What ParentalEdge Adds to Apple Screen Time

What Screen Time Does Well

Apple Screen Time is free and built into every iPhone and iPad. It gives you:

Downtime — schedule when the device is off-limits
App Limits — set a daily time budget per app category
Communication Limits — restrict who your child can contact
Content Restrictions — block explicit music, movies, and app installs by age rating
"Limit Adult Websites" — blocks some adult sites automatically

For young children on a shared family iPad, this is a reasonable starting point.

But as your child grows and starts browsing the web, searching for things, and discovering new apps, Screen Time's gaps become obvious.

Where Screen Time Falls Short

1. Web Filtering That Actually Works

Screen Time's Limit Adult Websites is supposed to block sexually explicit websites, but even that is unreliable. Parents have reported major adult sites getting through, while innocent sites like healthychildren.org get blocked by mistake. Apple doesn't say which sites are on its list, so you have no way to know what's covered.

And it only attempts to block pornographic content. Gambling, violence, dating, forums where strangers talk to children, proxy sites kids use to bypass filters — none of these are blocked. You can manually add individual URLs to a "Never Allow" list, one at a time, but there's no way to block an entire category.

ParentalEdge filters every website your child visits across 31 categories. Fourteen of these — including adult content, violence, gambling, dating, hate speech, and proxy/bypass tools — are always blocked regardless of age. You can customise the rest based on your child's maturity. When a site is blocked, you get an email alert telling you what your child tried to access and when.

2. You Can't See What They're Actually Doing

Screen Time gives you a weekly summary: "Your child used Safari for 2 hours." That tells you almost nothing.

ParentalEdge shows you:

Every website visited — not just "Safari usage" but the actual URLs and page titles
Every search query — what they typed into Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Yahoo
App-by-app usage — which specific apps, how long, and when
Blocked attempts — every website or app that was blocked, so you know what they tried to access

The difference: Screen Time tells you how long. ParentalEdge tells you what.

3. No Email Alerts

When Screen Time blocks something, it blocks silently. Your child sees a restriction message. You see nothing.

ParentalEdge sends you an email alert when your child attempts to access blocked content. You know what they tried, when they tried it, and you can start a conversation about it — or adjust the rules if the block was too aggressive.

4. Daily Limits Create Daily Arguments

Screen Time's App Limits work like a budget: "1 hour of YouTube per day." When the hour runs out, YouTube stops — often mid-video. Your child asks for more time. You say no. Repeat daily.

ParentalEdge uses time windows instead. YouTube works from 7–8pm. Games work after homework. Your child knows the schedule and stops asking, because there's nothing to negotiate.

5. Study Mode — Our Most Unique Feature

During homework time, Screen Time's only option is Downtime — which blocks everything, including the educational apps your child actually needs. So you either leave the device open (and hope they don't get distracted) or lock it down completely (and they can't do their homework).

ParentalEdge's Study Mode solves this. You set study hours — say 4pm to 6pm on weekdays — and during those hours, only the apps you've approved for studying are available. Google Classroom, Khan Academy, dictionary apps, calculator — they all work. YouTube, Instagram, games, messaging — blocked until study time ends.

Your child can sit down with their device and focus on homework without any distractions. No notifications from games. No temptation to "quickly check" Instagram. When study time ends, everything unlocks automatically.

The result: a 30-minute assignment takes 30 minutes, not two hours.

6. Bedtime Lock

Screen Time's Downtime can serve as a bedtime lock, but it applies the same schedule to all apps. ParentalEdge's bedtime lock lets you block all apps while still allowing calls and alarms — so the device is locked down but can still wake your child up in the morning.

7. Parent PIN Protected Settings

All ParentalEdge settings — filtering rules, study time schedules, app controls — are protected by a parent PIN. Your child can't change any configuration on the app itself.

ParentalEdge also uses Apple's Screen Time API to lock down device settings, so your child can't disable protections or uninstall apps.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Apple Screen Time	ParentalEdge
Web filtering	Adult content only (unreliable)	31 categories, 14 always blocked + alerts
Activity reports	App category usage totals	Every website, search query, app with timestamps
Search monitoring	Not available	Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo queries captured
Blocked attempt alerts	Not available	Email alerts when child hits a block
App scheduling	Daily time budgets per category	Per-app time windows (YouTube 7–8pm)
Study mode	Not available	Only educational apps allowed
Bedtime lock	Downtime (blanket block)	Bedtime lock with calls/alarms allowed
App blocking by category	Age-rating only	Block dating, gambling, social media, vault apps
Settings protection	Screen Time passcode	Parent PIN — child can't change app config
Cross-platform	Apple devices only	iOS, Android, and macOS
Price	Free	$50/year (₹999 in India)

What About Screen Time's Strengths?

Screen Time still handles things that ParentalEdge doesn't replace:

Communication Limits — restricting who your child can call or message is an iOS-level feature. Keep this turned on.
Content Ratings — blocking app installs by age rating is handled through the App Store. Keep using it.
Ask to Buy — purchase approval through Family Sharing works well. No reason to change it.
Private Browsing disabled — "Limit Adult Websites" disables Safari's Private Browsing mode, which is worth keeping on.

ParentalEdge works alongside these features. You keep Screen Time's communication and purchase controls, and ParentalEdge handles web filtering, activity visibility, scheduling, and alerts.

Who Should Add ParentalEdge

You need it if:

You want to know what websites your child visits, not just which app they used
You want email alerts when they try to access blocked content
Daily time limits are causing daily arguments
Your child browses the web and you want real filtering, not a basic toggle
You have both Apple and Android devices in your family

Screen Time alone is fine if:

Your child is very young and only uses a few pre-approved apps
You don't need to know what websites they visit
Daily limits work without conflict in your household

Getting Started

ParentalEdge installs as a child app on your child's iPhone or iPad and takes about 2 minutes to set up:

Create a parent account at parentaledge.com
Add your child and note the 6-digit registration code
Install ParentalEdge Kids from the App Store on your child's device
Enter the code and grant permissions

Web filtering, activity reporting, and age-appropriate defaults activate immediately. Manage everything from app.parentaledge.com on any browser.

30-day free trial, no credit card required. Works alongside Apple Screen Time — you don't need to turn anything off.