Monitoring Internet Usage

Why Circle’s Internet Usage Feature Matters

You can’t be everywhere your kids are—and let’s be honest, you don’t want to be. If you’re not around your kids 24/7, how can you really track how they’re spending time online?

Even when kids are at home, do you know exactly which videos they’re watching on the iPad or who they’re messaging on their cell phone? With the right parental control software, you can understand what your kids are doing online, and spot warning signs of cyberbullying, poor Internet safety, and inappropriate content.

Your kid’s device goes everywhere with them. While that’s a big help when it comes to tracking down your kid’s whereabouts with location tracking, it’s not great if they’re spending too much time online. Circle’s Usage feature helps parents get a full picture of their kids’ online activities, wherever they are.

Monitoring apps and websites also helps you stay ahead of potential issues. If you notice a trend of too much time spent in one category or on one website, you can set Time Limits on those. Or, if you find out they're accessing things you don't want them to, you can block apps or web content. But until you know where their time is being spent, setting healthy limits in those areas or blocking that content isn’t in the cards.

Benefits of Circle’s Internet Usage Feature

Even with a web filter blocking inappropriate content for your kids, it’s still important to know their activity and how they’re spending time online.

Circle tracks the time each family member spends on specific apps and websites, like TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, WhatsApp, and more. Because it integrates with your router, Circle tracks across all platforms including Windows, Amazon Kindle, and Apple MacOS and iOS devices.

Then, the Usage portion of each profile displays the specific family member's real-time app usage in a clear, concise way. Here’s a quick breakdown of how you can use the Usage feature:

Circle’s Usage Helps Your Track Your Kids’ Web History

• View family members’ usage by day, week, or month.

• Easily compare usage to previous days, weeks, or months.

• View top online categories, websites, and apps used.

• Filter any website from a family member’s profile.

Usage creates an easy way to track what your kids are doing online, so you can spot the trends and set up content filtering as you see fit.

If you see one of your kids is using up all of their screen time online shopping or on social networks, you can apply Time Limits to those web categories.

It’s like having a second set of eyes!

How Circle’s Usage Works

Circle is one of the best parental control apps for monitoring your kids’ Internet usage. Setting up Usage is simple. Once you’ve set up your profile and assigned devices to it, open up the profile of the family member you would like to view insights for, and tap Usage. The Usage screen will load with a summary of that family member's Internet activity for the day.

View by Day, Week, or Month

Tap the duration you’d like to view—day, week, or month. The total time online will be visible. You can go back in time for each view to compare it with the previous day, week, or month.

View Top Categories, Apps, and Sites

Activity is organized by category and popular apps or websites, and ordered by longest duration spent at the top so you can easily see where the most time is spent online.

View More Details in a Category

Start by tapping the category's name. A list of the top five sites visited for that category will be shown along with the time spent on that site.

Filter a Website for a Family Member

In the category list view under a family member's profile, tap the website name. Tap "Set as Not Allowed". The site will now be listed under Custom Filters within the family member’s profile, and they will no longer be able to access that site.