Review Insights · App Store
Qustodio Parental Control App
Qustodio · 8,832 ratings · ★ 4.2
4.2
★★★★★
8,832 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 84 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"work"
21 negative reviews mention this · 25% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Qustodio Means Recurring Pain. We used this app and the Mac OS app for simple things, time boxing use of apps for kids and blocking a few websites. the app install is sketchy as hell, and feels like spyware on the adult side of the equation because it asks you if you wan…" - fnamelname
2
"kids"
19 negative reviews mention this · 23% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I hate this app. This is app is easily one of the most terrible apps I’ve ever used. The amount of parents that have told me this app isn’t good in numerous. The parents told me the that this app can track your information and kids information. This is deep…" - JeweyJew
3
"child"
15 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This might be problem one day, you idiots. I have been wondering why does your parental control app always have to check histories, you guys don’t have to, imma say this, there are some kids that don’t know much better online of what porn or inappropriate content they watch, I unde…" - Crazy golfdfish
4
"phone"
14 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste of $100. This app has been absolutely terrible and I’ve been using it for a few weeks now. I paid $100 for a year which I regret immensely now. The lag in updates as far as checking what sites your child has been on, monitoring, messaging, and loca…" - Allieb868
5
"doesn"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste of $100. This app has been absolutely terrible and I’ve been using it for a few weeks now. I paid $100 for a year which I regret immensely now. The lag in updates as far as checking what sites your child has been on, monitoring, messaging, and loca…" - Allieb868
6
"money"
12 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Waste of $100. This app has been absolutely terrible and I’ve been using it for a few weeks now. I paid $100 for a year which I regret immensely now. The lag in updates as far as checking what sites your child has been on, monitoring, messaging, and loca…" - Allieb868
7
"does"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This might be problem one day, you idiots. I have been wondering why does your parental control app always have to check histories, you guys don’t have to, imma say this, there are some kids that don’t know much better online of what porn or inappropriate content they watch, I unde…" - Crazy golfdfish
8
"iphone"
10 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Phone started malfunctioning. I installed it on my iPhone as a patten. But my daughters phone started to malfunction with flickering screen the day after it was installled and a lot of apps was affected. Not good!" - P65pp4
9
"support"
9 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Ne fonctionne pas. Attention, ne fonctionnera pas si votre enfant utilise un VPN ou le mode économie d’énergie. J’ai soulevé le problème plusieurs fois au support et ils m’ont tout simplement dit d’enlever le VPN ou le mode économie d’énergie…" - Philjulie1005
📋 All 84 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
I hate this app
This is app is easily one of the most terrible apps I’ve ever used. The amount of parents that have told me this app isn’t good in numerous. The parents told me the that this app can track your information and kids information. This is deeply disturbing for me and I strongly recommend that you keep these complaints in mind.
This might be problem one day, you idiots
I have been wondering why does your parental control app always have to check histories, you guys don’t have to, imma say this, there are some kids that don’t know much better online of what porn or inappropriate content they watch, I understand about that but why do you guys have to show parents that, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to do, but some kids could get lectured or yelled at for that, like you guys don’t worry about that, those children after being lectured or yelled at could cry or feel bad or it could haunt them or it’s just grief. But I’m just saying.
So difficult to use
The parent app was way too complicated to use. There are two different versions to download for the child yet that isn’t explained well at all. The chat helpers aren’t very helpful and the web browser automatically logs you out and you lose the communication you’ve already had. This app made me frustrated and I requested a refund bc I couldn’t get or make calls on the device I wanted to protect unless adding each individual number :( not practical or ideal. Yet again, this wasn’t stated until after I purchased :(
Don’t waste on this
I downloaded the app it was good for a month or so but then it destroyed my son’s iPad and the App Store was gone so I had to get a new iPad. Use the apple screen time or another app called bark
Waste of $100
This app has been absolutely terrible and I’ve been using it for a few weeks now. I paid $100 for a year which I regret immensely now.
The lag in updates as far as checking what sites your child has been on, monitoring, messaging, and location doesnt show up and is like 3 days behind if it shows up at all. It’s so wonky in the way that the inconsistency doesn’t allow you to make sure that your child staying safe while using their phone. Update: I paid $100 for a year. Not once did it monitor things correct, not once did it consistently do all of the things the service advertises it does. Customer service would help me do the same steps over and over and there was still never any resolution. This was a huge waste of money time and energy and I would definitely recommend looking a parental app. This app will not make it easy for you to protect your children.
The lag in updates as far as checking what sites your child has been on, monitoring, messaging, and location doesnt show up and is like 3 days behind if it shows up at all. It’s so wonky in the way that the inconsistency doesn’t allow you to make sure that your child staying safe while using their phone. Update: I paid $100 for a year. Not once did it monitor things correct, not once did it consistently do all of the things the service advertises it does. Customer service would help me do the same steps over and over and there was still never any resolution. This was a huge waste of money time and energy and I would definitely recommend looking a parental app. This app will not make it easy for you to protect your children.
Not it
Paid for premium, still can’t do anything on the parent app. Absolutely pointless. We were better off with bark, and that’s not saying much.
Ne fonctionne pas
Attention, ne fonctionnera pas si votre enfant utilise un VPN ou le mode économie d’énergie.
J’ai soulevé le problème plusieurs fois au support et ils m’ont tout simplement dit d’enlever le VPN ou le mode économie d’énergie…
J’ai soulevé le problème plusieurs fois au support et ils m’ont tout simplement dit d’enlever le VPN ou le mode économie d’énergie…
Qustodio Means Recurring Pain
We used this app and the Mac OS app for simple things, time boxing use of apps for kids and blocking a few websites. the app install is sketchy as hell, and feels like spyware on the adult side of the equation because it asks you if you want to install it on the user or the entire device, but grays out the user only choice. Then there are constant messages about it not working based on the operating system. Then, websites that were flagged as ok are blocked, but not even white listing them restores access to them. If I had to bet on something, the owners of this app hire their kids to build the app or put it out on freelancer.com and just hired the cheapest person they could find. It just isn't an app that creates the trust me with total control of my family's computer. The issues are basic ones that an app like this should not struggle with out of the gate. These are the kind of issues that suggest a lack of basic quality control, application security, and general best practices are probably also not being followed. I deleted the app today.
Horrible app
Stop babying
Can’t uninstall
I got the free trial to see if this would work for our family and decided it wasn’t gonna do what we needed to do. I’m unable to uninstall the app even though I’ve gotten rid of the VPN. I contacted customer Service and they said they can’t help me because I didn’t pay for it.
Absolutely sucks
Good concept since I wanted something better than the Apple family app but alas it doesn’t work the way it is supposed to. It is not consistent and it’s too hard to change rules and even when the time expires on the app my son is able to continue playing. Still hoping for a solution but this is not it.
Awful
Plain and simple, does not work. Randomly will load SOME info. Doesn’t track location, texts don’t load. Customer service is terrible. Don’t waste your money.
The horrible adventure
It sucks. It controls my son to much
Worst app ever
My child gets these pop ups with asking for prrmission for apps she disnt even asked for permisson she has to reset her ipad every time it happeneds and even when you do that it doesnt even stop so she has to take a brrak from it for a little for a it to come back on and it made it very glitchy would not recommend if you want your kid throwing their ipad on the ground
Frustrating Garbage
I’m a fairly smart person, but this software completely baffles me on how to use it. They need to spend more money on engineering and UI development instead of slick marketing. Going to work on a full refund.
I have no idea how this thing is supposed to.
I have no idea how this thing is supposed to.
Thsi Mf
Hi parents do you like stalking your kids and making your kids hate you? Well download this app to make your dreams come true !!!🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
More like a virus than anything
This is garbage. It will lock you out even if you remove the profile. Find better alternatives. Plus they dont refund.
IT DISABLES NORD IF YOU HAVE IT
Qustodio is horrible, i cant even use tiktok or nordvpn, IT LITERALLY DISABLES NORD TO GO TO ITS STUPID BUGGY VPN AND BREAKS TIKTOK AND PROBABLY SOME OTHER APPS YALL HAVE INSTALLED AND I CANT DO ANYTHING ABT IT BC MY DAD SAYS “OH YOU HAVE TO USE IT” AND I AM N O T USING YT SHORTS DUDE. OMG AND I CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT FORCES YOU TO USE THE STUPID QUSTDDJJEJSIAO VPN BRO. IF YOU ARE A PARENT SEEING THIS..
DO
NOT
GET
THIS
STUPID
HORRIBLE
GARBAGE
OF
A
PARENT CONTROLS APP
DO
NOT
GET
THIS
STUPID
HORRIBLE
GARBAGE
OF
A
PARENT CONTROLS APP
horrible
my child couldn’t do anything on it except asking me can I have more time or can you unblock that I was at work and my child came up to me and said mommy mommy unblock it please it was horrible. I was getting disturbed and I got fired. they should change the regulations. It should just be time limit.
Wasted my money
This app worked relatively well for it’s purpose. The problem was that when it locked my kids out of apps it locked Apple wallet as well. Thus my kids couldn’t use their Apple wallet for public transportation, which is how they travel to school. When I wrote to Qustodio about it they offered no help and just said that’s just how it is.
Phone started malfunctioning
I installed it on my iPhone as a patten. But my daughters phone started to malfunction with flickering screen the day after it was installled and a lot of apps was affected. Not good!
Doesn’t works
The app doesn’t works correct!
Terrible
Locks in phone when it’s not supposed to. The screen time of the iPhone and this app don’t align. Glitches also.
Taking your data
This app takes my sons data and goes through his messages all the time. Please do not buy this app unless you want a shorter battery life and all your data not being private.
Not Good
Not intuitive and another app that fails to effectively limit the amount of time children can access apps. And the bad part is that it’s set up in a way that makes you think you are blocking app with time limits, but that’s not how it works. It’s just for tracking. So if you limited an app to 30 mins a day it won’t stop the child from using the app.
Doesn’t work on newer phones
First off, I consider myself pretty tech literate, but the process to set this up was a pain in the butt. Then no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to monitor my child’s texts and phone calls. I had to dig through their website and tried a laundry list of fixes they recommend (which involved disabling so many phone features it made it not worth it anyway) before finally coming to an article on their site that explains the feature will not work with my sons phone (a Galaxy s26 Ultra).
Do not waste your money: Easy to get around
Not useful as an application, it’s very easy for kids to get around on their iPhones and iPads. Reports incorrect app usage. Even when using the MacBook app which supposedly makes it so kids can’t disable the vpn/app. With Chromebooks kids can just disable the extension, so not helpful at all.
WORST APP EVER
I’m 11 and I’m in 7th grade. I can’t use AppStore when my mom is with me and knows what I’m doing but it won’t let me do anything like deleting it and it’s annoying. Pls delete this app from the App Store devs :) .
It does not work
It does not work properly. I blocked YouTube and it still works and when YouTube opens by itself it never closed. Even the time does not work.
iPhone Issues
Easy for the child to disable. Worked well until they tampered with the app and vpn. A little more difficult to setup than I expected and the time is wasted when the child can change a few settings, delete the app and go about their business as usual. Not an IT guy, but very ‘techie’ and when it says ‘do this steps to require a password to delete the app’, I did the steps, and the child deleted it anyway, it is very frustrating. Support is a chatbot or an endless loop to try to use their 3rd party and logging in. After my third try to make this work I am throwing in the towel and trying Bark.
Can’t log into parent dashboard!!!
Paid for app. Can’t login to parent dashboard. Got in for about 1 minute. Password is correct. Tried multiple browsers (safari and chrome). Downloaded software onto son’s PC which requires password. I cannot access parent dashboard via web or app. Receive “Oops” messages or the pages just has the swirling circle. The app does NOTHING if you can’t access the parent page. Extremely disappointed. Want a refund.
Falla mucho
Tiene muchas fallas
Not all the features in regular subscription, no upgrade
So I purchased a subscription for 59.99, I tested it out for two days, it didnt have all the features, even simple features where not included. I decided to upgrade, but the only option to upgrade is to buy a new subscription for 99.99. I assumed if I cancel I would receive the refund and I can buy the better subscription, I was denied twice to receive the money back. Not happy because I canceled the subscription which I can’t use, and don’t have the money returned.
GET ANOTHER APP, STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE!
Qustodio sounded like the best option for my family and I… until I downloaded it.
Not only does it not register/tell you WHEN your child has been on the internet/safari… it doesn’t work with over half of the apps it claims it does. It worked for the first couple of hours, showing me that my child searched up a tutorial on safari… but after hour 4, it suddenly stopped.
I even tested it out myself, taking my child’s phone for an hour and going to different apps and spending time on them. But NOPE, over HALF of them did not register.
So please, get another app to protect your child. I will be trying out Bark next, so if it works, I will try and update this review (I’m not even sure if I can).
But please.. save your money, save your time, save the stress, and just PAY FOR ANOTHER APP!!!
Not only does it not register/tell you WHEN your child has been on the internet/safari… it doesn’t work with over half of the apps it claims it does. It worked for the first couple of hours, showing me that my child searched up a tutorial on safari… but after hour 4, it suddenly stopped.
I even tested it out myself, taking my child’s phone for an hour and going to different apps and spending time on them. But NOPE, over HALF of them did not register.
So please, get another app to protect your child. I will be trying out Bark next, so if it works, I will try and update this review (I’m not even sure if I can).
But please.. save your money, save your time, save the stress, and just PAY FOR ANOTHER APP!!!
Spend your money somewhere
This app is a horrible. My kids bypass it all the time, the rules and rutines are confuse and not intuitive at all. I spend a lot of time checking the app to see if it is working, horrible app. Do not buy it
So not user friendly :(
Reached out to CS and still waiting to hear back. I even filled out their survey and nothing. We signed up for premium and the frustration on the inaccurate notifications and lack of ease in adjusting settings and understanding what’s accurate defeats the whole reasoning of the app. Extremely disappointed.
Unable to report usage accurately
If you need accurate usage this app is not for you. With a social media block in place it will still incorrectly report hours of usage to those sites. How can you have a conversation with a child about usage when the app lies and says they accessed blocked sites. Further, the app is unable to deal with the pixel advertising sites like FB which any other product can handle as its a static url! Support has shifted to AI only, returning a link and it has no human escalation. I can’t get help from them. Caveat Emptor.
Expired MDM
This app looked super promising for my daughters IPhone 16. After going through the entire setup process, it would appear that the developer has let a certificate that is essential to the app expire. I’ve reached out to them via email, but unless it’s resolved this app will be useless to anyone who downloads it.
Easy for teens to delete
I paid the annual suscription, because the app promises that a minor can not
Delete the it. However, my son was able to delete Qustodio app after watching a tik tok video explaining how to remove it. This means the app doesn't work as advertised, I lost parental control
And the money was wasted. The service fail to deliver its core
Promise and it's not
Worth the money
Delete the it. However, my son was able to delete Qustodio app after watching a tik tok video explaining how to remove it. This means the app doesn't work as advertised, I lost parental control
And the money was wasted. The service fail to deliver its core
Promise and it's not
Worth the money
Malo
Esto es muy malo es una cárcel para tu celular no recomiendo bajarlo
Don’t waste your money!
Got Quostodio last year $60 down the drain. Doesn’t work, no support. Deleted it from our phones. What a waste of money!
Can be uninstalled by child
Doesn’t do any good if your child can simply uninstall the app even when you selected that it can’t be.
Difficult
Difficult to get the software setup to monitor messages and calls. Customer support consists of exchanging emails with someone who may respond in the next day. If you want to speak with some directly you have to schedule a time that is at least 2-3 weeks out. For the $ this is not worth it. I regret purchasing this program, I demoed a couple of other ones since this purchase and found the other companies to be more user friendly and responsive. I am extremely dissatisfied. This program is nothing that I was hoping for.
This app lies
This app will say that things are going on on a phone that are not. I am an adult who had this app on my phone as a teenager. One instance of this was if an add popped up for an app on my phone QStudio would say I was on that app. Once I was accused of having Tinder on my phone because an ad popped up for it on one of my mobile games. Additionally, stuff like this has happened to my sister. It told my mom she was on a yaoi site when she wasn’t and it prompted my mom to barge into her room at 5 am and yell and start going through her phone. This app does nothing but cause problems. There are parental control apps that actually work and I recommend using one of those this one lies and tries to sew family discourse.
Don’t get this you’ll regret it
If I could give zero stars I would. I signed up for a trial and it wouldn’t even install on a device, took HOURS to install on another device and didn’t even do what it claims. Then when I cancelled the trial and tried to delete the software, it uninstalled but wouldn’t let me delete the app. Tried numerous things to no avail because I cancelled the subscription and removed protection as I followed the instructions. It uninstalled and then logged out so I didn’t have option to remove app. Then I tried to contact support but was told I can’t get help if I’m not a premium subscriber. Wow. So I had to reset the device with Apple’s help to factory settings just to finally be rid of the app. DO NOT BOTHER WASTING YOUR TIME!
Cancel
It’s extremely difficult to cancel. The app never worked well, my kid found ways around it on day one. Just took me 30 minutes to cancel, after conversing with AI on the website.
Lot of Glitches and completely destroys phone
It takes the entire internet connection from your device. The entire time it is on you have no access to emergency websites. Also, when it turns off automatically, it causes glitches like losing connection for apps at random times. This app is not good.
Not effective and automatically renewal without notice and not refundable
Very bad experience
Don’t do it!
Customer service is horrible! I’ve had a question for three weeks and no assistance!
This app suck
ITS NEVER GOING TO WORK IT SERIOUSLY IT REALLY SUCKS OML… also the review that’s like temptations and kids and stuff is a complete lie.. IT MAKES YOUR KIDS DO THINGS BEHIND YOUR BACK INSTEAD OF HAVING FREE WILL.. they feel like they have to hide everything
+ 34 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
80%
Positive (4-5★)
4%
Neutral (3★)
16%
Negative (1-2★)