web browsers

Web Supervision is one of the most robust features available on Norton Family. You have the ability to see what websites your child is visiting and whether or not they fall under the content restrictions.

For anyone wanting to know what their child is searching online, there’s a feature that shows a word cloud of the top search results from each device, and you can click on the details button to see every search performed on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and more.

Screen time management

Norton Family let us set screen time limits that locked out all or certain aspects of our child’s phone during the times we set. School and sleep schedules are preloaded, but you can adjust them based on what’s good for your family.

As far as we could tell, there wasn’t much nuance to this feature. Most of the device’s functionality is blocked during downtime. When we went into the settings, there wasn’t much to configure. If your child has an iPhone or an iPad, there are multiple settings within the screentime feature that allow you to choose specific apps and contacts during downtime. Norton Family didn’t seem as comprehensive as the iOS parental controls.

Location tracking and geo-fencing

Location Supervision needs to be enabled in addition to just setting up the app on your kid’s phone. Without enabling permissions, you’ll get a general sense of where the device is located, but you won’t be able to constantly monitor. If you do enable the tracking, you’ll get live, real-time updates as to where the device is located.

In addition to real-time updates, you can search your child’s locations based on date and time. This is useful for parents with kids who are just starting to participate in activities by themselves. You can have peace of mind being able to see where your kids are during the day, especially if they do independent activities like ride the bus or get picked up in a carpool line.

Activity reports

Activity reports are pretty simple. Within each of the seven categories, you can look deeper at the alerts you see on your dashboard.

In the Web category, we tried accessing the site OnlyFans, which isn’t strictly adult content but is used for a lot of very adult content. Since we had our restrictions set to low for older teens, the website warned us about the site. The dashboard noted that we didn’t visit the site after receiving the warning. As far as Google searches, we could see in the Search Terms section what words were searched.

Video reports

Norton Family also tracks what videos are watched on the device, but with several limitations. It can only track videos that are watched on YouTube through a browser, NOT the YouTube app itself.

If you want to make sure your kid is watching appropriate content, you'll have to be sure to disable the YouTube app on their device so they're forced to use the browser.

When videos are tracked, you're given the link to the video and the description, so you can easily see context on what it is.

Norton Family customer support

Like most security products, you’ll first be directed toward a self-help support site. Their goal is to get you to troubleshoot your own problem by looking through forums and guides.

If you really need to talk with a support specialist, you can scroll down the page and click Contact us. You’ll be redirected a few more times before receiving the contact options.

We suggest going for the 24/7 live chat support because there’s a warning on Norton’s page that calling may result in long wait times.

Does Norton Family collect your data?

Norton Family falls under the Norton privacy policy, which collects a lot of data. We mean, A LOT of data. Essentially Norton collects everything about the devices you’re using, the Norton services you have, all of your interface and screen activity, your geolocation, financial data, and all your network traffic. Oh, and Norton will also collect data on friends and family connected to your accounts as well as third-party data.

Norton uses this information for all the standard practices. First, obviously, it’s used to provide you with Norton services and any consent to use it that you’ve given. It’s also used for network and information security purposes. Last, Norton uses anything collected to advance its own business as well as third-party affiliates. Translation? Norton sells your data.

Norton Family security

Norton uses 128-bit SSL encryption, which is surprising given that it’s the lesser of the two most commonly used encryption types. AES-256-bit encryption is usually the industry standard when it comes to data. While both have the potential to stand up to brute force attacks, 128-bit is less effective than 256-bit.

That’s not to say your data will be vulnerable. At our current computing power, it would take 149 trillion years to crack 128-bit encryption.

If you’d like even more protection, you can enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account. Norton suggests you do this but doesn’t make it mandatory. Two-factor authentication allows you to log in to your account by verifying your identity on a second device. It can definitely improve your security.

Top alternatives

If Norton Family doesn’t offer all the features you’re looking for, consider one of these competitors. Social media, text, and email monitoring are available with some of these services as well as the ability to remotely block numbers. Depending on your needs and budget, one of these may be the best parental control software for your family.

Service
Star rating	4.4 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.4 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	3.7 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Price	Starts at $5.00/mo	Starts at $8.33/mo (billed annually)	Starts at $8.25/mo (billed annually)
# of people covered	Unlimited	1 - unlimited	Unlimited
Screen time management
Content filtering
Conversation monitoring	Yes, on social media, texts, and email	Yes, on social media, texts, and email
Location tracking
Details	Get Bark	Get Qustodio	Get Aura

Norton Family FAQs

Bottom line: Is Norton Family good?

Yes, despite some of its shortcomings, Norton Family is a good service. We liked the web filtering and alerts on internet search terms as well as the location services. It all felt lightweight, easy to use, and quick.

The main features missing are being able to set screen time limits for a specific app and the ability to monitor conversations.

If you’re going to purchase Norton Family, we suggest bundling it with Norton 360 Deluxe for the same price. You’ll receive even more security products, like a password manager and VPN, which can boost your security across all devices.

Curious how Norton Family compares to other top parental control apps on the market? Check out our in-depth comparisons:

• Norton Family vs. Aura Parental Controls
• Norton Family vs. Net Nanny
• Norton Family vs. Qustodio
• Norton Family vs. Bark
• Norton Family vs. mSpy

4.4

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Editorial Rating

Learn More

On Norton Family's website

Parental Controls

Norton Family

• Excels at app blocking and content filtering across 47 categories
• Offers age-specific restriction levels to enhance safety and unlimited device connections
• Can't add screen time limitations on a per-app basis

Author Details

Mary James

About the Author

Mary is a seasoned cybersecurity writer with over seven years of experience. With a B.S. in Liberal Arts from Clarion University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Point Park University, she educates audiences on scams, antivirus software, and more. Her passion lies in educating audiences on helpful ways to protect their data.

Kalleigh Lane