The free things, done properly
All three of these cost nothing and are already available to you. They fail almost entirely because people turn on two or three settings and stop. These are the complete lists.
Menu names last checked August 2026.
iPhone and iPad
15 minutes · freeScreen Time, done properly
The whole configuration, including the four settings that hold everything else in place — and the workarounds that get past it if you skip them.
Android
20 minutes · freeFamily Link, done properly
Supervision, app approval and content filtering — plus the manufacturer features that quietly run an unsupervised copy of the phone.
Home wifi
15 minutes · freeOne router setting, every device
Filter the whole house at once, free, without installing anything. The least-known useful thing in this subject.
Do all three if you can
Each one catches something the other two miss. The built-in controls handle apps and hours, the router handles every device in the house, and neither of them follows the phone out the door — which is the gap a paid filter fills. Together they cost nothing and take about an hour.