With the rise in popularity and use of phones, tablets, and laptops, access to the unfiltered internet has become easier than ever. This access is potentially harmful for children as they’re likely to come across pornographic videos or images. The unwanted exposure of children to pornographic content is extremely harmful and can damage their mental health. Since most parents want to guard their children against access to this type of content, we have dedicated this article to introduce the best porn blocker for Android phones (If you want to go beyond Android devices, read How to Block Porn and Adult Content on Major Platforms).
Porn blocker apps usually work by automatically detecting websites that have pornographic content and blocking access to them on your child’s phone. Some porn blocker apps also let you enter the website’s URL manually. If your child uses an Android phone, you must know which apps are available on it. Read this article to find out more about why you need to use a porn blocker app for Android and how.
Effects of Porn on Youth
One way pornography can damage children is by normalizing sexual harm. Children are much more impressionable than adults, and they learn a lot from the media they’re exposed to. Pornographic videos mostly contain gender stereotypes and violent sexually explicit scenes which children mustn’t be exposed to.
Additionally, exposure to violent pornography normalizes aggression towards women. This aggression toward women can especially be seen in today’s porn, and the effects are visible in the mentality children have toward sex. Pornography also gives children an unrealistic image of the opposing sex. This will greatly hinder children’s ability to start and maintain healthy relationships. For further information on the relationship between exposure to violent pornography and aggression towards women, read this article.
The final effect of porn that’s concerning is addiction to pornography. Since watching pornography releases dopamine in the brain, and dopamine is highly addictive, children are likely to become addicted to pornography. The addiction to pornography is usually characterized by an uncontrollable urge to masturbate. The DSM-V handbook, which is an encyclopedia used by psychologists, describes this as Hypersexual Disorder.
The literature on addiction tells us that individuals addicted to one substance are likely to get addicted to other substances or replace it with another. Now, as parents, you might want to prevent your child from becoming addicted to pornography to keep them from other addictions.
Porn Blockers for Android
When it comes to porn blocker apps, you have a lot of different apps to choose from. Each has unique features that come in handy in different situations. Let’s see what apps you can use to block porn on your child’s Android device.
- Safes: Best performance overall
- Google Family Link: Seamless integration with Google services
- Qustodio: Best OS compatibility
- SPIN: Easiest to use
- McAfee: Most popular
- FamiSafe: Most control over the target device
- Norton Family: Easiest to use
- Safe Surfer: More categories than other apps
- BlockSite: Best browser extension
- Browsers’ SafeSearch: Best in terms of simplicity
Safes
The Safes parental control app helps you set restrictions on the websites your child can visit. One of the features, Safe Search, allows you to keep keywords that are inappropriate off your child’s browser. Additionally, the URL Blocking feature lets you block websites according to their category on Google or by predefined categories on Safes. You can also use this feature to manually enter the URL of the website you want to block. But Safes is more than just a porn blocker app. It allows you to keep your child’s online activity in check by giving you reports of which websites they’ve been to. As for its compatibility with your child’s device, you can use Safes on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows.
Google Family Link
Google Family Link is a free app that helps parents supervise children’s Android devices and Chromebooks. Google Family Link offers features to help filter inappropriate search results on your child’s Android device. It can’t block everything, but it does provide options to limit explicit content within Google Search and certain apps. One unique advantage it has over most other parental control solutions is its seamless integration with Google services. It leverages existing knowledge about your child’s Google account and online activity to provide nuanced filtering of Google Search results and Chrome browser content.
Qustodio
Qustodio is another parental control app that allows parents to block URLs manually or based on their categories. You can use this app to block porn websites on your child’s Android device and keep them from its harmful effects, as explained above. This app will additionally notify you if your child comes across inappropriate content. The inappropriate content can be in a text message, a YouTube comment, or an IG message. Qustodio is also available on all the same operating systems that Safes is available on.
SPIN
Another way you can block porn on Android phones is by using the SPIN browser. This browser helps you block porn on your child’s device. This browser has a feature called categorical blocking. This browser has predefined categories which automatically block websites that are prone to adult content (websites that are mostly fine but sometimes publish adult content). Also, you can block websites that provide VPN services which can be useful if your child is trying to buy VPN to change their IP address to access porn sites. This browser is available on both Android and iOS.
McAfee
As a recently launched parental control app, McAfee offers a lot of high-tech features for parents to keep their children safe. By using this app, you can set limits on your child’s browser to prevent them from coming across inappropriate content. Its Limit Content feature helps you block any URL that you think has pornographic content. As a means to further decrease their chance of exposure to porn, you can limit their screen time. By doing so, your child won’t be able to access their phone after the time limit you’ve chosen.
FamiSafe
One of the oldest and most downloaded parental control apps, FamiSafe, has a number of features you can use to block porn on your child’s phone. This app has a Content Filtration feature that automatically detects inappropriate content, such as porn on the internet, and blocks it on your child’s device. The fact that this filtration is done automatically will take away the stress of not knowing if you’ve blocked every porn website. Another feature of FamiSafe, Inappropriate Pictures, searches through your child’s phone and blocks or blurs the pictures that have pornographic content. In case you’re wondering whether your child has bypassed your parental controls or not, you can use this app to see their browser’s history and find out.
Norton Family
The Norton Family app gives you access to your child’s activity on their phone. You will be able to supervise their activity on the web and know which sites they’ve visited. After supervising their online activity, you can find out which porn websites your child visits and then manually block its URL. Some porn websites, such as Pornhub, have applications for mobile phones. You can use Norton’s App Blocker feature to restrict your child from installing applications without entering a password. Although this app doesn’t have all the features that most parental control apps have, it’s still a practical solution.
Safe Surfer
The Safe Surfer is a parental control app that allows parents to block porn on their children’s Android phones using its various features. The Block Sites feature blocks more than fifty categories. These categories include porn, ads, and malware. You can additionally manually block URLs on your child’s browser. The other feature of Safe Surfer that parents enjoy having is Insights. This feature gives you insights into your family’s phone usage habits. This means that you can see which sites each family member visits, which will help you know if they’re visiting any porn websites. Another insight you get with this feature is that you’ll be able to know when your child gets online (You can use this feature to see if they’re up past their bedtime).
BlockSite
BlockSite is a digital tool that helps you manage your child’s internet access. It works as both a browser extension and a mobile app, letting you block specific websites and apps, or entire categories like adult content and social media. For blocking adult content, you can either manually create a list of websites or choose to use BlockSite’s built-in database, which is regularly updated. You can also set schedules for blocks, ensuring they’re only active during homework time or bedtime. Plus, password protection keeps curious young minds from messing with the settings.
Browsers’ SafeSearch
SafeSearch acts like a web bouncer, trying to keep explicit content away from your children’s searches. SafeSearch isn’t actually built into the browsers themselves, but rather works in conjunction with search engines like Google. This means that most popular browsers will offer SafeSearch filtering as long as they rely on the same search engine. While enabling it in browsers helps, consider it a first step. That’s because it can be easily turned off by children. They could also switch to another browser.
Conclusion: What Is the Best Porn Blocker for Android Phones?
Since the amount of information on the internet that’s inappropriate for kids, such as porn, is on the rise, we need to inform you about the best porn blocker for Android phones. There are numerous studies that show porn has terrible side effects on children’s mental health, and this worries parents even more. This article introduces some of the best porn blocker apps for Android, some of which are free.
Although most of these apps have a lot of features in common, there are still subtle differences between them. Some of them are completely free, and some offer exclusive features. Among the apps in this list, there is one app that is a better choice as a whole, and it’s Safes. This parental control app allows for more features than all the apps in our list and is much easier to use. To conclude this article, if you’re judging based on the number of features and their efficacy, Safes is the best porn blocker for Android phones.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve compiled a list of questions and answers to help provide more information on the topic we discussed. If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to help!
How Can I Help My Child to Quit Porn?
If your child has come to you for help with their porn addiction, it’s important to show your love and appreciation for them coming to you with their issue. The next step is to communicate about it and try to come up with solutions that work. During this process, it’s key to stay patient and calm. This isn’t something that gets solved in one day and they can really use your support in this time.
What Is the Best Free Porn Blocker on Android?
The Safes parental control app is easy to use and has features that any parent will benefit from. Make sure to try it out on your child’s device.
How to Block Pornhub on My Child’s Device?
If you want to block Pornhub on your child’s devices, you can use Safes web filter or ensure their online safety by adjusting search-engines settings.
How to Block Access to Porn on My Child’s Device?
To block your child’s access to porn completely on their phone, you can use Safes App Monitoring. By blocking the porn category on their phone, they will not be able to see any pornographic content on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and even SMS. In combination with the above-mentioned web filter, your child will be safe from getting exposed to sexually explicit content.
