Product Review Of The BrightCanary Apple iOS Parenting App

TWH
30 minutes ago
13 min read

Last year, we learned about a parent monitoring app called BrightCanary, designed “specifically” for Apple iOS devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.(1) This intrigued us given that historically third party monitoring apps do not work so well on the sandboxed Apple iOS platform, so we had our doubts about its real effectiveness. We reached out to the company to see if we could test and evaluate the app. At that time, it wasn’t yet available in Canada, though they hoped to expand here soon. Last month, the CEO of BrightCanary contacted us to let us know the app had just launched in the Canadian Apple Store.

When we reconnected with the CEO, he explained that although the app was now available in Canada, it hadn’t yet been tested to confirm compatibility with Canadian telecommunications networks. We offered to take on that testing ourselves, something we intended to do anyway, since we never recommend a product without firsthand evaluation. For transparency, other than access to the BrightCanary app for free to review, we did not receive payment or any other form of compensation for our testing and evaluation of BrightCanary. Once our review was complete, we uninstalled the app from both the parent and child devices to ensure we weren’t making use of the free license beyond its intended purpose for testing.

We also made it clear that our review would be entirely open and honest, highlighting both strengths and shortcomings, and that we would publish it across all of our social media platforms. Some companies have declined to share their products after hearing this commitment. However, to BrightCanary’s credit, they provided us with a license to test all features in the app, fully aware that our review would be candid and independent.

According to the BrightCanary website, they are a Seattle based startup, launched in 2022, that equips parents and caregivers with thoughtful, proactive tools to keep kids safe in the digital world specific to the Apple iOS echo system. Rather than blocking or ignoring online activity, the app embraces a “middle path”, one that values guided independence.

The founders, themselves parents, wanted a solution that grows with families and supports children as they develop digital literacy at different stages. BrightCanary’s stated approach balances autonomy and oversight, helping parents and caregivers engage meaningfully instead of just imposing restrictions.

Karl Stillner is the Co-Founder and CEO of BrightCanary. A father himself, Karl conceived the idea for the app when his twins began using technology extensively during the pandemic. Frustrated with slow, easily bypassed parental monitoring apps, he teamed up with CTO Steve Dossick to build something better, an intuitive, secure way for parents to stay aware of their children’s digital lives without ceding control.

Karl brings deep experience in the mobile ecosystem to BrightCanary. He helped build and sell FlightTrack (an early app success) and co-founded PushSpring, a mobile audience data platform acquired by T-Mobile in 2019. At T-Mobile, he held key roles in advertising, analytics, Mergers & Acquisitions. Karl holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

What is the special sauce of BrightCanary?

According to the company:

Instead of trying to pick which apps to watch, BrightCanary uses a secure, custom iOS keyboard. Whenever your child types, whether in Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Discord, TikTok, Roblox, Reddit, text messages, Google search or YouTube, you get to see what’s happening.

There are no weird setups. There’s no home Wi-Fi synchronizing or computer docking. Once the keyboard is installed with full access, it works everywhere your child types. BrightCanary doesn’t collect passwords or disturb app performance.

Their intentionally built AI scans all typed content and flags anything concerning, like bullying, explicit language, self-harm, or drug and alcohol references, and sends real time alerts to the parent device.

The parent dashboard organizes key activity such as recent searches and messages, emotional tone, interests, and trending conversations.

The “Ask the Canary” feature acts as an in-app AI coach, offering age-appropriate advice on tough topics like sexting or cyberbullying.

That’s how the company describes their app, but what did our own testing reveal? As we often say, don’t just tell us it works, show us it works!

Download and Set Up:

Downloading the app onto both the parent device and the child’s device was straightforward. We simply visited the Apple App Store on each device and installed it. Before starting, it’s helpful to have the necessary details ready such as your email and password for receiving alerts, along with your child’s Apple ID, password, and cellphone number (if they have a data plan). It should be noted that our testing was done on the Telus cellular network, one of the largest in Canada.

NOTE: With BrightCanary, you can start monitoring most services without needing your child’s username or password. The main exceptions are Google, YouTube, and enhanced text message monitoring. For Google and YouTube, logging in allows the app to give parents more detailed insights into searches and viewing activity. For the Text Message Plus plan, parents are asked to sign in to their child’s iCloud account, which enables more complete monitoring of texts, including group chats, deleted messages, and any images or videos sent through text. For youth and younger teens this should not be an issue given that parents and caregivers should already have this information. However, for older teens there will likely be pushback given their concern about “privacy” from parents and caregivers.

Once the app was on the parent or caregiver device, setup was easy. We created a child profile by entering their name and age (month and year only). The app then generated a six-digit code to be entered on the child’s device.

On the child’s device, we downloaded the BrightCanary app from the Apple App Store, selected “This is a child’s device,” entered the six-digit code from the parent or caregiver device, and followed the prompts. These included:

Installing the BrightCanary Keyboard and granting “full access.”

Linking the child’s Google/YouTube account to track searches and videos.

(Optional) Enabling Text Message Plus by signing in with the child’s Apple ID for deeper text monitoring. We strongly recommend this feature and will discuss it further later in the review.

We did run into a minor challenge syncing the two devices, but that turned out to be user error related to security settings we had already installed on both phones. We don’t believe most families will encounter this issue. When we reached out to the CEO and CTO for support, they responded quickly and helped us resolve the problem. Once that was addressed, both devices synced successfully.

Testing

Once both devices were synced, we began our testing. The first feature we examined was iMessage monitoring. We sent and received a whole variety of messages on the child’s phone containing profanity, sexually explicit and hyper-sexual comments, drug and alcohol references, self harm language, racial slurs, and hate speech. In every case, BrightCanary flagged the content and alerted to the parent device. The Alert was not immediate, in some cases in took about five minutes.

We also tested slang terms, including highly sexualized language such as “gooning” (a term youth currently use to describe self-pleasuring oneself on camera), which the app successfully detected. When we sent certain sexualized emojis, like the squirting eggplant (commonly used to depict “Dic pics”), BrightCanary did not issue an alert through iMessage.

However, because we were also using the Text Message Plus keyboard, we could still see that the emoji had been used. This reinforces why we believe the Text Message Plus feature is a worthwhile upgrade, a point we’ll expand on later in this review. We hope with future updates, there will be alerts specific to emoji’s that we know kids will use when it comes to both drugs and sexualized behaviour.

Next, we tested image sharing in iMessage by sending screenshots of both semi nude and fully nude photos. BrightCanary again alerted to the parent device and provided a copy of the image for review by the parent or caregiver. Nice Feature!

Considering the growing risks of “some” youth sharing nudes and the real dangers tied to sextortion, this alert feature is an important safeguard. It’s worth noting, however, that the app does not block the image from being viewed or being sent, it simply ensures parents are notified. It would be nice if in a later update BrightCanary could add a feature that prevents a nude from being sent or received from the child’s device, but still alerts the parent or caregiver with a copy of the picture or video.

Text Message Plus Feature:

We believe that this upgrade is worth the increased cost. Once installed no matter what the app or social media platform, all concerning searches on Google are captured for review. This also included when using any other app, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, where you can review the prompts being typed and used. It is import to note, unlike iMessage alerts, you will not see the reply from ChatGPT, or any other app being used, only what is being sent by the child. This feature also allows the parent or caregiver to monitor what your child is typing across multiple platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, TikTok, Roblox, Reddit , WhatsApp and most other social media app platforms.

The Parent/Caregiver Alert Platform:

If an alert is detected, you will receive a notification to your email, and you will see a red dot which contains the number of alerts it detected on the BrightCanary icon on your screen. At one point, we saw 11 alerts in this red circle based on our testing.

Once the app is opened by clicking the BrightCanary icon, it immediately opened the parent alert platform that was easy to use, navigate, and colour coded to make viewing easy, even on a phone screen. The parent portal what broken up into several categories which included:

Concerning Content

Active Time when the device was being used

Latest Keyboard Input

Concerning Interests Detected

Emotions Detected

Parenting Topics Detected

Profanity Detected

NOTE: BrightCanary walks you though how to lock the app and keyboard down to prevent its deletion in the download process. However, some kids could be smart enough to delete the app or even do a factory reset on the phone to remove the app. If your child installs a new keyboard or deletes the BrightCanary Keyboard, the BrightCanary app won’t receive new data. However, the parent will receive a message to let you know if that happens so you can take a look at your child’s device and have a conversation with them.

Privacy and Security:

After thoroughly reading BrightCanary’s “Privacy Statement” and “Terms of Service”, they do not collect or sell any kind of personal identifiable information (PII) to third parties. Even during the sign-up process the amount of PII collected was minimal. This was refreshing when compared to other parent monitoring products that are available on the market that collect and store all kinds of PII that is not really needed. (2)

BrightCanary's keyboard doesn’t captures passwords, sensitive login data, financial, or personal information.

Presently, all information that is collected, although minimal, is stored on US based servers. The CEO did advise that as the Canadian market grows, they would consider setting up a Canadian based server. As privacy hawks, we would love to see this happen sooner than later.

Plans & Features

BrightCanary offers two separate monthly and annual plans. You can also try BrightCanary for yourself with a free trial when you download the app, before you consider purchase.

#1/ Protection Plan : Covers app wide monitoring via the keyboard plus Google/YouTube tracking when you connect your child’s account. ($10.00 a month or $80.00 for a yearly subscription)

#2/ Text Message Plus: Includes everything above and full visibility into text message threads, even deleted messages, group chats, and media. It even works when your child uses an Apple Watch to text. ($20.00 a month or $140.00 for a yearly subscription)

NOTE: BrightCanary functions with or without a data plan on your child’s phone or iPad, so it will still work even if your child is using WiFi only on their Apple iOS device.

What We Liked:

Now available in Canada.

Unlike many other parental tools that falter on iOS, BrightCanary worked flawlessly on our Apple devices tested, with no guesswork about which apps to monitor, all without jailbreaking the phone.

It was created by parents for parents, which shows in its thoughtful design, ease of use, and the clear purpose and ethos behind how and why it was built.

Setup is quick, just install the app on your phone, set up the keyboard on your child’s device, and you start receiving insights.

Its approach aligns with a teaching mindset which lets parents guide their kids, not control them.

The app uses AI to filter what’s most important to you, like concerning alerts and emotional insights, so you don’t have to sift through every message, thus increasing privacy to your child when communications are not flagged, therefore you don’t see.

If alerted to a specific issue, the app also provides the parent with ideas on how to talk to your child about what it identified as concerning, through the “Ask The Canary” function.

The app cannot be bypassed using a VPN, Privacy or Incognito Mode, or using a private browser such as DuckDuckGo, Brave, or even TOR (The Onion Router) which is often used by youth to access the deep web.

You can create as many profiles as you need with your BrightCanary subscription. So if you have more that one child, or even one child with multiple Apple iOS devices, you can create multiple child accounts on one subscription.

We also loved the fact that the amount of personal identifiable information that this app collects in minimal.

Some Identified Challenges:

The app does not support text message monitoring for kids on Android devices or computers. This app is designed for the iPhone, iPad, and iWatch only.

Requires password to your child's iCloud account to get full functionality of monitoring iMessage, as well as their Google and YouTube accounts.

Personal Information that is collected, although minimal, is stored on a US Server platform, which does create some privacy issues for us Canadian privacy hawks, given the US Patriot Act.

We do believe that some parents may still use this app as spyware and not disclose to their child that they are using it. It was easy for us to download the app onto the child’s device, and then hide the app’s icon so that a child would not know it was installed, potentially damaging trust and a child’s sense of autonomy.

Although set up was fairly easy, it would be nice if there was a simple “how to video” on the BrightCanary website to show parents and caregivers the actual download and set up process.

Although Apple iOS devices have the ability to set up the “Find My Device” through the phone’s native settings (3), we do wish that that BrightCanary would offer this as a one touch option on their app just to make things easier in those cases where a child may need help, but do not know where they are.

When we deleted the app from the child’s phone, some remnants were still left behind that had to be cleared manually. Because we knew where to look on the iPhone, the process was straightforward for us, but it may not be as obvious for many parents and caregivers. We raised this with BrightCanary and recommended they provide a clear, step-by-step guide to ensure families can fully remove the app and its leftover files.

This app is still fairly new, and we suspect there will be other challenges that will be identified by long term users. However, based on our interaction with the both the CEO and the CTO, we are confident that challenges that are identified will be dealt with quickly.

Final Thoughts On BrightCanary:

So, did the BrightCanary app do what it said it did on their website, based on our testing and evaluation? In our opinion, yes, it did!

What stands out about this app, it was intentionally designed with iPhone and iPad users in mind. We don't see BrightCanary as spyware, it’s a monitoring tool meant to foster open communication between parents, caregivers and children about their digital activity. It is designed to only alert the parent and caregiver when it identifies certain identified content that the parent or caregiver can opt in our opt out of, based on a variety of different categories that can be monitored if chosen. We would encourage parents and caregivers to be upfront with their child about using the app, rather than hiding it from your child. When kids understand why it’s in place and how it works, it can ease resistance and build trust.

After testing this app, we believe that the purposely designed function of BrightCanary isn’t meant to be a “gotcha” platform. It’s about having enough awareness to help youth and young teens navigate the messy parts of growing up online, especially at younger ages. It allows parents and caregivers to step in when something seems off, spot concerns before they escalate, and create opportunities for trust and connection, even when the conversations aren’t easy.

Our view is that children don’t automatically have a right to privacy from their parents or caregiver; rather, it’s something they earn as they demonstrate digital maturity and responsible digital behaviour. BrightCanary can be part of that incremental lego like process, giving parents and caregivers confidence early on, while allowing the app to be removed later as digital literacy grows. Think of this app like “digital training wheels” for a youth or teen’s first iPhone, iPad, or iWatch.

We also suggest framing BrightCanary as part of a family agreement when a child receives their first iPhone or iPad. (4) While we don’t generally recommend an iPhone as a starter device, we recognize that for some families, budget and availability make it the most practical option if a parent or caregiver has an old iPhone laying around.

We believe the app gives families flexibility to set a level of oversight that feels right for them, and their child, while still respecting a child’s privacy. Parents and caregivers receive activity summaries that highlight what matters most, with the option to review full transcripts only when additional context is needed to help spark a conversation with the child. As an example, if the app alerts to the fact that you child searched pornography on Google, you can now approach your child and say:

“BrightCanary let me know you searched for pornography online. I’m not angry, I understand that young people are naturally curious about these things. But I do think it’s important to talk about the difference between healthy human sexuality and pornography, so let’s have that conversation.”

BrightCanary gives parents and caregivers a thoughtful way to enter their child’s digital world, without hovering or going through every screen to open up opportunities for discussions, rather than using it for punishment. It uses a smart, secure keyboard to spot important signals, sends alerts when something’s wrong, and offers meaningful summaries and conversational tools to engage, rather than just monitor.

Although we like the functionality of BrightCanary, we still believe that the foundation of digital literacy, internet safety, security, and privacy starts with parental communication, parental participation, and where reasonable, parental oversight, which BrightCanary provides. Don’t fall into the trap that just because you may have installed BrightCanary on your device that your child is good to go. (5) Remember, parenting is the most important key ingredient when it comes to keeping our kids safer online. (6) Be your child’s best parent when it comes to their use of technology, and not their best friend.

Given all the above noted, we believe that this app is best suited for youth and teens under the age of 16yrs, especially for those youth who are going to be provided an iPhone or iPad as their first digital device.

Digital Food For Thought

The White Hatter

Facts Not Fear, Facts No Emotions, Enlighten Not Frighten, Know Tech Not No Tech

POSTSCRIPT:

As we have noted, we don’t recommend an iPhone as the first phone for pre-teens or younger teens. That said, we recognize that some families may not have the budget to purchase a new minimalist device like the Pinwheel Phone or the WisePhone, but may already have an older iPhone available to hand down.

When parents or caregivers choose to give a younger child an iPhone or iPad, combining BrightCanary with the “Brick” device (7), Apple’s Screen Time and Family Controls (3), and the Gryphon Router (8) provides multiple layers of protection. Together, we believe these tools create one of the strongest setups for managing and safeguarding a child’s use of an iPhone, iPad, or even an Apple Watch.