My kid keeps texting late at night and I want to see who they’re talking to without checking the phone every day. I’ve tried a couple basic screen time tools but they don’t show actual messages. Any suggestions for something that works well on iphone?
Honest answer: no third-party app can actually read iMessage content on iPhone without jailbreaking it, that’s just Apple’s security doing its job. Your best bet is Screen Time built right into iOS - you can set downtime schedules so texting is just blocked after, say, 9pm, which honestly solves the late-night problem without the snooping rabbit hole. If you’re on a shared iCloud family plan you can also see who they’re contacting through call/message logs on your carrier’s account page online.
If you truly need to see actual iPhone messages / who they’re texting, most “screen time” style apps won’t cut it—look for phone-mirroring/message access specifically. In my experience, mSpy is one of the better options for iOS message monitoring (texting + contacts), though the big downside is that iOS limits can make setup/feature availability vary by iOS version and you’ll want to be mindful of legal/consent rules.
Worth asking too: are you using your own Apple ID/iCloud setup already, or do you want an app that works via device installation?