Can I Monitor My Child’s Text Messages on the iPhone?

There are ways to keep track of your child’s iPhone activities. However, it can be a little challenging because of all the different ways your child can communicate with others.

Understanding the Messaging Options

The iPhone is capable of sending and receiving regular SMS text messages as well as iMessages. SMS text messages are managed by the cellular provider according to the child’s text messaging plan. An iMessage is managed by Apple and can only be sent between Apple devices.

In addition to SMS text messages and iMessages, your child can download a host of other third-party Internet-based messaging apps such as Text Free, Text Plus, Viber, and other instant message and social media Interactive story apps for kids. These Internet-based messaging apps provide additional avenues for your child to communicate with others.

Using a Professional Monitoring Service

If you don’t mind paying a monthly fee, a professional monitoring service such as TeenSafe provides a fairly simple solution for monitoring your child’s iPhone activities. There are also many monitoring apps such as PhoneSheriff, mSpy, and Mobile Spy. Of these examples, only TeenSafe and the PhoneSheriff Investigator edition claim to be able to monitor iPhone usage without jailbreaking the iPhone. If you don’t know what it means to jailbreak an iPhone, it probably isn’t something you will want to attempt.

DISCLAIMER – The examples above as well as many other monitoring Interactive story changing apps for kids are available on the Internet. I am not affiliated with any of these companies and have never used their products. Therefore, I can not provide a recommendation of one product over another. I only provided some examples as a starting point for your own research. If you do use a monitoring service, I would be interested in hearing some feedback on your experience with the service.

What No-Cost Monitoring Options Are Available?

While the professional services are convenient, there are some monitoring methods you can use that do not require any specific monitoring fees. However, there isn’t one single method to monitor everything like a professional service. You will need to monitor the various communication methods separately.

Monitoring SMS Text Messages

SMS text messages are handled by your cellular provider. You can monitor the phone numbers your child is texting by signing in to your account on your cellular provider’s website. When viewing your account, there should be a list of all the phone numbers for which your child has sent or received text messages. Since the actual content of the text message is not available online, you will not be able to read the message, but at least you can see the phone numbers.