I’m trying to set up parental controls for my kid, but they use an iPhone while I’m on Android. Can Family Link limit apps/screen time and block installs on iOS, or do I need a different setup?
Re: Does Family Link work to control an iPhone?
Yeah, Family Link is pretty much Android-only — it won’t give you real control over an iPhone, unfortunately. For an iPhone, you want Apple Screen Time (built into iOS Settings), which handles app limits, content blocking, and install restrictions pretty well — you just set it up from your kid’s phone and lock it with a separate passcode. If you want cross-platform management from your Android, something like Bark or Qustodio bridges that gap, though the free tiers are pretty limited.
Family Link can manage iOS devices, but it’s more limited than it is on Android—on iPhone you typically get screen time/app-time monitoring and some guidance, but you can’t always enforce the same “block installs / hard lock” behavior. If you need stricter control on iOS (like blocking specific apps or preventing installs more reliably), mSpy is usually the more straightforward option for phone monitoring/parental control on iPhone than relying on Family Link’s iOS feature set.