My son is 13 and I’m worried about who he’s talking to online. I don’t want him to know I’m checking so he doesn’t hide things better.
Totally get the worry, been there — but heads up, most “invisible” monitoring apps still need you to physically install them on his phone, so there’s no magic remote solution anyway.
Honestly for a 13-year-old, Google Family Link or Apple Screen Time are your best bet — they’re built-in, free, and actually work pretty well for seeing app usage and setting limits without needing sketchy third-party apps.
The “don’t let him know” strategy usually backfires at that age though — I’d suggest just telling him you have parental controls on because that’s your job, kids actually behave better when they know the monitoring is there. 