Parental Controls: Screen Time vs Family Link vs Mova — Which Should You Choose?

Screen Time (Apple): built-in control for iPhone

Part of iOS, not a separate app. Remote management requires a child Apple ID and Family Sharing. Step-by-step setup is in the article how to set up parental controls on iPhone.

What it can do:

• Limits for apps and categories (games, social media, entertainment) — a new game from the App Store is immediately counted under the category limit.
• Downtime — a schedule when only allowed apps work.
• 18+ content filtering and Ask to Buy.
• Weekly reports: how much time and in which apps.
• A passcode without which settings can’t be changed.

What it can’t do: there is no geolocation (that’s in the separate Find My), and reports are not very detailed. The limit is the same every day, no matter what the child did during the day: it doesn’t distinguish an evening after homework from one without it. And the system has known loopholes — how to close them, we explain in the article what to do if your child bypassed the Screen Time passcode.

Family Link (Google): control for Android

A free Google service for a child’s Android phone or Chromebook. You create a child Google account, link it to yours, and manage it from your phone — the parent app is available for both Android and iPhone.

What it can do:

• Daily limits and limits for individual apps.
• Bedtime — schedule-based blocking.
• Approval for installs from Google Play.
• Filters in Google Play, Chrome, and YouTube.
• Built-in geolocation and one-tap phone lock.

What it can’t do: after age 13, the child can unlink the account themselves — you’ll get a notification, but control will disappear. Reports are basic, and it doesn’t filter inside apps (specific YouTube channels). We cover that in the article how to block YouTube, TikTok, and games on a child’s phone.

Mova: screen time as a reward for a lesson

Both tools above are about prohibition: the parent sets a limit, the child fights it, and after a month no one revisits the limit anymore. Mova is about an exchange that happens automatically every day. Games, social media, and video on the child’s iPhone are blocked and open for the minutes they earn with a daily English lesson. Mova uses the same Apple system mechanism as Screen Time, so it’s no easier to bypass.

• The child earns it, they don’t beg for it. A “Super” test gives 30 minutes, “Good” gives 20, and all the day’s tests marked “Super” add another 10. How much to give is up to you: the reward can be changed or turned off. And no one can manually add minutes — not the child, not you, even when you feel like giving in in the evening. So there’s simply no one to ask for “just five more minutes” from: the only option is to take the lesson.
• Nothing needs to be tracked by hand. Minutes are added automatically, games open only when earned, and the balance is shared across all the child’s devices. Whether unused minutes expire at night is also up to you.
• The lesson adapts itself. No placement test: the level adjusts daily to the result, and words return for review at increasing intervals until they stick.
• Blocks by category. A new game in the same category is blocked automatically, and the list changes only with your PIN.
• No child Apple ID or Family Sharing required. The child signs in with a code or QR code from your dashboard, without email or phone number.
• Dashboard in the browser. From any device, even Android: the child’s level, how many words they know and are learning, each day’s results, and streaks.
• No need to sit beside them. If they don’t do the lesson, the games won’t open, and you won’t need to remind them. If they don’t pass a test, they’ll get a second try an hour later with different questions, and every 5 consecutive days the child earns bonus minutes.

What it can’t do: it works only on iPhone, and it doesn’t have geolocation or website filtering — leave that to Screen Time and Find My.

Comparison table

How to choose in a minute:

1. Android — Family Link, because it’s free and system-level.
2. iPhone, you just need to put the phone away at night — Screen Time with a schedule.
3. iPhone, there’s a fight over the screen every evening or the “first things first” rule doesn’t hold — Mova is the best fit: the limit stops being your decision and becomes the result of the lesson.

Why prohibition works worse than exchange

A limit restricts access, but it doesn’t change desire. The child still wants back to the screen and looks for the weak spot: loopholes, other people’s phones, guessing the code, fights. The older the child gets, the more the limit turns into a war with you. And limits are set and forgotten: the rule “homework first, then games” only lasts for a week if the parent has the energy to enforce it every evening.

When the screen is a reward for a task, the child isn’t fighting the restriction — they’re meeting the condition: the key is in their hands. The system block remains in place, so the door can’t just be kicked open. Mova combines both: Apple blocking plus the lesson as the key, and that condition works every day without you — lesson, minutes, games unlocked.