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Boomerang

Started by Prem Kumar, Aug 06, 2020, 12:09 PM

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Prem Kumar

Boomerang

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Boomerang is a solid parental control app for Android and iOS that helps parents track their children's web, app, and mobile activity. It's mobile-only, though, so you can't use it to monitor Macs or PCs.

Most kids these days use phones or tablets, so you need parental control software that can monitor your child's web browsing history, device usage, and location on mobile platforms. Apart from the basics, Boomerang also lets you construct geofences; monitor YouTube app activity; log calls and SMS texts; and set up always-allowed actions for emergencies. That said, many of its features are Android-only. The current requirement to sideload the Android app is not ideal either and we'd like to see more flexible pricing options. If you need a single parental control app that covers all your devices (including Macs and PCs) via a single subscription, consider Qustodio, our Editors' Choice.

Pricing and Platform

As mentioned, Boomerang offers apps for both Android and iOS devices, though, like most other parental control apps, Apple's policies limit some of its capabilities. For a single device license, Boomerang charges $15.99 per year. For only a single device license, this is on the expensive side. Boomerang also offers a more palatable Family Plan for 10 device licenses at a cost of $30.99 per year. The Family plan is a better value, but 10 device licenses may be overkill for parents who need to monitor two or three devices. Boomerang does offer a 14-day free trial, but no permanent free version.

Kaspersky Safe Kids is $14.99 per year for unlimited child profiles and devices, and it covers PCs and Macs. Kaspersky Safe Kids also offers a permanent free version. Qustodio charges $54.95 per year for five devices and works on all the major desktop and mobile platforms. Circle Home Plus, which combines a hardware ($129) and software ($9.99 per month) component, can also monitor an unlimited number of devices.

I tested Boomerang on a Google Pixel 3 and a Google Pixel, both running Android 10. I also installed Boomerang on an iPhone 8 running iOS 11. Although not many other services play nicely with Amazon Fire tablets, support for Amazon's cheap and kid-friendly device lineup would be a welcome addition. Competitor Qustodio is available via the Amazon Appstore.

Getting Started

Installing the Boomerang app is simple on iOS; just download it from the App Store. Installing the Android app is more involved, since Boomerang was removed from the Google Play store. President and COO of Boomerang, Justin Payeur, explains:

"The reasoning we received from the automated review was that Boomerang Parental Control "CAN'T UNINSTALL APP". Specifically, they mention You'll need to remove any functionality that prevents a user from removing or uninstalling the app from their device. When I referred to their guideline for the Deceptive Behavior policy, it states "Apps that modify device settings or features with the user's consent but do so in a way that is not easily reversible." This is open to opinion and doesn't contain any specific examples."

Sources by: PCMag