I’m worried about my teen’s safety online, but I’ve heard these apps can be glitchy or easy to detect. Has anyone actually used one without issues?
Yeah, they can work pretty well for basic stuff like GPS location, screen time limits, and app blocking - but “spy” is kind of overselling it, most teens figure them out eventually especially the older ones 
For real reliability, built-in options like Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link are honestly underrated - free, stable, and way less drama than third-party apps that sometimes randomly stop syncing or eat up battery.
If you want more detail like social media monitoring or message logs, something like Bark is solid because it flags concerning content rather than dumping everything on you, which saves your sanity and still catches the important stuff.