TechRadar Reviews

The best parental control apps, like Bark, are becoming increasingly popular as the web gets increasingly dangerous for young people – and with features like screen time management, website and app blocking and location tracking available, it’s no wonder.

Bark was founded by Brian Bason, the current CEO, in 2015. It’s grown to become one of the biggest names in the parental control space, with 7.5 million children covered by its services – and, admirably, it’s detected millions of potential self-harm and bullying situations alongside loads of other threats.

Should you consider Bark for your parental control needs, though, or should you look elsewhere? Let’s find out.

Plans and pricing

Bark’s core service, its monitoring app, is available with two different plans. The more affordable plan, Bark Jr, costs $5 per month or $49 per year and allows parents to control screen time, filter websites and apps and monitor for appropriate content. It also offers location tracking and check-in features.

The more expensive plan, Bark Premium, costs $14 per month or $99 for a year and adds social media, email, and YouTube monitoring on phones, tablets, and computers. That pricier product also includes advice and tips from child psychologists and web search monitoring.

Bear in mind that right now the app only works in the US, Guam, South Africa and Australia. Bark’s size and popularity mean that the company has branched out beyond the app, too.

The Bark Phone integrates many of the app’s features into a kid-friendly smartphone with automatic monitoring capabilities. The Starter Plan costs $29 per month and doesn’t allow apps, social media or browsing, so it’s ideal for younger children. The Advanced Plan costs $39 per month and adds those features – with parental controls – for older children.

The Bark Watch monitors texts, tracks locations, manages contacts, and includes an emergency SOS button. It costs $15 per month and includes a Bark Premium subscription.

Finally, there’s Bark Home, which is a small device that connects to your home internet to monitor screen time, content and apps for every device in your home. It costs $6 per month.

Features

We’re here to discuss the Bark app, though, and there’s no denying that there’s plenty to talk about.

Firstly, it’s essential to note that, like many parental control tools, Bark can monitor various services and apps on both Android and iOS devices. While there are still differences between the features available on both platforms, Bark is still better than the likes of Boomerang when it comes to iOS functionality.

On Android, Bark currently monitors 30 different apps. The list includes big social media names, like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and TikTok, alongside messaging services like WhatsApp, Kik, Slack and Discord. It covers cloud storage services like OneDrive and Google Drive, apps like ChatGPT, Spotify and Steam, and gaming platforms like Roblox.

(Image credit: Bark)

Beyond that, Bark on Android monitors Google Chrome, Firefox, and the device's default browsers, email clients including Outlook, Gmail, AOL, Comcast, and iCloud, and the device’s texts, photos, and videos.

On iOS, add Yahoo Mail to the list. On Apple’s platform, Bark only includes complete monitoring for 16 apps, and that list does not include TikTok, Snapchat, Skype or Discord. That said, Bark can still monitor some social media apps like WhatsApp, X, and Reddit on iOS.

When a potential event is detected, the parent gets a real-time alert to intervene, and different alerting methods are available, including texts, emails, or push notifications.

(Image credit: Bark)

Bark also offers comprehensive features to limit children’s online time, including blocking websites and controlling screen time with a range of granular options. Bark allows you to set up your child’s schedule throughout the week, choosing from options like School, Free Time, and Bedtime.

For instance, you can block games and social media apps from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. while still allowing your child to access educational apps. You can also set time limits for specific apps with Bark (however, this is a Bark Phone-exclusive feature and is not available in the app).

A particularly handy feature is the ability to pause internet access on your child’s device with the click of a button. This automatically cuts off access to apps that require an internet connection to work (provided they do not find an alternative, such as public Wi-Fi). As with any other parental control application, you can also block certain websites or apps that you deem inappropriate for your child.

What we liked about Bark is that it includes predefined content categories such as gaming, sexual content, social media, and streaming services. You can simply toggle a button to block all websites within a category instead of blocking each website manually.

You can also require safe search on browsers such as Google and Bing while blocking all other search engines that do not support the feature. It's worth noting that a complete website history is not available. Bark will only update you if it’s flagged for your chosen topics.

(Image credit: Bark)

But, with Bark, that’s the idea. It’s not a keylogger or a tracker, and relies on a certain level of trust between parent and child – so you get alerting and reporting, but not a complete picture.

A similar approach is deployed for Bark’s location tracking. You get alerts when your children are at specific locations, rather than 24/7 tracking. If they drive, you get a summary of their travel and top speed.

You can also choose to lock your child's phone while they are driving to help them stay focused on the road. Parents can also request in-app check-ins to confirm that their child has reached a destination safely.

(Image credit: Bark)

Unlike Net Nanny, Bark allows you to drop pins on a map and set a radius of up to 200 meters (0.12 miles) to create a predefined geographical boundary. Every time your child enters or leaves this boundary, you’ll receive an instant alert. However, the radius is a bit too small. Competitors like Norton Family allow you to set a two-mile radius, which is a much more practical approach to geofencing.

Despite offering such a wide range of parental control and monitoring features, Bark stays true to its philosophy of being non-intrusive. This is why you cannot read your child’s conversations in real time. Instead, Bark notifies you only when its algorithms detect a potential issue.

Bark can detect instances of anxiety, bullying, depression, drug- or alcohol-related conversations, hate speech, profanity, sexual content, violence, and weapon-related conversations.

Another handy feature is that Bark alerts you if your child attempts to create an alternative account to circumvent its monitoring. This helps prevent them from creating secret accounts to hide their online activity.

Bark’s machine learning is great at catching the latest trends and slang words, and it can spot if your child is using VPNs. To play into the trust involved here, children can uninstall Bark – albeit with a warning. If they try to install risky apps, parents will get a warning and parents can block, but that’s not automatic.

Interface and in-use

Setting up Bark is straightforward and takes around 10 minutes per device to connect your child’s phone with your own. Simply follow the setup checklist presented when you first log in.

One thing we liked about Bark is its "alerts, not logs" philosophy. Since Bark uses AI to filter your child’s activity, parents are not bombarded with endless notifications and are alerted only when there is a genuine concern.

(Image credit: Bark)

Each alert is detailed, providing information about the platform where the incident occurred, the time it was detected, and even suggestions on what your next steps could be. Parents can review each alert and take the appropriate action, either dismissing it as a false positive or escalating it for further review.

Bark’s apps and desktop interfaces are excellent: clear, straightforward, and attractive. A dashboard provides a summary of the rules you’ve set for your children and their activity over the last seven days, and parents get a weekly report via email too.

Support

Bark offers email and live chat support, online guides and forums, and an AI assistant can provide easy access to articles and triage basic issues.

On the Bark website you’ll find how-to videos that explain the app’s key features, and plenty of support articles.

There isn’t any phone support, though, which may be a dealbreaker for parents who want quick responses while talking to a real person.

The competition

Bark faces plenty of competition as one of the larger names in the sector. Qustodio is one of the other big names, and it suffers from some of the same issues: it’s far more powerful on Android than on iOS, for starters.

One of Qustodio’s biggest advantages is its pricing, which is much more affordable than Bark’s. The basic Qustodio plan is priced at around $5/month, the same as Bark Jr., but it also includes the ability to pause internet access. Qustodio’s complete plan costs around $9.16/month, roughly $5 less than Bark, while offering similar features alongside AI-powered search and messaging alerts.

Elsewhere, Google Family Link is free, even if it’s a bit more basic than Bark, and Mobicip is a good alternative if you want real-time activity monitoring and location tracking.

Mobicip is also more affordable than Bark, with plans starting at just $2.99/month and supporting up to five devices. Even on this budget plan, you get similar features such as screen time limits, schedule management, activity reports, and app blocking.

Bark: Final verdict

Bark has adopted a modern approach to parental controls, promising to remain non-intrusive. This philosophy is clearly reflected in its feature set, which gives children a greater degree of freedom and privacy. Parents cannot read their children’s text messages directly. Instead, they are notified only when something suspicious or inappropriate is flagged by Bark’s algorithms.

In addition to the essentials, such as website blocking, app blocking, and location tracking, Bark offers several additional utilities that add value to its parental control suite. You can receive alerts whenever your child attempts to create a second account to circumvent Bark’s controls. Additionally, Bark offers pre-built content categories, allowing a single toggle to block all websites within a selected category, saving you a lot of manual setup time.

That said, Bark is a bit on the expensive side, costing around $14/month for its full feature set. If you’re looking for cheaper alternatives, apps like Qustodio, Mobicip, and Norton Family are all worthy options.

• We've picked out the best free parental control software

The internet is littered with hundreds of parental control apps that claim to give you complete visibility into your child’s online activities. However, in doing so, many of these apps invade your children’s private space and blur the lines into surveillance.

This is where HeyPolo stands out. Launched by the team behind Surfshark VPN, HeyPolo is a separate product that takes a consent-based approach to location sharing. It allows you to see the approximate or real-time location of your loved ones at any point.

The best part is that users can control who they share their information with, what information they share, and for how long. HeyPolo also says it will never sell, monetize or exploit users' location data, with location data encrypted while in transit.

If you’re looking for a lightweight, easy-to-use, and inclusive location-tracking application, HeyPolo might just be the right pick. Read on as we explore its various features and pricing, and compare it with the best parental control apps so that you can make an informed decision.

HeyPolo review: Plans and pricing

HeyPolo offers one of the simplest parental control pricing plans we've seen. The monthly plan costs $5.99/month, while the annual one is just $1.99/month. The only difference between the two plans is the duration of the subscription. Everything else is the same, meaning both plans come with everything HeyPolo has to offer.

One good thing is that a single plan covers your entire family, with unlimited devices and no per-person pricing. Exactly what Surfshark VPN is known for, too. You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means that if you don't like how HeyPolo works, you can get a refund.

Next, although HeyPolo’s website says that it doesn't offer any free trial, that's not entirely true. Sure, if you purchase through the website, you don't get a free trial. But if you download the app on your iOS or Android device and purchase a subscription through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, you do get the option of a 3-day or 7-day free trial.

(Image credit: HeyPolo)HeyPolo review: Features

First up, there’s real-time location sharing, where you can view your contacts’ location details, which are updated every five seconds. Users can choose whether to share their exact location or a general area, giving them better privacy control.

Location sharing can either be left on indefinitely or for a specific time period. Users can also set arrival and departure alerts for specific places, such as school, work, or home.

(Image credit: HeyPolo)

There’s also an SOS emergency alert, where any family member can send an instant SOS alert that notifies the recipient of their real-time location. This could come in handy for elderly people living alone, children travelling solo at night, a car breakdown, or any other emergency situation.

You can also set up low-battery alerts, alongside location and emergency alerts, so you can know when a family member's phone is running low on power.

Similarly, there’s group location sharing, which allows users to share their location with several people at once within specific groups or circles.

(Image credit: HeyPolo)

What stands out is that while most location-sharing apps only allow the person who created the group to control it, HeyPolo gives every member a certain degree of control over what they share. Each plan comes with unlimited groups, and everyone can join for free. One person can belong to multiple groups simultaneously, each with different sharing settings.

You can choose between three different levels of location sharing: Exact Location, which shows your live location; General Area, which shows the neighborhood you're in; and Private Mode, which turns off location sharing completely. You can also choose to share your location for a one-time period or during repeating periods, rather than having it constantly enabled.

So, you’ll get a notification every time your child reaches school or leaves it. The same goes for workplaces too. You can also share trips with people in your group. This shows where you travelled, when you travelled, your route on a map, and the length of the trip.

(Image credit: HeyPolo)

Lastly, HeyPolo saves detailed location history, allowing you to check where you or any member of your group has been, including past routes. However, this history is stored for only seven days, after which it is automatically deleted.

HeyPolo review: Interface and in-use

(Image credit: HeyPolo)

HeyPolo is very easy to install. Simply download the application from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store, and you’re good to go. You only need to set up a profile, purchase a subscription, and then invite the family members or friends whose locations you want to track.

People can be invited either by sharing a link or using the short code displayed on the screen. Note that only one person in the group needs an active subscription; everyone else can join for free.

(Image credit: HeyPolo)

An important caveat worth mentioning is that you won’t be able to move ahead with the app until you opt for a free trial or purchase a subscription, which means there is no demo mode offered by HeyPolo.

However, once you’re inside, you’ll see an interface with a live map showing everyone in your group as icons. Each icon is labelled with a status such as “Active”, “Arrived Home”, “In Private Mode”, or “Left Work”. People who are on the move will have a tag such as “On the Move (47 mph)”, showing their current speed.

We also like how the reviews for the HeyPolo apps have been overwhelmingly positive. The app is rated 4.35 stars on Google Play and a whopping 4.9 on the App Store. Most users describe the setup as uncomplicated, and the application itself is minimal and low-clutter, which is consistent with HeyPolo’s positioning as a lightweight, consent-first alternative to surveillance-heavy family trackers.

HeyPolo review: Support

HeyPolo has one of the fastest support services we've seen across the industry. There are two ways to reach customer support: email and live chat.

We tried out the live chat function by clicking on the small chat icon at the bottom right of the screen. To our surprise, it wasn’t an automated AI chatbot where you have to fight through several menus before getting an answer.

A live human agent was there to help us almost immediately, and resolving any queries was as easy as typing them out and asking whatever we needed. Overall, the chat was very swift, and we got straightforward, to-the-point answers to our questions.

Just keep in mind that live chat support is available from 9am to 5pm CDT. But there’s a good collection of FAQs, blogs, and articles on the website should you need help with common queries outside these hours.

HeyPolo review: The competition

HeyPolo is very good at what it does – tracking the real-time location of your family members. However, it's pretty limited in functionality and does not extend to other parental control features. If that’s what you’re looking for, here are a few alternatives you can consider.

mSpy is one of the best keyloggers in the industry, offering extensive insights into your child’s device and allowing you to see every word they type on their devices.

It also comes with robust location tracking, just like HeyPolo. You can monitor various social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and even TikTok, and block certain apps on your child’s phone that you do not approve of. There’s also a screen-recording function that captures the child’s phone activity at set intervals.

That said, mSpy is a bit intrusive and does not follow the same consent philosophy as HeyPolo. Not to mention, it can also be pretty expensive, costing $11.19 per month on the annual plan.

(Image credit: HeyPolo)

Life360 is perhaps the closest substitute to HeyPolo, offering similar location-sharing features. However, it comes with better ancillary features than HeyPolo, such as 24/7 roadside assistance, crash detection, emergency dispatch, and free towing for up to 50 miles.

You also get $1 million in reimbursement for stolen funds, medical assistance, stolen phone protection, and more, depending on the plan you choose.

Life360 also offers a 7-day free trial, allowing you to check out the application and see if it suits your needs. That said, it's again a bit expensive, with its Silver plan priced at $9.99 per month.

HeyPolo review: Final verdict

HeyPolo is a straightforward, no-nonsense location-tracking application that helps you know the exact location of your loved ones at any moment.

It's ideal for families that believe in complete transparency. HeyPolo allows members to choose what data they share, with whom, and for how long, giving them greater control over their privacy. Users can see real-time locations updated every five seconds, as well as location history going back up to seven days.

You also get a 3-day or 7-day free trial when you purchase a subscription on the mobile apps. Along with this, the subscription is very affordable, at just $1.99/month.

That said, HeyPolo isn’t a full-fledged child monitoring app and is limited to location tracking. If you need other features like social media tracking or screen-time management, mSpy can be a good alternative.

• We've also featured the best parental control software

If you’re looking for a comprehensive online security suite for your family that also includes parental controls, Bitdefender is one of the best options right now. It's a well-known security provider offering an award-winning antivirus program, along with a password manager, VPN, and identity theft protection.

But does its parental control offering, which is bundled with its Family plans and not available via a standalone subscription or even a dedicated app, compete against the best parental control apps?

Read on as we dissect the various parental control features it offers, what they cost, how easy the dashboard is to use every day, and what the top competitors offer.

Bitdefender parental control review: Plans and pricing

Bitdefender no longer offers its parental control features as a standalone subscription. You’d have to get one of its four family plans. But note that its entire suite of parental control features is available with each of these four plans.

The Total Security Family plan starts at $79.99 for the first year and covers up to 25 devices across five family members. At this price, the cost boils down to around $16 per member per year, which is more affordable than many other parental control applications. Not to forget that, for the price, you also get 24/7 real-time antivirus protection for up to 25 devices, as well as a password manager.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

Next is the Premium Security Plan, which costs $99.99 for the first year and also comes with scam protection, AI-based scam protection, and a VPN with 4,000+ servers in 50+ countries. The Ultimate Security Family Plan and the Ultimate Security Plus Family Plan cost $119.99 and $199.99 for the first year, respectively.

The former comes with dark web monitoring and identity theft protection features such as an identity protection score and real-time breach notifications, while the latter also includes $2 million in identity theft insurance, three-bureau credit monitoring, and other bank, credit card, and investment alerts.

Bitdefender parental control review: Features

One of the standout Bitdefender parental control features is the ability to set screen-time schedules for your children, who would only be able to access their devices during the allowed time intervals.

Along with this, Bitdefender also offers several preset routines: Focus Time, Family Time, and Bedtime, which you can customize as per your child’s daily activity and schedule.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

There’s also a pretty handy internet time management feature, which allows you to control how much time your child spends on the internet during a day. A nice addition is the ability to reward extra screen time for your children for responsible online use.

In addition to internet scheduling, parents can also choose to cut off internet access directly on their child’s device using Bitdefender’s Stop Internet feature.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

Bitdefender also offers predefined age-appropriate filtering categories to help you filter out inappropriate content such as porn, betting, or online gaming for your children. As with screen time, you can also fine-tune these filters to better suit your child’s day-to-day use.

Apart from category-level filtering, parents can also allowlist or blocklist specific URLs individually, in case you want to go beyond the category selection.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

Parents can set up to five child profiles, each with the child’s name, photo, and birth date. Bitdefender automatically applies age-appropriate filtering as soon as the profile is created, which parents can then edit as per their needs.

Along with this, there’s also location tracking, which helps you know where your child is on an interactive map at all times.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

Lastly, there’s Safe Search, which lets you remove explicit and harmful results from search engines, as well as YouTube restrictions, which ensure your child only views age-appropriate videos on the platform.

However, note that content filtering and safe browsing require an active VPN connection to function, as per Bitdefender’s listing on the Google Play Store.

Bitdefender parental control review: Interface and in-use

Bitdefender parental control works across Android, Windows, iOS, and macOS. That said, Windows and Android get full, unrestricted enforcement of every feature, whereas macOS and iOS are noticeably more limited, largely due to Apple’s own platform restrictions.

For instance, iOS content filtering runs through Apple’s Screen Time and not Bitdefender’s own engine. Parents have to create a child account through Apple ID, then Bitdefender’s app hooks into Apple’s Screen Time restrictions rather than doing its own independent content filtering.

However, the setup is pretty simple. You just have to download the app on your child’s own device. Unlike other parental control applications, you can’t download the app on your child’s phone remotely – you’ll need physical access to the device to do so.

One thing worth noticing is that, after the 2025 overhaul, parental control is no longer configured within the Bitdefender Central mobile app, but from the Bitdefender Central web dashboard, which can still be accessed through the mobile application.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

Once you’re on this dashboard, day-to-day use is genuinely easy. Bitdefender’s Activity Dashboard is filled with several graphs and charts, which allow you to check your child’s phone activity at just a glance.

For example, there’s a bar chart showing their daily internet time over the past few days, as well as a pie chart showing their current day’s internet usage along with their remaining time. The dashboard also gives parents visibility into what’s actually being blocked and when.

(Image credit: Bitdefender)

The Prevented Content Access panel is a running log of every link blocked on the child’s device over the past 7 or 30 days. This allows you to see whether your filtering settings are actually able to catch anything, or whether your child is repeatedly trying to search for restricted websites on their device.

Bitdefender parental control review: Support

Bitdefender offers one of the most extensive support options we’ve seen across the industry. For starters, there are hundreds of articles, blogs, and how-to explainers on its website, neatly categorized based on different products.

If that doesn’t solve your problem, you can contact Bitdefender support using 24/7 live chat, phone, or email. However, to do so, you’ll first have to go through a few selections, such as the exact help you need, the type of issue you’re facing, and the product you need help with.

The support section features various phone numbers for different regions. The email support requires you to enter your own email address along with the problem you’re facing and doesn’t hand out direct email addresses to the consumer.

Beyond all this, Bitdefender also has an active expert community where you can get answers and solutions from other users across the world. Overall, Bitdefender’s support infrastructure is pretty solid, and you’ll never be left wanting for answers.

Bitdefender parental control review: The competition

Bitdefender is billed as a complete security suite and not a standalone parental control app, which is why it does lack a few advanced, dedicated parental control features.

For instance, Parentaler offers social media monitoring, allowing you to view your child’s WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok accounts, and see what they’re posting or with whom they’re chatting.

There’s also text and call monitoring with Parentaler, allowing you to read your child’s incoming and outgoing texts, including deleted messages. We also like its keyword alert function, where you can get instant notifications if your child uses certain controversial words or slang in their conversations.

Another notable feature missing from Bitdefender is geofencing. While it allows you to check your child’s location, it doesn’t offer alerts based on allowed or restricted zones on a map.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive all-in-one package, Aura is another strong option. It combines parental controls with identity protection, antivirus, VPN, and a password manager, making it more of a complete digital security solution than a standalone parental control app.

If you still need a standalone parental control app but need something more affordable, try Google Family Link, which is entirely free to use and offers comparable features such as screen-time management and content filtering.

Or, you could try FamilyTime, starting at just $2.41 per single device per month. In addition to screen-time scheduling and internet schedules, you can also block apps or games on a child’s device that you don’t approve of.

It also comes with an SOS panic button that your child can use during an emergency. It’s also a great choice for households with several children, thanks to its affordable family plans that can cover up to five devices.

Bitdefender parental control review: Final verdict

Bitdefender’s family packages are ideal for parents looking for all-round security protection for their children rather than a dedicated, comprehensive parental control app.

But there’s still lots to like. You get robust screen-time management and internet-time management features, along with predefined age-appropriate filtering categories and location tracking. That’s all in combination with an antivirus with real-time protection, a password manager, an unlimited VPN, and identity theft protection, depending on the plan you choose.

The pricing is pretty affordable too, with the monthly cost working out to around $1.33 per member on the entry-level plan. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features, such as social media monitoring, keyword alerts, or geofencing, options like Parentaler or mSpy are more suitable.

• We've also featured the best parental control software

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro: two-minute review

In August 2026, Tineco launched its most advanced floor washer to date — the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet and Dry Vacuum. With a suction power of up to 25,000 Pa, it’s one of the most powerful wet-dry vacuums on the market, picking up fine materials like flour in a single pass and large materials like 8-12 leaves in less than a minute. With the lie flat design, you can reach further under furniture. Side edge cleaning doesn’t get better than this. You can clean along the front of the vacuum up to about one-half to one-eighth of an inch. With a battery that lasts 65-75 minutes on Auto mode and up to 100 minutes on Quiet mode, you can clean most houses in a single go.

Thanks to four cleaning modes, including a dirt detect mode, the Tineco Floor ONE Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet and Dry Vacuum soared through our various cleaning tests from dry debris to wet messes and stubborn stains. A HydroBurst sprayer that can spray solution on tough stains is a great addition, but kind of unnecessary since the mopping power is exceptionally good. Not only does the wet-dry vacuum use hot water to clean (and continuously washes the brushroll as it mops), but the brushroll presses against the floor for a deeper clean and utilizes a streak-free scraper when the wet-dry vacuum goes in reverse. This helps to remove tough messes and prevent streaks or water stains.

(Image credit: Future)

The most notable upgrade, however, is the Smart Refresh Station. Tineco clearly took inspiration from robot vacuum bases and created a base that automatically refills the wet-dry vacuum with cleaning solution and clean water from a 5-liter water tank. This reduces the maintenance required, which is already impressive considering the base uses hot water and hot air to clean the brushroll. Maybe soon enough Tineco will surprise us with a base that removes dirty water and debris too.

Perhaps the biggest drawback to this wet-dry vacuum is the price. It’s one of the highest on the market. If you’re willing to do a little more maintenance, the Tineco Floor One S9 Artist Pro cleans just as well. Still, I can’t deny that the Floor ONE Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet and Dry Vacuum might do better with larger debris and is a great investment for those with larger homes who want to clean their space on a single charge.

Keep reading for my full review of the Tineco Floor ONE Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet and Dry Vacuum and see why it’s currently my favorite on the market.

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro: price and availability

• List price: $1,199 (about £880 / AU$1,660)
• Launch date: August 2026
• Availability: US

The Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum launched in the US in August 2026 at a list price of $1,199 (about £880 / AU$1,660), making it Tineco’s most expensive wet-dry vacuum and a premium-priced wet-dry vacuum on the wider market. It’s sold through Tineco, as well as third-party retailers like Amazon and Walmart.

The price is not surprising, considering it may be the first wet-dry vacuum to offer a base station that auto refills the unit with water and solution. I’ve been testing wet-dry vacuums for years, and though this isn’t new technology (in that we see it utilized with wet-dry robot vacuums), it is new for wet-dry vacuum bases. Add in the exceptional battery life, solution sprayer, and streak-free scraper technology, and this price makes sense.

Perhaps during the holidays, the Tineco Floor ONE Station S9 Scientist Pro will be discounted. For now, you could go with the equally exceptional Tineco Floor One S9 Artist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum if you’re willing to refill the water tank by hand. It’s usually $849, but it’s discounted to $599, and I can say firsthand that it has a similar cleaning prowess as the S9 Scientist Pro.

• Value score: 4 out of 5

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro: specs

Max suction

25,000 Pa

Dimensions:

9.5 x 10.25 x 43 inches (the unit), 12 x 11.25 x 17 inches (base only)

Water tank volumes

0.85 L on the unit, 5L on the base (clean) / 0.72 L (dirty)

Filter

HEPA filter

Max runtime

Up to 100 mins

Recharge time

Approx 3-4 hours

Tools

Brush to clean dirty water tank

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro: design

• 180-degree lie-flat design for hard-to-reach places
• Four cleaning modes and a solution sprayer for tough stains
• Self-cleaning and clean water auto-refilling base

It took minutes to put the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum together. All I had to do was remove it from the packaging, slot the handle into the unit, and put it to charge on the base. A bottle of cleaning solution, extra brushroll, and a cleaning brush were provided in the packaging.

The first few things I noticed about the design were the thickness of the vacuum head and the sleek rectangular box design of the body. It looks almost robotic-like, and as I delved further into the design, it makes a lot more sense why the vacuum looks the way it does.

The Tineco Floor ONE Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum is 30lbs, so it’s not lightweight, but thanks to a self-propel system, it doesn’t feel heavy. I liked that vacuum head and the body are flexible and twist and turn easily. The wet-dry vacuum can also lie 180-degree flat making it easy to reach under beds and sofas to clean. This is possible because the dirty water tank is on the back of the vacuum body and the clean water tank is on the top of the vacuum head — hence why the vacuum head is so bulky.

(Image credit: Future)

A streak-free scraper under the vacuum head lifts when you push the vacuum forward and drops when you pull it backwards, so that it can scrape excess water and tough stains. This results in a completely clean floor free of water stains and streaks. A white headlight helps to illuminate dark spaces, while a comb and scraper near the brushroll prevents the tangling of hair and other debris.

A small LED screen is placed on the handle with three buttons. The power button turns the unit on and off, while the change mode button lets you move between the four cleaning modes — Auto, Max, Quiet, and Suction. The mode in use and battery life appear on the LED screen. A HydroBurst button causes cleaning solution to spray from the front of the vacuum head onto tough stains.

Tineco has done something a bit different with the Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum in terms of the Auto Mode (or the dirt detect system). When using Auto Mode, a light blue digital ring on the front of the unit’s body appears. Parts of the ring turn red to notify you how dirty the floor is. The more red the ring is, the dirtier the floor.

(Image credit: Future)

While this digital display is intuitive, there are seven status displays in total that appear on the front of the vacuum’s body and not all of them are easy to remember. The seven displays are Dirt Level, Battery, HydroBurst, Self-Cleaning, Drying Mode, Malfunction, and Water Filling Indicators. Each one has a different shape and a different color indicator. This is probably the biggest design drawback for me, as I think Tineco could’ve displayed such indicators in an easier-to-understand method. With the voice commands, you’ll understand what each indicator means, but if you turn off the voice commands, you might find yourself slightly confused.

There is also a self-cleaning button on the top of the handle. It’s to be pressed when the wet-dry vacuum is on the base. Three buttons appear on top of the vacuum body when it’s on the base. The 'Hot Water Refill' button refills the wet-dry vacuum with hot water, while the 'Silent' button results in a longer brushroll drying period. The brushroll dries in five minutes if you press the 'Flash' button.

(Image credit: Future)

The base may be large, but consider this: it charges the wet-dry vacuum, self-cleans it with hot water and air, and auto refills the wet-dry vacuum’s clean water tank with water and cleaning solution. At the back of the base there is a cleaning solution compartment that can hold an entire bottle of Tineco cleaning solution. A 5-liter tank of clean water is then placed on top the cleaning solution compartment, so that when the wet-dry vacuum is on the base, the base can move hot water into the wet-dry vacuum hands-free.

While the design outshines other wet-dry vacuums on the market, I see some room for slight improvements in the future.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro: performance

• Phenomenal cleaning capabilities with great edge cleaning
• Does a outstanding job suctioning liquids and large debris like leaves
• Front edge cleaning varies between ½ and 1/8th of an inch from the wall

From the get-go, I really liked how the handle of the the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum twisted and turned so easily. This especially helped when I laid the wet-dry vacuum flat to clean under my bed. I was able to reach around the legs of my bedframe easily.

The dirt detection system was fantastic, recognizing even the smallest amounts of dust. My home is very dusty because it’s historic, and I was glad to see that the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum suctioned up the dust rather than spreading it about or pushing it back into the air. The headlight illuminated dust and debris in dark spaces, though I would’ve preferred a green rather than a white headlight as green lights make dust and debris more visible. At least, I could trust the Auto Mode to 'see' hidden stains or dirt that I couldn’t see under the white headlight or with the naked eye.

(Image credit: Future)

The suctioning capabilities of the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum are beyond impressive, which isn’t surprising considering it has a suction power of 25,000 Pa. (Trust me, that’s massive.) I used the wet-dry vacuum to pick up a lot of dried leaves that had fallen around one of my plants. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wet-dry vacuum accomplish such a task in such a short time. Most struggle to suction one or two leaves, much less 10. Even the reverse cleaning was better than most wet-dry vacuums.

One of the first things I tested was the edge cleaning. There was no space between the wall and the side edge of the vacuum head. However, I noticed that there was about half an inch along the front edge of the vacuum head and the wall. That was a bit disappointing, until I realized that with certain things, like my really tall thresholds, the space shortened to about 1/8th of an inch. After some experimenting, I realized that if I approached the wall slowly with the front of the vacuum head, the front edge cleaning improved and I could clean closer to objects or walls.

Because the wet-dry vacuum’s head is so bulky, I couldn’t reach under cabinet overhangs. This has been my biggest gripe with wet-dry vacuums since they started putting the clean water tank on the top of the vacuum head because it means I have to go back through the house with a vacuum to clean those spaces.

The clean water tank lasted about 30 minutes (which is quite long), while the dirty water tank had to be emptied at about 40 minutes. These results are well above average.

While most people may use a robot vacuum or vacuum to clean daily, the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum is a really great wet-dry vacuum to have on hand for weekly deep home cleanings and stubborn stains.

Cleaning tests

I ran several cleaning tests to see how well the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner cleans on Auto mode and was impressed with the results. I sprinkled flour, coffee, and crunchy oats on my laminate flooring, and spilled a variety of liquids like water, soy sauce, and barbeque sauce. I also place an egg on the ground and sprayed some chocolate sauce and siracha sauce and let them both dry slightly.

The Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner picked up all the fine and large materials in a single pass, though some flour got stuck on the wheels when I reversed over the flour. The Suction mode did a fantastic job suctioning up the water. I used the Auto mode for the barbecue and soy sauces just to ensure the floor wasn’t sticky afterwards. It cleaned both sauces in a single go without any remaining residue.

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While the wet-dry vacuum picked up the slightly dry siracha sauce in a single pass, it took about four passes to pick up the driest and thickest parts of chocolate sauce on auto mode. The thinner areas of the chocolate sauce only took a single pass.

I test a lot of wet-dry vacuums throughout the year, and Tineco consistently beats every other brand in cleaning capabilities. The Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner didn’t disappoint, and proves that this wet-dry vacuum cleans the most consistently and effectively (and with less effort!) compared to others on the market.

FutureFutureFutureMaintenance

The Tineco Floor One Station Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum stands out among all wet-dry vacuums because of its base which is outfitted with a 5-liter water tank and a solution bay (that can hold a single solution bottle). The base automatically refills the wet-dry vacuum’s clean water tank in less than 30 seconds – and it’s pretty amazing to watch.

After each cleaning session, I placed the wet-dry vacuum on the base and ran the self-cleaning system which uses hot water to clean the brushroll. This hot water process is quite effective as the brushroll comes out super clean. I only found a very small amount of dust under the vacuum head when I removed the brushroll — far less than I have found with other wet-dry vacuums that I’ve tested.

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The base dries the brushroll and filter with hot air that’s 230 degrees Fahrenheit. Flash dry takes five minutes to dry the brushroll, while silent dry results in a quiet (40 dB sound rating) drying process. I wish I could say that the brushroll was completely dry when using either of these settings, but there was a very slight amount of dampness. On the flash dry setting, the brushroll was 95% dry, while the silent dry mode made the brushroll about 98% dry.

The only thing the base can’t do is empty the dirty water tank – so you have to do it by hand. A brush is provided by Tineco to remove debris. The debris catcher design could be better, but it catches a decent amount.

• Performance score: 4 out of 5

Tineco Floor ONE Station S9 Scientist Pro: battery life

The battery life of the Tineco Floor One Station Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum is more than adequate for most homes. I was able to clean my 1,600-square-foot home in 30 minutes on Auto mode, and still have 50% of the battery life left.

Overall, the battery lasted between 65-73 minutes on Auto mode, which is in-line with Tineco’s predictions that the battery, on Auto mode, can last up to 75 minutes. Remember on Auto mode, the vacuum automatically increases the suction and cleaning power depending on how dirty the floors are. It could use more power and thus more battery life if your floors are especially dirty.

Battery score: 5 out of 5

Should you buy the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro?

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value for money

This wet-dry vacuum is a luxury buy, but it offers some high-tech features and an auto refill base that is one of the first of its kind on the market.

4/5

Design

A sleek unit that lies flat and is outfitted with an intuitive scraper. The new indicator system – lights and shapes on the vacuum’s body – notes dirty floors, low battery, or other features/settings.

4/5

Performance

Exceeds all expectations when it comes to vacuuming and mopping hard floors. Side and front edge cleaning are solid.

4.5/5

Battery

With 65-100 minutes of battery life, this wet-dry vacuum can clean small to large homes on a single charge.

5/5

Buy it if

You want something that can pick up tough stains and dirt and dust in hard-to-reach spaces

The dirt detect technology automatically increases the suction and mopping power when the vacuum recognizes a dirty floor. If need be, there is a HydroBurst function that sprays solution on sticky or tough stains to break them down more easily. Plus, with the vacuum’s ability to lie flat and a 25,000 Pa suction, you can reach far under your bedframe or sofas to clean dust, dirt, and small and large debris.

You have a medium-to-large house

When using the Auto Dirt Detect function, this vacuum can last between 65-75 minutes. Quiet mode results in up to 100 minutes of clean time. No matter which mode you use, you can likely clean your medium or large home on a single charge.

You like doing very little maintenance

You don’t have to fill this vacuum with clean water or cleaning solution because the base does that for you. It even cleans the brushroll with hot water and dries the filter and brushroll with hot air.

Don't buy it if

Your home has a lot of carpets

Some wet-dry vacuums can clean carpets or rugs, but not this one. It’s a better choice for those with hardwood, laminate, stone, or tiled floors.

You’re limited on space.

This wet-dry vacuum has one of the larger bases that I’ve seen, so it may not be ideal for those who are limited in space or don’t find the bulkiness conducive to their dwelling aesthetic. There are plenty of wet-dry vacuums that are better suited for those who live in an apartment or small home.

You’re on a budget

This is one of the most expensive wet-dry vacuums on the market, and while it does a fantastic job, you can find plenty others — even from Tineco — that clean just as well for half the cost.

How I tested the Tineco Floor One Station S9 Scientist Pro

Testing the Tineco Floor One Station Scientist Pro Wet Dry Vacuum occurred over multiple weeks during a Texas summer in my 106-year-old house that produces a lot of dust and has multiple high traffic areas with dirt and debris.

My 1,600-square-foot house is a mix of laminate and historic hardwood flooring, making it a great testing space. I ran a variety of cleaning tests with various liquids, barbeque sauce, eggs, flour, coffee, and dried chocolate sauce, making sure to utilize different cleaning modes and taking notes on things like edge cleaning, battery life, and maintenance requirements. For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products at TechRadar.

First reviewed September 2026

Parental control applications help you keep tabs on and manage screen time for your children effectively. However, the market is flooded with thousands of applications, and picking the best parental control app for your specific needs can be quite a challenge.

This is why we’ve dug deep and conducted a comprehensive review of Parentaler – one of the most popular child monitoring applications today.

Along with extensive social media monitoring, the application allows parents to monitor their child’s texts across various platforms, track their location using GPS, and filter the kind of content they can view online.

But is Parentaler the right choice for your? Read on as we analyze its best features, pricing, and user experience, while also comparing it with the best in the industry.

Parentaler review: Plans and pricing

We’re not a fan of how Parentaler’s pricing isn’t prominently displayed on its website. You’ll have to answer a series of questions before you can find out how much it costs.

We’ve done some digging to find out that its monthly plan costs $42.69, whereas the quarterly plan comes at $24.40 per month. However, its most affordable plan is the annual package, costing $10.17 per month, billed annually at $121.99.

(Image credit: Parentaler)

The good thing is that there aren’t any plans to choose from, other than the subscription length. All the three packages offer the same set of features, which is everything Parentaler has to offer. This is the kind of simplicity we also lauded in HeyPolo – Surfshark VPN’s own parental control app.

What we also didn’t quite like about Parentaler is that it doesn’t offer a free trial or even a demo, which means you’ll have to buy a plan to see how it works for you. That said, the company does provide a 14-day refund policy, so if the app doesn’t meet your expectations, you can claim a full refund.

Parentaler review: Features

Parentaler offers three main categories of functions with its child monitoring app: text and call monitoring, location monitoring, and content filtering. Let’s dive into each of them.

Parentaler allows you to monitor various platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram, Viber, Kik, and TikTok. Parents can also view messages their child sends and receives, calls made, links shared, and any media they might have sent or received.

Besides this, Parentaler also lets you keep an eye on the kind of content your children are sharing on a particular social media platform, say Instagram or TikTok, and this includes keeping you aware of their posts, stories, and more.

Its SMS and text monitoring is also pretty robust and works with iMessage on iPhone, allowing you to see both incoming and outgoing texts, including deleted messages. Of course, you can also monitor call logs on both platforms, including a list of contacts.

(Image credit: Parentaler)

Text monitoring also covers all major social media platforms. One caveat worth noting is that instant-message tracking, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype, along with Gmail and Wi-Fi network monitoring only works on Android if it’s rooted. That’s a bit of a bummer, in our opinion.

Next up is its GPS tracking technology, which allows you to check your child’s location right from the app’s dashboard on your device. You can even view detailed information such as the address, timestamps, and coordinates.

(Image credit: Parentaler)

Parents can also mark allowed and restricted zones on a map directly from the Parentaler app and get instant alerts if their child enters or leaves these geofenced areas. You can also set screen-time limits with Parentaler, designating time limits for certain apps such as social media or games.

On the flip side, you can also schedule downtime, during which your child can only use certain apps. For instance, you can set up downtime during school hours where only learning apps might be accessible to your kids.

Along with this, there’s a dedicated Focus Mode on Android, which can pause distracting apps at preset times. You can also view detailed time reports to see where your child is spending most of their time.

Parentaler also offers handy content-filtering options, allowing you to block content relating to specific topics such as adult websites, social media, or any other objectionable content you don’t want your child to access.

(Image credit: Parentaler)

The app allows you to view your child’s detailed browser history, helping you understand the kind of content they’re viewing online.

Additionally, parents can set up various keyword alerts, which might include commonly used slang or objectionable words. If your child ends up using them in their conversations, you’ll be able to view the alerts on the application’s dashboard.

Parentaler review: Interface and in-use

Parentaler works for Android, iPhone, and iPad, all of which come with a central dashboard accessible from any device or browser.

Parentaler’s compatibility policy page says that you don’t need physical access to the iPhone device to install the application if you already have the iCloud credentials and two-factor authentication hasn’t been activated.

However, if two-factor authentication is enabled or iCloud backup is disabled, you’ll need physical access to install the app on the target device. With Android, you’ll compulsorily need physical access for app installation.

Once the application is up and running, you’re greeted with an intuitive dashboard that lays out everything from call logs, social media monitoring, text messages, web history, and your child’s location on a single page. You can access various settings from the same dashboard and fine-tune them according to your requirements.

Overall, the platform is indeed very easy to use, with no major quirks or learning curve. That is, once you’ve successfully gotten past the installation hurdle.

Parentaler review: Support

Parentaler’s support options were honestly disappointing. We could only locate a “Contact Us” form on its website, where you need to enter your name, email, question, and message, and then wait for a response from Parentaler’s team.

Noticeably, the company’s marketing copy says that a 24/7 live chat option is available in various languages. However, we couldn’t locate any live chat button while navigating through its website.

It might be possible that you get a live chat option after you’ve purchased a plan, but the lack of proper support before committing to a purchase could be a major drawback for some parents. There’s no phone or dedicated email support either.

Parentaler review: The competition

While Parentaler is a solid parental monitoring and parental control app, there are a few features it lacks.

For instance, mSpy offers features like an anti-installation alert, where if your child uninstalls the parental monitoring app, you’ll get an instant notification. mSpy also offers remote camera and microphone access, allowing you to micromanage your child’s phone usage.

That means mSpy is great for anyone who needs a higher degree of control over what their child uses their devices for. It’s also one of the few parental control apps to offer extensive keylogging features, allowing you to see every word typed on your child’s device.

Another major shortcoming with Parentaler is that it doesn’t offer family plans. Even its annual plan, which costs around $121.99 per year, covers only a single device. This means that if you have more than one child to cover, you’ll have to buy separate subscriptions, which can quickly become expensive.

In comparison, Bitdefender offers value-for-money family plans, which start at just $79.99 for the first year, covering five accounts and 25 devices. Along with parental control features such as content filtering, internet time limits, GPS location tracking, and activity reports, you also get extra online protection tools, such as an award-winning antivirus, password manager, VPN, and decent identity protection features.

Parentaler review: Final verdict

Overall, we found Parentaler to be a decent parental control app for monitoring your children. It covers all the major bases when it comes to features, along with comprehensive text and call monitoring across various social media apps. You can also view extensive call logs and contact details on your child’s phone.

Its GPS tracking is also pretty well done, allowing you to set predefined geofencing limits. There are robust content-filtering options, so parents can keep a check on what their child views online.

That said, Parentaler doesn’t offer any family plans. While its annual plan is very reasonable at $121.99, this can quickly become expensive for households with multiple children.

It also misses out on certain features, such as remote camera or microphone access. Additionally, it doesn’t offer great support options, with only a Contact Us form available on its website. If you’re looking for more affordable or multi-device plans, Bitdefender and Mobicip can be good alternatives.

• We've also featured the best parental control software

Companies that make the best parental control apps need to make a philosophical choice when producing software: do you want to assume trust and give children some leeway about their behavior, or is it better to try and protect kids by tracking everything?

The developers behind mSpy have clearly opted for the latter approach, with a slate of features that monitors keystrokes, locations, chats, calls, pictures and more.

This parental control method won’t work for everyone, especially for parents who want to maintain trust in their familial relationships. But if you are keen to take a closer look at your kids’ online behavior, is this the app for you? Read on to find out.

mSpy review: Plans and pricing

If you’re a parent who wants to figure out how much mSpy actually costs, good luck: the app’s website makes it quite difficult to actually find this information.

The most affordable option is mSpy Premium. At the time of writing, it costs $11.67 per month on Android and iOS if you pay for an annual package. The 3-month plan costs $28/month, whereas the 1-month plan costs $48.99/month. Notably, there’s no feature variation between the three options – just the difference in subscription period.

(Image credit: mSpy)

That price gives you support for one child device and a broad array of features, although some of those only work on Android and some require users to root or jailbreak phones to get them working.

Then there’s the mSpy Extreme plan, meant for Android devices, costing $23.99 if you opt for the annual plan. The 3-month plan costs $45 per month, whereas the 6-month plan costs $33.99 per month.

This is the highest level of subscription available with mSpy and unlocks several features otherwise not available in the Premium plan, including remote camera access to the target device, ambient recording through the microphone, a screen recorder, and GPS location tracking.

However, one of the biggest advantages of Extreme is that you won’t need to root the target Android device to get the most out of it.

(Image credit: mSpy)

That said, we noticed several internal inconsistencies within mSpy’s support documentation that hint at the possibility that users might still need to root their devices to access advanced features such as keylogging, geofencing, and social media monitoring.

Even mSpy’s own page on its Extreme product offers paid support specifically for rooting the device.

Lastly, the Family Kit offers support for three devices and delivers all of the features available in mSpy Premium. However, the exact price isn’t actually listed on mSpy’s website, at the time of writing.

The pricing available on mSpy feels deliberately obscured, then, and those prices are also extremely high. Other parental apps don’t offer the keylogging and sheer detail of mSpy, but they offer lots of conventional parental access features at a fraction of the price. Plus, it’s worth noting that mSpy doesn’t offer any free trial, only a demo of its platform.

mSpy review: Features

So, what can you actually do with mSpy? Unsurprisingly, many of the app’s features revolve around information gleaned from keylogging.

Parents can see text messages, images sent and received over SMS, and Facebook Messenger activity – alongside chats from apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Kik, Telegram, Tinder, Viber, Instagram, iMessage and more.

You’ll be able to get information about who has texted your children and who they’re texting, including contact numbers and names. Unsurprisingly, mSpy’s logging and reporting is always comprehensive – access the parent app and you’ll be confronted with a fearsome amount of information.

Parents can rely on mSpy’s keylogger to see every stroke that’s typed on the phone – so you can check deleted messages, URLs and more. It’s also possible to get alerts if your children type specific words.

(Image credit: mSpy)

And because much of this functionality runs in the background, hidden on the target device, your children may not even know they’re being monitored – or, at least, they won’t find it so intrusive. In case your child does end up finding the app and deleting it, mSpy will send you a notification on your dashboard so that you can take appropriate action.

On the same dashboard, you can also see your child’s device’s battery levels. So, if they say they couldn’t text or call you because of low battery, you’d know right away if they're telling you the truth.

The app allows parents to monitor call logs and emails, including attachments and the ability to see emails they’ve sent and received. Parents can see browser histories, see data about how often sites are visited, filter based on categories and check their bookmarks – and even see what Wi-Fi networks children are using.

(Image credit: mSpy)

mSpy has also introduced AI chatbot monitoring, which keeps an eye on two of the most popular apps: ChatGPT and Gemini. Gone are the days when children used search engines like Google to enquire about their curiosities. A large chunk of this ‘search activity’ has now moved to AI chatbots.

However, since most parental control applications didn’t (still doesn't) include chatbot monitoring, it created a blind spot for parents. However, mSpy has this covered as well. It's, in fact, the only child monitoring app we know that offers this feature.

That’s not all: mSpy allows parents to block apps, see what apps are installed, and view photos and videos stored on the device. A screen-recording feature is also available so parents can get visual snapshots of child phone activity, even with disappearing message features that are now popular on many apps.

(Image credit: mSpy)

Parents can view their children’s current location using mSpy’s GPS-based functionality, and also use geofencing to get alerts when children enter or leave places where you want them to visit – or want them to avoid.

And if you pay for the Extreme version, you can also access their camera and microphone, record calls, and anonymously view Instagram.

(Image credit: mSpy)

It has a comprehensive set of keylogger-based features, but bear in mind that mSpy’s Android app is far more powerful than the iOS app. If you want to monitor an Apple device, you’ll need to do some jailbreaking to access mSpy’s whole range of features.

Rooting and jailbreaking is particularly concerning because it can, potentially, void your device warranty, prevent access to other apps and make devices more vulnerable to cybercrime.

However, mSpy's screen time management is basic, without the detail or granularity found in many other apps, and there’s no category-based website blocking or filtering – this is another area where the functionality is underwhelming. Other apps also offer more in terms of location-based features, including the option to track children’s driving habits.

mSpy review: Interface and in-use

Unsurprisingly, mSpy’s interface provides a comprehensive and in-depth look at your children’s device behavior. You can see everything, from message content and phone call logs to web histories and even the events in their calendar.

There are separate sections for browsing photos and videos, setting up keyword alerts, delving into the keylogger and viewing what apps your children have installed. The interface is clean, well-organized and easy to use, with straightforward menus and good organization. Once you’re set up, it’s easy to get started.

It’s a great interface if you want to delve into the data, but other apps make things a little easier to see summaries of daily and weekly activity – mSpy keeps things granular and specific rather than providing top-level reports.

(Image credit: mSpy)

There are three ways you could install mSpy on an iOS device. The first is iCloud Sync, which works on all iOS versions, for which you’ll need your child’s iCloud login details. However, if there’s no iCloud backup activated or two-step verification enabled, you’ll need physical access to the target device.

Secondly, there’s Wi-Fi Sync (iOS 13-16), where you’ll need to physically plug the target device into a Mac or PC for the initial sync. After that, updates will happen automatically when the phone is on the same Wi-Fi network as the computer.

Lastly, there’s the much-feared jailbroken method, where you’ll need a jailbroken device to install mSpy.

However, an important caveat worth noting is that non-jailbroken installation methods largely restrict which features work on the device and are limited to WhatsApp, SMS, call logs, browser history, calendar events, notes, Wi-Fi network history, and new app installation alerts.

Noticeably, you won’t be able to access features like keylogging, one of mSpy’s strongest selling points, screen recording, or camera and microphone access. In addition, tracking platforms like Telegram, Instagram, and Snapchat also isn’t possible with non-jailbroken iOS installations.

Keep in mind that even if you opt for non-jailbroken methods such as iCloud Sync or Wi-Fi Sync, you’ll still need physical access to the target device for a few minutes.

On Android, you’ll need to disable Google Play Protection to install the app and use most of its features, and parents need to root the phone to get access to every feature.

We’re pleased to see that mSpy provides installation guides for both platforms, but you get far more information if you pay extra for the Ultimate plan – a frustrating choice that feels particularly cynical.

There’s also an option to pay even more to get remote assistance with installation. But no matter what route you choose, mSpy setup is likely to be complicated, frustrating and potentially expensive.

mSpy review: Support

We found mSpy’s support options to be adequate for a parental monitoring application. First, there's a handy chatbot named Sparkle, which you can access by clicking the small chatbot icon at the bottom right of your screen and asking any questions you might have.

Additionally, there are several toll-free numbers listed across the website for various regions. Lastly, there’s also email support for non-urgent queries.

On top of this, mSpy also has a decent FAQ section on the website that answers several questions, although some answers can be a little underwhelming and might not really solve the issue at hand.

There’s also a dedicated mAssistant add-on, which you can opt for when subscribing to mSpy. It’ll come in handy if you face any issues installing mSpy on the target device. However, it's priced at a whopping $53.99, which is more than the cost of the core subscription itself.

mSpy review: The competition

mSpy faces tough competition from parental control apps that concentrate on conventional features rather than surveillance and keylogging.

Mobicip, for instance, is far more affordable than mSpy, with prices starting at just $2.99 per month, allowing you to manage up to five devices. Plus, Mobicip also offers a free basic plan for managing two devices, along with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, none of which are offered by mSpy.

One of Mobicip's most notable features is its ability to manage your children’s access to specific categories of websites. Mobicip offers more than 20 categories, including adult websites, cryptocurrencies, and so on.

If you want a more consensual approach towards parental monitoring, you can opt for an app like Bark. It doesn’t include features such as a keylogger, screen recorder, or camera or microphone access, and doesn’t even work stealthily in the background, but it adopts a more transparent approach.

You get comprehensive screen-time and app and website monitoring capabilities, including pre-built content categories to filter. There’s also real-time location tracking and geofencing.

Bark also sells its own hardware, called the Bark Phone – a tamper-proof locked-down device for children – and Bark Home – a router-connected box that extends screen-time monitoring and content filtering to every device on the home network.

mSpy review: Final verdict

If you’re not concerned with ethical or moral questions around keylogging, then there’s no doubt that mSpy does a great job here – on Android, at least, it can monitor virtually everything that your child does using their device.

It comes with one of the best keyloggers we’ve seen across parental control applications and covers a wide range of platforms, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Tinder, and Discord. It even includes AI chatbot monitoring for ChatGPT and Gemini.

mSpy runs invisibly on the child’s device and comes with features like screen recording, camera access, and microphone access.

But for all of its keylogging prowess, it falls short in many of the more conventional areas of parental control such as screen-time management and content filtering and is also pretty expensive when compared to peers.

If you need something more affordable, Mobicip can be a good choice. Or, if you want to adopt a more transparent approach with your children while monitoring them, Bark can be an excellent choice.

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Whether it’s helping your kids improve their cyber hygiene, restricting internet access for discipline or productivity purposes, or simply keeping a watchful eye on their internet activities, a parental control app has become a much-needed defense against today’s worsening digital threat landscape.

FamilyTime is one such popular child monitoring application that gives you a granular view of the applications and websites your child visits and allows you to manage their screen time with active limits.

In this review, we’ve taken a deep dive into FamilyTime Premium’s best features, plans, user experience, and customer support to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you. Read till the end because we also compare it with some of the best in the business.

FamilyTime review: Plans and pricing

FamilyTime Premium offers a pretty straightforward pricing structure. There are three plans for you to choose from: My Family, My Family 3, and My Family 5. While the first plan covers only one device, the other two cover three and five devices, respectively.

The single-device plan costs $2.41 per month, billed at $29 annually. My Family 3 costs $4.08 per month, billed at $49 annually, while My Family 5 costs $5.75 per month, billed at $69 annually.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

The good news is that there are no feature differences between the three plans – the only difference is the number of devices they cover. This means you get everything FamilyTime Premium has to offer, even with the basic $2.41 plan.

Before you commit to a paid plan, you can try FamilyTime Premium’s 3-day free trial, where you can test various features to see how they work.

However, note that the free trial isn’t particularly extensive and lacks certain features, especially social media monitoring on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and Signal. Similarly, you can’t read your child’s text messages or view their calls during the free trial.

That said, it’s still one of the most comprehensive free trials we’ve seen, even if it’s for a very limited time. That makes it worth trying if you’re considering FamilyTime and want to explore its features to understand whether it’s right for you.

FamilyTime review: Features

FamilyTime Premium offers a slew of features to help you manage your child’s screen time and phone usage. One of the best is its Balance feature, which gives parents a great degree of control over how much time their child spends on their device.

For starters, parents can define daily usage limits along with individual app limits. There’s also Screen Schedule, which lets you schedule limited screen time for your child during different parts of the day.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

Next, the Scheduled Internet feature offers a finer level of control, letting you block internet access on your child’s device for a specific period. They’ll still be able to use non-internet apps.

What we liked the most, though, is its Time Bank function, which allows a child to carry forward their unused daily allowance. For instance, if you’ve allowed five hours of screen time during weekdays and your child uses their phone for only three hours on a particular day, they can carry the remaining two hours forward for later use.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

Lastly, there’s Family Pause, which can immediately lock your child’s device in case of an emergency. In addition to extensive screen-time controls, FamilyTime also offers several safety features. For example, you can outright block apps or games that you don’t approve of on your child’s device, or block inappropriate and age-sensitive websites.

On the flip side, you can choose to allow your child to access only approved applications and games and enable search filters to block explicit websites, videos, and images.

There’s also a handy SOS Panic Button that your child can use during an emergency. When they activate it, parents receive an immediate SOS alert notifying them that their child needs help.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

FamilyTime also offers a pretty nifty PickMeUp Request feature, which sends real-time reminders and lets you plan your child’s pickup on a day-to-day basis.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

On top of this, FamilyTime offers several visibility features, giving you granular insights into your child’s phone activity. For instance, you can view all the contacts on your child’s device, read their text messages, and access their call logs.

Moreover, you can check the list of installed apps, view your child’s web history, and even monitor their social media activity on platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and Signal.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

Lastly, there are location-tracking features as well, which can help you locate all your family members on a live map at a glance. You can also define specific areas on the map and receive instant alerts whenever your child enters or leaves a designated zone.

FamilyTime review: Interface and in-use

FamilyTime works on both Android and iOS. Unlike some other apps that claim they can be installed remotely using iCloud credentials, FamilyTime Premium makes no such claim.

Parents will need physical access to their child’s device to download the FamilyTime Junior app, while installing the FamilyTime Dashboard app on their own device. Once that’s done, the two applications are linked by scanning a QR code.

On Android, parents will need to grant several permissions, such as overlay access and device administrator rights, and allow installations from unknown sources for all the application’s features to work.

Parents will also need to set a four-digit PIN during installation to prevent the child from removing or disabling the FamilyTime Junior app.

A good thing about the platform is that it gives children greater visibility into their own limits, allowing them to check their remaining screen time, send SOS alerts, review their Time Bank balance, and see which applications are blocked.

(Image credit: FamilyTime)

The dashboard itself is very intuitive and easy to use. The layout is clean and simple, and parents can quickly navigate through the various features with just a few clicks. You’ll also appreciate that the setup tutorial is very detailed. That said, the installation process won’t take more than a few minutes.

As with any child monitoring application, users might encounter occasional inconsistencies in FamilyTime’s performance, especially on iOS devices, which operate within a more closed ecosystem. That said, both applications generally work well and don’t come with a steep learning curve.

FamilyTime review: Support

FamilyTime Premium has done well when it comes to customer support. For starters, you can access 24/7 live chat through the website even before making a purchase. That lets you iron out any concerns or queries you might have. This was, in fact, one of our gripes with Parentaler, which didn’t offer live chat, at least not before purchasing a plan.

Once you’ve subscribed to a FamilyTime plan, you also get access to 24/7 Premium in-app live chat as well as 24/7 email support, which should be more than enough for most queries or issues you might have.

There’s also a rich collection of how-to articles and FAQs that provide answers to commonly asked questions. We also like that there’s a detailed collection of step-by-step installation guides and walkthrough articles covering various core functionalities of the platform.

FamilyTime review: The competition

mSpy offers more advanced features, such as keylogging, which helps you view every keystroke your child types on their device, including deleted messages and typed URLs. There’s also a keyword alerts function that can notify you whenever specific keywords are typed, which isn’t typically possible with a standard keylogger.

Furthermore, mSpy offers broader monitoring coverage across several social media platforms, including Snapchat, Tinder, Facebook Messenger, and Viber. There’s also AI chatbot monitoring, which lets you see what your child types into chatbots such as Gemini or ChatGPT.

That said, mSpy is pretty costly, starting at $11.67 per month per device on the annual plan. This can become very expensive very fast if you have a household with multiple children.

Qustodio is another strong alternative, particularly if you want a more traditional parental control app with extensive monitoring and filtering tools. It offers screen-time limits, app and website blocking, location tracking, and social media monitoring, while also supporting a wide range of platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chromebook, and Kindle.

If you'd like alternatives that, like FamilyTime, take a more inclusive approach, you can check out applications like Bark or HeyPolo.

Bark, for example, explicitly addresses children during setup to explain that the goal is safety, not spying. It also uses an AI alert system to flag genuine risks such as predators, cyberbullying, or self-harm, rather than handing parents a full transcript of everyday conversations for them to go through.

FamilyTime review: Final verdict

We’d recommend FamilyTime Premium for several very good reasons. For starters, it’s one of the most inexpensive parental control applications out there, with plans starting as low as $2.41 per month for a single device. Even its multi-device plans are pretty affordable, starting at just $4.08 per month.

Next, the platform offers a relatively transparent Junior app for your child’s device, where they can view their own screen time, check blocked apps, and send SOS alerts when needed. This is in stark contrast to the closed monitoring environment offered by apps such as mSpy.

You also get 30-day activity reports, location tracking and geofencing, social media monitoring, and a free trial with nearly all the available features. However, if you need even more features, such as keylogging, keyword alerts, or remote camera access, consider splurging on mSpy.

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It’s impossible to avoid Microsoft if you’ve got a family full of tech - with laptops, PCs, smartphones and games consoles full of Redmond’s software, they’re everywhere.

But while that might sound all-encompassing, it might not be a bad idea if you need a parental control app. With features that smoothly integrate with your existing tech and a free price, Microsoft Family Safety could be the parental control app that your family needs.

In this article, we’ve broken down this free parental control app's key features, described its user experience and installation experience, and compared it with a few other alternatives, including paid ones, to help you make an informed choice.

• Interested in Microsoft Family Safety? Check out the website here

Microsoft Family Safety: Plans and pricing

There’s not much to say here, because Microsoft Family Safety is free. You don’t have to fork out any cash, you don’t need to investigate different product tiers and their varying features, and you don’t have to mess around hunting for deals or registering for free trials.

When we say free, we don’t mean that it comes free with a Microsoft subscription. In fact, you only need a Microsoft account to use Microsoft Family Safety. No subscription is required.

Microsoft Family Safety: Features

Family Safety runs on Windows, Xbox, Android, and Apple devices, and parents can also use Mac OS computers to access the web dashboard and monitor their children. Bear in mind, though, that you can’t install Family Safety on Mac OS devices used by your children - on Apple’s desktop and laptop OS, it’s a one-way street.

It’s easy to get started with Family Safety - more on that later - and once you’re up and running, the app has a decent set of core parental control features, at least on paper.

Take web filtering, for instance: while this is a core component of any good parental control app and rivals like Qustodio do a tremendous job, on Microsoft Family Safety you’re only able to filter the Microsoft Edge browser.

That might work for Microsoft, which wants to keep people using its own software, but that’s not practical in families where people want to use Chrome, Safari or other browsers. Many alternative browsers are just blocked by the app instead, and it’s possible for parents to block individual websites - and allow favored ones, too.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Frustratingly, Microsoft Family Safety doesn’t let parents see the categories of content it blocks, and users report frequent issues with unsafe websites not being blocked and not being flagged on the parent dashboard.

Family Safety’s screen time functionality is one of its strongest selling points. You can set schedules for your children’s devices, save them easily, and customize them for different days. On Android, parents can set limits on a per-app basis, too.

Even when the allotted screen time for the day is over, your child could request an extension, and you’ll receive a notification about the request. However, mobile screen time only applies to Android devices and isn’t available on iOS.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Family Safety also offers a spending limits feature where you can add money to your child’s Microsoft account, which acts as their allowance or balance for Microsoft Store and Xbox purchases.

However, this doesn’t mean that your child can spend the money unchecked. Every purchase above the balance will require parental approval. Optionally, you can also toggle on the Require approval for every purchase setting, so that everything goes through you regardless of the account balance.

When you turn on spending notifications, you get alerts about the purchases your child makes, money added to the account, or purchase requests approved by other family members.

Elsewhere, app blocking and whitelisting are supported and parents can allow children app access if kids send a request from their phones.

However, a deeper dive by intrepid users online suggests that device screen time limits don’t work particularly well on Android - some reports suggest that children could continue using their devices even when contravening their scheduled limits.

Family Safety used to offer location tracking features along with a Drive Safety mode. However, these functions have now been discontinued.

What’s missing from Family Safety? Sadly, quite a lot. Outside of its web filtering, there’s no social media, messaging app or text message monitoring, and none of the camera and audio features that you’ll find in some more forward-thinking tools.

Microsoft Family Safety: Interface and in-use

Family Safety is very easy to use: install the app, grant some basic permissions and build a family group using people’s Outlook addresses, phone numbers or alternative emails and you’re good to go.

In a nod towards transparency, children can see the restrictions they’re under on their app’s dashboard. On Windows devices, functionality is similar - you just make your children a new account on the device rather than using their phone number.

Once you’re all set up, Family Safety is exceedingly easy to use. The interface is clean and spacious with familiar Microsoft green accents, and everything is laid out well - all of the key options are in obvious places.

(Image credit: Microsoft Family Safety)

One of Microsoft Family Safety’s standout features is its detailed activity reports. When toggled on, you can view various metrics such as which games and apps your family members have been using and for how long.

You can also view which websites your child has been visiting or the terms they’ve been searching. Along with this, you can see detailed daily and weekly details about a child’s screen time.

If you don’t have the time to constantly check the Family Safety app to get updates on your child’s phone usage, you can also opt in to receive weekly emails about your family members’ activities, giving you all the information from the week at a glance.

(Image credit: Microsoft Family Safety)

However, note that Microsoft has also added a consent mechanism when it comes to activity reporting. Kids who are 13 or older have the ability to opt out of sharing usage data with family members. Once they do so, you can’t simply toggle on the setting and would need to regain their consent before doing so.

Microsoft Family Safety: Support

Microsoft Family Safety’s website includes setup guides, FAQs and troubleshooting tips that should solve most common issues, and Microsoft’s busy forum is also available for more specific queries.

In-app support and reporting is available on Android and iOS, and the central Microsoft support website is available if you need to get in touch with Microsoft – although that does mean delving into the support functionality of one of the world’s biggest companies, and that means a likely slow response.

Microsoft Family Safety: The competition

Users may pin down Microsoft Family Safety’s lack of features due to its free nature. However, even free applications like Google Family Link offer a few additional features.

For instance, Google offers real-time location tracking, where you can see your child’s live location at all times using Google’s mapping prowess. Besides this, you can even monitor your child’s device battery status.

Google also allows parents to whitelist calls or texts and approve or block specific numbers. This isn’t a feature category that Microsoft touches at all.

If you’re looking for something premium, you can choose mSpy, which offers some of the most advanced features in the parental control category. There’s extensive keylogging, which captures every keystroke your child types on their devices, including deleted messages.

Next, it comes with social media monitoring, which allows you to see your child’s interactions on platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Instagram, and so on. mSpy also offers extensive call log monitoring, call recording, remote camera, and microphone access.

Unlike Microsoft Family Safety, mSpy comes with geofencing alerts, where you can get notifications whenever your child arrives at or leaves a specific marked location on a map. But if mSpy's $11.67/month pricing is a deal breaker, you can consider more affordable options like Parentaler, HeyPolo, or Bitdefender.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive security package, Aura is another strong option. It combines parental controls with an antivirus, VPN, password manager, and identity protection, making it a more complete digital security solution for the whole family.

Microsoft Family Safety: Final verdict

There are certainly some areas where Microsoft Family Safety fights back. It’s free, for starters, and is easier to use for families that already use the Microsoft ecosystem through PCs, laptops or games consoles alongside smartphones.

It’s easy to use, too, and has accessible and moderately effective filtering, location-tracking, app management and screen time features. The platform did offer location tracking a while back. However, this has now been discontinued, which doesn’t bode well for the platform when compared to peers.

Plus, the iOS app is more limited than the Android version, and its rivals, while not free, are far more capable in every key area. So, if you want basic parental control without spending any money, Family Safety is a great choice.

However, if you’re at all serious about parental control and need features like social media monitoring or location tracking, you’ll have to consider alternatives like mSpy or Parentaler.

FAQsDo I need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use Family Safety?

No, you don’t need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use Family Safety, as it’s entirely free. However, you will need a Microsoft account to sign in to be able to use Family Safety.

How can I view my child’s activity report?

You can view your child’s activity reports either through the Family Safety app or opt in to receive weekly emails detailing your family members’ activities. The activity reports are pretty detailed, showing you which apps or websites your kid spends the most time on, along with detailed daily and weekly screen-time information.

Can I track my child’s location and driving data through Microsoft Family Safety?

Unfortunately, Microsoft discontinued its location tracking and Drive Safety features on November 29, 2024, which means you can no longer see where your child is or receive detailed data about their driving routes and metrics.

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When you look up the best free parental control app, you’re bound to run into apps that either don’t work or hide premium features behind paywalls. However, that’s not the case with Google Family Link. Most importantly, since the tool comes from Google itself, you can be rest assured that it isn’t a scam.

Unsurprisingly, this tool works well with Google’s own apps, like Search, Chrome and YouTube, and comes with several nifty features such as screen-time controls and location tracking.

But a deeper dive into its features reveals some missing capabilities when compared to the best parental control apps. We’ve done a detailed review of Google Family Link, discussing its best features and interface, and we’ve also compared it with a few other options, so you can decide for yourself if it’s the right tool for you.

• Want to try Google Family Link? Check out the website here

Google Family Link: Features

We’ve skipped our usual “Plans and pricing” section because there’s nothing to say beyond the fact that this app is free.

Family Link allows users to set screen time controls, including downtime and app-specific time limits. Parents can also manage app, website, and extension permissions and downloads through the control software. You can always see your child’s location thanks to Google’s mapping prowess, too.

Delve into many of these features, though, and you’ll discover that they’re relatively basic.

(Image credit: Google Family Link)

You can set device usage limits and restricted times for your children, with support for 15-minute increments, so they won’t be browsing their phones during school hours or bedtime, for instance.

In February 2025, Google added a dedicated “School Time” mode – you only need to toggle a button within the app settings to enable it. You can also add a school-time break to allow your kids a small window of phone access during school recess or breaks.

(Image credit: Google)

Device locking is supported, and you can also give your children always-on access to certain apps. But when compared to other tools, like Bark or Qustodio, Google’s Family Link is pretty basic here.

The filtering is relatively rudimentary, too. While there’s no doubt that Google’s SafeSearch filtering works very well by blocking or blurring unsuitable text and images, other apps offer dozens of categories to choose from if you want to block specific topics, and you can’t go any further than SafeSearch here.

You can block certain sites and allow others, but you’ll have more control elsewhere. And while Family Link filters YouTube, too, the options here are still fairly basic. More impressive is Family Link’s app capability. You can see exactly which apps your children have installed and either block or limit their usage individually.

Content restrictions are available for Google Play, and you can prevent your children from making purchases as well – handy if you want them to stop spending a lot of money on addictive games. You can also prevent app installation from unknown sources and stop your children from adding or removing users from their devices or delving into the Developer options.

Unsurprisingly, Google’s location tracking is very accurate, and you can set up geofenced locations with decent radius limits – although other apps are even wider here.

You’ll get notified if children leave the area. One smart addition is the ability to view your child’s battery status, allowing you to spot if they’re about to run out of charge, too. One notable omission here, though, is location history – it’s simply not available.

(Image credit: Google Family Link)

Elsewhere, Family Link doesn’t include text or call monitoring, and across basically every part of the app you don’t get the granular control you’ll find on other tools. That said, Google did add the ability for parents to whitelist calls or texts – approve or block specific numbers.

Other apps also offer more comprehensive activity monitoring, including email and social media monitoring. And when your kids are 13, they can opt out of the monitoring if they wish.

However, unlike before, kids below 18 will now require their parent’s approval to opt out. This means they can’t simply delete the app from their devices until their parents approve it.

Google Family Link: Interface and in-use

Before you get started, it’s worth checking Family Link’s device compatibility, too. For kids, Family Link is compatible with Android devices running version 7.0 (Nougat) or higher. However, only certain settings will function on devices using Android 5.0 or 6.0. There’s no kids app for iOS.

For parents, the control app runs on Android devices running Android 7.0 or higher or iOS devices running iOS 16 or higher. This means parents can use their iOS devices to monitor their kids’ Android devices as well.

However, the “other way round” isn’t possible. This means if your kids use an iOS device, Google Family Link might not be for you.

Family Link also works on Chromebooks with Chrome OS 71 or higher. However, location tracking doesn’t work on Chromebooks.

(Image credit: Google Family Link)

As you’d expect from a Google app, Family Link is a sleek and minimalist piece of software that looks clean and uncluttered. It’s easy for parents and kids to navigate most of the settings available, which means setup is quick.

That’s great if you want an app that doesn’t overwhelm you with information, but it also means that some crucial bits of info can be hard to find. You’ll need to use different screens to check children’s app and YouTube usage, for instance, and you'll also have to delve into various menus to view their web history.

Many competitors make it easier to access this information, offering more centralized access to reports, alerts, and details. Lastly, setup is quite easy. Because this is an official Google product, you don’t have to deal with the sideloading that's sometimes required elsewhere.

Google Family Link: Support

Unsurprisingly, from a computing behemoth like Google, Family Link’s support is a little sporadic and impersonal.

If you need help you’ll need to go through Google’s official channels, and you’ll probably not get a fast response.

Thankfully, there are plenty of good knowledge base articles in the help center, but that’s it. If you want more extensive or faster support, a dedicated app will be far better.

Google Family Link: The competition

While Google Family Link is a free application and does a decent job of providing basic parental control features, it does lack a lot of functions, which is why you might consider alternatives.

For starters, a provider like Parentaler offers more comprehensive social media content monitoring, which is entirely absent from Google Family Link. With this, you can view the content your kids post on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok.

Similarly, Parentaler can also show incoming and outgoing texts and even allow parents to view deleted ones. Parentaler also has a very nifty keyword alert feature, which can inform parents whenever specific objectionable keywords show up in their conversations.

That said, Parentaler isn’t free and can cost as high as $10.17 per month when you purchase the annual plan. If you’re looking for something more affordable, you can consider FamilyTime Premium. Its plans start as low as $2.41 per month, while also offering family plans starting at just $4.08.

FamilyTime offers granular screen-time control, allowing parents to schedule allowed screen time. We also liked its Time Bank function, which can allow a child to carry forward their unused daily allowance of time. It also has an SOS alert for emergency situations, just like HeyPolo, another affordable child location tracking app.

Google Family Link: Final verdict

Google Family Link’s biggest advantage is that it’s free, and elsewhere its key strength comes from its granular, powerful app controls and its decent screen time and scheduling options. Since it’s an in-house Google product, its location tracking tends to be more reliable than some other competitors.

Go beyond this, though, and Google Family Link is lacking. For instance, it doesn’t offer social media monitoring at all or keyword alerts. Plus, parents can’t read their children’s incoming and outgoing texts or monitor their calls. You may have to pay for rivals like mSpy, but they have far more extensive filtering and device management options and work on a broader array of devices.

Overall, Google Family Link is ideal if you want to use it alongside other parental control apps, perhaps to control Google Play usage or double up on filtering to have an extra safety net. But it’s just not powerful enough to function as your primary parental control tool.

FAQsCan my teenager delete Family Link from their phone?

No, your child won’t be able to delete Family Link from their phone without your approval. Google says that children above 13 years of age may delete Google Family Link on their devices. However, a policy update now requires explicit parental approval for children to be able to do so.

Can I use Family Link if my child has an iPhone?

No, Google Family Link doesn’t offer an app for iOS devices, which means if you want to monitor your child who uses an iOS device, Family Link isn’t ideal. That said, the company does offer the parent app for iOS. So, if you’re using an iOS device, you’ll still be able to monitor your child’s Android devices.

Does Family Link work on Chromebook?

Yes. Chromebooks running Chrome OS 71 or higher can be supervised using Google Family Link. Features such as screen time and website restrictions can be used freely. However, location reporting isn’t available for Chromebooks, even though it works on Android phones.

Does my child need to be connected to Wi-Fi or data for parental controls to work?

Location tracking specifically requires the device to be powered on, recently active, and connected to the internet, either through mobile data or Wi-Fi. If it’s offline, you won’t get any updates on its current location. Other controls, such as app blocking or screen time, are enforced locally on the device and don’t require an active internet connection.

• We've picked out the best free parental control software

Insta360 Luna Pro: Two-minute review

I'll be honest: my first reaction to the Insta360 Luna Pro wasn't really about the camera itself — more its price tag. At $599.99/£599.99/AU$859.99, it sits close enough to the flagship Luna Ultra model (at least in the USA and UK) that I've been wondering whether Insta360 has left itself room for a proper budget option in this range. The Pro doesn't offer a significant saving over the Ultra, which I suspect will drive many buyers into opting for the latter simply because it features a second lens for a similar price.

That's not a knock on the Luna Pro itself, though, because it handles its actual job — smooth, hands-free footage you don't have to think about — with real aplomb. Popping the touchscreen module free from the body and using it as a standalone remote is a neat trick, and it's just as handy here as it was on the Ultra. Tracking is another standout feature for me: click the joystick once, or tap a subject on screen, and the Luna Pro locks on and stays locked on, whether I was walking, gesturing or just generally being difficult to follow. But all that is also available on the Luna Ultra.

With just a single lens, the Pro misses out on the second 3x telephoto camera that the flagship Luna Ultra has (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

I did come away with a couple of gripes concerning the Pro (both of which, incidently, one could also level at the Ultra). The little wire tripod tucked into the handle is more fiddly than useful once you're off a flat surface. Battery life also isn't quite what Insta360 claims — you can expect closer to 90 minutes than the quoted 240 (for 1080p) if you're shooting 8K with the screen switched on.

Photos are also an afterthought here — they're soft and low on contrast, and in most cases a smartphone will do a better job. Video is a much stronger story, particularly once you dip below the headline 8K resolution into the more practical 4K modes, and vertical shooters will get unexpected bragging rights over owners of the Ultra thanks to the Pro's sharper 9:16 footage. The fact that the Pro has just the one lens does affect things, of course: push the digital zoom past 2x and the drop-off in detail becomes obvious immediately.

So where does that leave the Luna Pro? As a piece of hardware, it's a likeable and very capable little camera that does almost everything I wanted it to. As a purchase decision, it's a trickier sell than Insta360 probably intended, sitting just a little too close to its more versatile sibling for comfort.

Insta360 Luna Pro: Price and release date

• Launched on September 10, 2026, priced at $599.99 / £599.99 / AU$859.99
• Only one bundle available at launch
• Costs $170 / £50 / AU$370 less than the flagship Luna Ultra

The Luna Pro comes with a few accessories, but at present there appears to be no Creator Bundle available. (Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

At $599.99 / £599.99 / AU$859.99, the Luna Pro undercuts Insta360's flagship Luna Ultra ($769.99 / £649 / AU$1,229.99) by a relatively modest margin, especially in the UK, where the difference works out to less than £50, or $170 in the US. That's a narrower gap than I was expecting, given the Pro features only one lens while the Ultra has two, and it puts the newer camera in a slightly awkward position; it's not quite the budget-friendly alternative you might expect a single-lens model to be (like the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 is).

Insta360 Luna Pro specsInsta360 Luna Pro specs:

Type:

Compact video camera

Lens:

20mm, f/1.8 (35mm equivalent)

Sensors:

1-inch CMOS

Video:

8K up to 30p / 4K up to 120p / FHD up to 240p

Photo:

9MP JPEG & RAW / 37MP UltraPhoto mode / panorama

LCD:

2-inch OLED, detachable

Memory:

47GB internal, 1x micro SD (up to 2TB)

Battery

1,550mAh, rated up to 4 hours of 1080p

Dimensions

2.08 x 6.13 x 1.51in / 52.78 x 155.7 x 38.47mm

Weight:

7.6oz / 215g (Cosmic Black), 7.7oz / 218g (Stellar White)

Insta360 Luna Pro: Design

• Effectively a single-lens version of the Luna Ultra
• Clever detachable touchscreen module, complete with its own built-in mic
• A rubber cap replaces the Ultra's bulky protective case

Strip away the second lens and the Luna Pro is basically the Luna Ultra all over again. The dimensions and weight between the two cameras are barely different (the Pro is about half an inch shorter and 20g lighter than its dual-lens sibling), so if you've read my colleague Tim Coleman's take on the Ultra's design, most of the same applies here too: the Pro, like the Ultra, has a stick-like, gimbal-topped body that sits comfortably in the hand, with the option to extend the included handle for a more secure grip.

Its signature design feature is unchanged, too: the entire touchscreen-and-controls module pops free, working as a standalone remote with a 20m range and its own built-in microphone. It's just as useful here for solo shooting as it is on the Ultra.

Future | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam Kieldsen

One design compromise that did stand out to me during my time with the camera is the thin wire tripod that extends from the handle base — another thing carried over from the Ultra. On a genuinely flat surface, like a tabletop, it holds the Luna Pro upright well enough, but it offers little stability on uneven ground, and it's fiddly to pull out in the first place. Thankfully there's a standard tripod thread on the base too, so a proper mini tripod is only ever a few twists away.

The included protective case is also more basic than the Ultra's: it's just a rubber cap over the lens and gimbal, which trades some protection for a slimmer profile and much easier removal and replacement.

Insta360 Luna Pro: Performance

• Dual-chip setup (4nm flagship chip plus dedicated imaging chip)
• Sticky, reliable subject tracking, and smooth stabilization whether shooting horizon-level or FPV-style
• Video up to 8K 30fps or 4K 120fps in 16:9 mode, 4K 30fps in 9:16

The Insta360 Luna Pro pairs the same 1-inch sensor and 20mm-equivalent f/1.8 lens found on the Ultra's main camera with a leaner dual-chip setup — a 4nm flagship chip and a dedicated imaging chip. The Ultra has three chips.

On paper that sounds like a step down, but in practice I rarely found the Luna Pro underpowered or sluggish. Subject tracking is a particular highlight: a single joystick click will pick out people and animals automatically, or you can tap a subject on the touchscreen and even adjust its position within the frame, which is useful if you don't want it to be dead center. It's sticky and dependable throughout. Stabilization is equally impressive, delivering smooth, level footage on the move, with the option to switch to a more dynamic FPV-style movement if you want it.

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

Insta360 rates the 1,550mAh battery at 240 minutes, but that figure is sneakily based on 1080p 24fps recording with the screen and Wi-Fi both switched off, which isn't how most people will use this camera. Shooting 8K at 30fps with the screen active, a much more realistic scenario, drained the battery in around 90 minutes during testing. That's still a respectable battery life in my book, so I'm not sure why Insta360 saw fit to base its claims on an underpowered setting.

The camera runs a little warm under sustained use of its more demanding modes like 4K120fps and 8K30fps in particular, but during my testing, it took more than 75 minutes of continuous 8K recording before it shut itself down. What I'd consider normal use never triggered any overheating issues.

The four microphones (three on the main body, one on the detachable module) handle audio reasonably well, and 32-bit recording is on offer for anyone editing seriously. Still, anyone prioritizing audio quality should consider buying an Insta360 Mic Air or Mic Pro, both of which pair directly and add proper wind protection and noise cancellation.

Future | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam KieldsenFuture | Sam Kieldsen

Moving on to image quality, and photos are the camera's weak point: detail and contrast are both underwhelming, and it's not a device worth buying for stills alone. Frankly, in most cases you'd be better off using your smartphone for snaps than pulling out the Pro.

Video is a different story: footage looks clean and sharp in good lighting, across Standard, Dolby Vision and I-Log color profiles, though the 120Mbps maximum bitrate (shared with the Ultra) seems quite modest. 8K is the headline spec, of course, but I think 4K is a much more practical everyday choice thanks to its smaller files, greater range of frame rate options (up to 120fps), and the fact it still offers plenty of detail.

Slow motion goes up to 4x at 4K (120fps) or 8x in 1080p (240fps) and, surprisingly, vertical shooters get a genuine edge over the Ultra here: 4K30fps in 9:16 (built from 6K oversampling) versus the Ultra's ceiling of just 3K. One thing to note about vertical footage though: while the Ultra can hit 60fps in that mode, the Pro tops out at 30fps.

The digital zoom is the clearest trade-off for losing that second lens, and the Pro lacks the reach of its pricier cousin. Up to 2x magnification, Insta360's "lossless zoom" claim holds up in practice, but push it further and the digital crop shows, with softer detail and muddier edges.

Should I buy the Insta360 Luna Pro?Buy it if...

You want excellent tracking and stabilization
Whether it's a single joystick click or tapping a subject on the touchscreen, the Luna Pro locks onto people and pets reliably, and its gimbal keeps footage impressively smooth in both horizon-level and FPV-style modes.

You shoot a lot of vertical content
Its 4K30fps 9:16 mode, built from 6K oversampling, is sharper than anything the pricier Luna Ultra can manage in that orientation.

Don't buy it if...

You can stretch to the Luna Ultra
With a relatively small amount separating the two, the Ultra's second lens and true 6x lossless zoom could be worth the step up.

You need all-day battery life
Insta360's four-hour battery claims are based on using 1080p at 24fps, so if you're an 8K or 4K shooter, the real-world figure is a lot less.

Insta360 Luna Pro: also consider

DJI Osmo Pocket 4

If you're not tied to the Insta360 ecosystem, DJI's Osmo Pocket 4 remains the benchmark single-lens compact vlogging camera. It lacks the Luna Pro's detachable touchscreen module (though there is an optional controller available), but its tracking and color science have been refined over several generations, and it's a joy to use.

Read our in-depth DJI Osmo Pocket 4 review

Insta360 Luna Ultra

Insta360's flagship costs a little more than the Luna Pro, but justifies it with a second, 60mm-equivalent telephoto lens offering 6x lossless zoom, and a third processing chip for extra power. It's a little larger and heavier, and caps vertical video at a lower 3K, but I think the added versatility makes it worth the modest premium for many creators.

Read our in-depth Insta360 Luna Ultra review

How I tested the Insta360 Luna Pro

(Image credit: Future | Sam Kieldsen)

• Insta360 sent me the Luna Pro's basic box bundle ahead of launch
• I shot footage and photos at all available resolutions, and tested the slow motion and PureVideo special shooting modes
• I tested battery life and thermal management by running the camera continuously

I was sent a Luna Pro sample ahead of the launch day, allowing me time to test the Luna Pro over a few days. I shot a mix of horizontal, vertical and slow motion video across its available resolutions and color profiles, and put its subject tracking and stabilization through everyday use. I also took photos in and outdoors, in both JPEG and DNG format. I ran the camera's battery down twice to test its battery life, and tested its thermal performance too, to see how real-world use compares to Insta360's claims.

• First reviewed: September 2026
• Read more about how we test

Asus Zenbook 14 (2026): Two-minute review

The new Asus Zenbook 14 is designed to be an ultra portable device with a mid-range price that doesn’t compromise on performance.

True to other models in the line, the finish of the Zenbook 14 is different to the usual fare at this kind of price point, with its soft texture and uncommon colorways that are far more vibrant than many.

More impressive, though, is the Zenbook 14’s build, which blends strength and lightness in a way very few can match. Compared to other 14-inch laptops, this has to be one of the best laptop constructions around in terms of portability.

However, it’s not quite as thin as you might expect, and the thick feet underneath only add to the bulk. What’s more, although most of the unit is remarkably sturdy, the keyboard has a tendency to flex while typing on it, which is a little disconcerting.

(Image credit: Future)

As you might expect for a laptop this portable, the Zenbook 14 isn’t loaded with interfaces, but those included are wisely chosen. You get one USB-A and two USB-C ports — the latter of which support power delivery and display signals — as well as an HDMI output and a headset jack.

The Zenbook 14 performs competently at everyday tasks. It can handle basic productivity and browsing, as well as 4K streaming. It struggles with even light gaming, but that isn’t too surprising given its lack of a dedicated GPU.

Fortunately, the Zenbook 14 remains composed even when undertaking heavy workloads. The fans are audible in such circumstances, but they’re certainly more hushed than many other examples. Temperatures also remain impressively cool, with only a few hotspots appearing — and mercifully these steer clear of commonly touchable surfaces.

The 1920 x 1200p resolution is sharp enough for its 14-inch real estate, while the OLED technology provides the vividness and contrast you’d expect. Reflections are visible at times, but the maximum brightness level should keep them from disrupting your viewing experience too much.

One of the main drawbacks of the Zenbook 14, though, is its battery life. It lasted just over 12 hours when I played a movie on a loop, which is short compared to many of its competitors. In fact, the Zenbook A14, a similar machine to the 14 in many ways, more than doubled this time when I ran the same test.

What’s more, the A14 is similarly priced to the 14, so all things considered it offers the better value. The 14 is the better the choice if you want a slightly more solid body, but in all other regards, the A14 would be the better choice.

(Image credit: Future)Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) review: Price & availability

• Starts from £799.99 (about $1,080 / AU$1,500)
• Preorders open now (ships September)
• Some rivals offer better value

The Zenbook 14 starts from £799.99 (about $1,080 / AU$1,500) and is available to preorder now, with shipments expected early to late September. Availability in the US and Australia is yet to be confirmed, but we'll update this section once it has.

The base model gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon X1 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 50Wh battery. More powerful AMD Ryzen AI 7 and Intel Core Ultra 9 models, both with 70Wh batteries, can also be preordered for £1,399.99 and £1,499.99 respectively. These two also get backlit keyboards, but the Snapdragon model doesn’t. Each model has three colorways to choose from: Zabriskie Beige, Arctic Blue, and Komodo Coral.

This is a reasonable price considering its spec. However, the already available Asus Zenbook A14 is slightly cheaper, yet has superior battery life and a marginally lighter build. Then there’s the HP OmniBook 7, which we’ve seen in recent sales with a similar price, and is a fantastic all-rounder that’s hard to beat at this point in the market.

Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) review: Specs

Base configuration

Mid configuration

Max configuration

Price

£799.99 (about $1,080 / AU$1,500)

£1,399.99 (about $1,900 / AU$2,600)

£1,499.99 (about $2,030 / AU$2,800)

CPU

Snapdragon X (X1-26-100) (up to 2.97GHz, 8 Cores)

AMD Ryzen AI 7 345 (up to 4.6GHz, 6 Cores)

Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 386H (up to 4.9GHz, 16 cores)

GPU

Qualcomm Adreno (integrated)

AMD Radeon (integrated)

Intel Graphics (integrated)

RAM

16GB LPDDR5X

16GB LPDDR5X

16GB LPDDR5X

Storage

512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

Display

14-inch WUXGA 3K (1920 x 1200) OLED, 16:10, 60Hz

14-inch WUXGA 3K (1920 x 1200) OLED, 16:10, 60Hz

14-inch WUXGA 3K (1920 x 1200) OLED, 16:10, 60Hz

Ports and Connectivity

2x USB-C (3.2 Gen 2, display / power delivery support, 10Gbps) 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 2, 5Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack; Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3

2x USB-C (1x 4.0 Gen 3 40Gbps, 1x 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps, display / power delivery support) 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 2, 5Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack; Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4

2x USB-C (1x 4.0 Gen 3 40Gbps, 1x 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps, display / power delivery support) 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 2, 5Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack; Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4

Battery

50Wh

70Wh

70Wh

Dimensions

12.3 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches / 311 x 216 x 17mm

12.3 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches / 311 x 216 x 17mm

12.3 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches / 311 x 216 x 17mm

Weight

2.43lbs / 1.10kg

2.65lbs / 1.20kg

2.65lbs / 1.20kg

(Image credit: Future)Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) review: Design

• Light and strong body
• Unique finish
• Reasonable port selection

The unique Ceraluminum body certainly sets the Zenbook 14 apart, as do the bright colorways. The beige finish of my review unit was more interesting than the usual monochromatic shades we’ve grown accustomed to, looking softer and more inviting as a result. This was further aided by the rounded corners and the odd texture of the material, which has a slight graininess that’s comfortable in the hand.

One of the major selling points of the Zenbook 14’s construction is its lightness. It weighs around 2.5 pounds (just over a kilogram), which is impressive for a 14-inch laptop. However, it’s not quite as thin as you might expect, with a bit more unexpected bulk at the rear. The two long bars that run underneath, acting as feet, don’t help matters, either.

(Image credit: Future)

However, some may view this a worthy sacrifice for the unit’s surprising solidity. Both the base and the lid have very little flex to them. It feels slightly sturdier than the A14 I reviewed previously, although that model is slightly lighter at 2.16 lbs / 0.98kg.

There is, though, one weak point to the Zenbook 14’s build, and unfortunately that’s the keyboard. Hammering away on the keys often depresses the whole board, which can be quite annoying and doesn't inspire much confidence. There’s also no backlighting, which is an omission I always lament.

On the plus side, there are a reasonable number of ports on the Zenbook 14. There’s one USB-A port on the right-hand side of the unit, which is the only port on this side. On the left, you’ll find two USB-C ports (both of which support external display signals and power delivery), an HDMI port, and a headset jack.

(Image credit: Future)Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) review: Performance

• Fast everyday performance
• Vivid but reflective display
• Good for typing

Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) benchmarks

3DMark: Night Raid: 16,506; Fire Strike: 3,644; Steel Nomad: 224; Solar Bay: 6,135; Solar Bay Unlimited: 6,132; Solar Bay Extreme: 624; Solar Bay Extreme Unlimited: 625
Geekbench 6.5: Multicore: 10,701; Single-core: 2,145
Cinebench R23: Multi Core: 7,403; Cinebench R24: Single Core: 58; Multi Core: 435
Crossmark: Overall: 1,118; Productivity: 1,047; Creativity: 1,188; Responsiveness: 1,132
Passmark Overall: 2,989.3; CPU: 12,886; 2D Graphics: 330.3; 3D Graphics: 1,848.8; Memory: 2,338.2; Disk: 37,339.4
BlackMagicDisk: Read: 3,832MB/s; Write: 2,810MB/s
HandBrake 4K to 1080p: 37.6fps
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 12 hours and 15 minutes

For everyday tasking, the Zenbook 14 is a solid performer. The Snapdragon X1 chip in my review unit was fast and smooth when conducting basic productivity workloads such as word processing. It also handled multi-tab browsing and 4K streaming with plenty of composure as well.

Sadly, but somewhat expectedly, the Zenbook 14 isn't ideal for a spot of light gaming. It struggled to run Cyberpunk 2077 even on the lowest preset, blighted by rough visuals and debilitating slow downs during chaotic scenes. The A14 I tested previously, equipped with a Snapdragon X2 Elite chip, was able to handle low presets better, although it still wasn’t a flawlessly smooth experience.

Some fan noise is evident when the Zenbook 14 is under stress, but this isn’t too distracting. For such a compact laptop, the Zenbook 14 also does well to keep temperatures from soaring. I only noticed portions above the keyboard and underneath getting hot, while the commonly touchable surfaces, such as the keyboard, only became lukewarm at most.

(Image credit: Future)

The 1200p OLED display is crisp and sharp, with plenty of contrast and vividness. It can show reflections a little too readily, especially when deep blacks are displayed. Mostly, though, the high brightness levels do well to keep reflections at bay.

Despite that aforementioned flexing of the keyboard, the Zenbook 14 is still good for typing. It may feel a little harsh due to the lack of dampening, but the keycaps are comfortable and well spaced, while their low profile and short travel make them feel snappy and easy to glide over.

Complementing the keyboard is the super smooth touchpad that allows for easy swipes and gesturing. It’s not very large, but it maximizes its real estate commendably by extending from almost the bottom edge of the unit to the bottom of the space bar, which makes navigation less of a chore than it otherwise would be.

(Image credit: Future)Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) review: Battery life

• Middling longevity compared to rivals
• Zenbook A14 massively outlasts it
• Quick to charge

The battery life of the Zenbook 14 isn’t particularly impressive. When I played a movie on a continuous loop unplugged, its 50Wh battery lasted 12 hours and 15 minutes. While this is quite long, it falls short of quite a few of its rivals.

For context, the A14 has a 70Wh battery, and the difference shows, as that laptop lasted over 28 hours in the same test, one of the best results we’ve seen. And if you’re looking for another enduring 14-inch laptop, the HP OmniBook 7 posted a time of 26 hours. Fortunately, the Zenbook 14 is at least quick to charge, just around two hours to fully top up.

Should I buy the Asus Zenbook 14 (2026)?Scorecard

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

Similarly priced rivals are better all-round propositions.

3 / 5

Design

The construction is unique, super light, and high in quality, but the flexing keyboard is a small shame.

4.5 / 5

Performance

Great for everyday tasking, but don't expect more beyond that. It remains remarkably cool and quiet at all times, though.

4 / 5

Battery Life

The Zenbook 14 can last a while, but it’s disappointingly short lived compared to rivals. It’s quick to charge, though.

3.5 / 5

Final Score

The Zenbook 14 is a capable and highly portable laptop, but when rivals occupying same price point are better all-rounders, they might make more sense.

3.5 / 5

Buy it if…

You want something portable
You won’t find many 14-inch laptops more portable than the Zenbook 14, thanks to its compact dimensions and light footprint.

You want a unique design
You won’t find many constructions like this, either: it’s solid with a soft-touch finish and has some interesting colorways to boot.

Don't buy it if…

You want a stable keyboard
While the 14 is great to type with, the keyboard flexing as you do so might irk some users.

You want the best battery life
The Zenbook 14’s battery life isn’t anything special, while the A14’s is.

Asus Zenbook 14 (2026) review: Also consider

Asus Zenbook A14
The A14 is very closely matched to the 14, but it has a much better battery life — the best in class, in fact — and despite having a very similar Ceraluminum construction, it’s ever so slightly lighter (0.98KG as opposed to 1.10KG). It’s similarly priced, too, so might be the better pick of the two. Read our full Asus Zenbook A14 review.

HP OmniBook 7
The OmniBook 7 is a terrific laptop across the board. Its battery life is much longer than Zenbook 14’s, although it can’t quite match the endurance of the aforementioned A14. Its list price is quite steep, but we’ve seen it with significant discounts, bringing it more in line with the Zenbook 14. Read our full HP OmniBook 7 review.

(Image credit: Future)How I tested the Asus Zenbook 14 (2026)

• Tested for a few days
• Used for a variety of tasks and benchmarks
• Extensive laptop reviewing experience

I tested the Zenbook 14 for a few days, during which time I used it for all manner of tasks, from basic productivity and general browsing to 4K streaming and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests for laptops, designed to assess every aspect of performance. I ran a movie on a loop to test the battery life, too.

I’ve been using laptops for decades, and have reviewed a large number of them, ranging from small budget offerings to large gaming monsters.

• First reviewed: September 2026
• Read more about how we test

The Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 positions itself as an affordable, high-capacity, and portable power station that operates as a standalone unit. As the name suggests, this power station is pitched at adventurous users with durability in mind, although it works just as well in a home setting – as I found out.

Now, I admit that my motivation to test this power bank wasn’t entirely professional. Despite living in a country with a supposedly strong infrastructure, I’ve found power cuts to be increasingly common over the past few years, which I suppose is a side effect of ‘living in the sticks’.

Anything from a brisk wind or heavy rainfall to a few days of strong sun, and my power will fairly predictably fail for anything from 30 minutes to 12+ hours. A fair inconvenience for someone who works from home.

I’d already spent hours researching power stations and had actually added a few of Jackery’s units to the basket when the request to review the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 portable power station came in – so I jumped at the chance.

Jackery Explorer 2000 V2: Specifications

Specifications are easy enough to come by. But what do they actually mean for you?

Specification

What does it mean?

2,042 Wh capacity

You could run a standard laptop and wifi router for around 20 hours, a small electric camping fridge for around two full days or a high-velocity industrial fan for around 14 hours.

2200W output

It outputs enough power to run almost any household or job site appliance, including microwaves, coffee makers, or electric saws. But you may not be able to run two heat-producing appliances like an air fryer and a hot plate at the same time.

36.6lbs/17.5kg

It’s around 30% lighter than units with comparable 2 kWh capacity units; most adults can easily carry it short distances, but you wouldn’t want it in your backpack when climbing a mountain.

13.2 × 10.4 × 11.5 in (33.5 × 26.4 × 29.2 cm)

Easily fits in the trunk of a car or a campervan cabinet with room to spare.

4000 cycles to 70%+ capacity

It will last over 10 years of daily use before the battery capacity degrades by 30%. This is much better than similar, older units.

100W USB-C PD port, 30W USB-C + 18W USB-A Ports, 12V / 10A car port and 2 AC output ports, 230V ~ 50Hz, 10A max, 2200W rated, 4400W surge peak

You can plug practically any common item into the power station without the need for an adaptor.

220-240V ~ 50Hz, 10A max input

It will charge from empty to around 80% in just over an hour.

400W max solar input

You can fully charge it in around 6 hours with compatible solar panels when used in direct sunlight.

Jackery Explorer 2000 v2: Hands-on experience

I’ve had the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 portable power station for just over a month now and have already made good use of it.

Unboxing

(Image credit: Future)

It turns up in premium packaging, including several boxes and a soft cloth bag, all of which took me a surprising amount of time to get through.

The amount of packaging actually made me question just how rugged the power station truly is, although once I had peeled back the layers and had time to play with it, it became clear that this unit can withstand a fair amount of handling.

The Explorer 2000 has passed the rigorous IEC60068-3-3 seismic test, proving its durability even in earthquakes up to a magnitude 9. Luckily, I’ve had no need to test it to this extent, but it has stood up well to some rough handling and falling out of the boot of my car.

The box also labels the product as a ‘Solar Generator’, although that is only referencing its compatibility; if you want to charge it via solar panels, you’ll need to buy those separately.

Usage

So, I got it unpacked, put it on to charge, and forgot about it for a while. But it didn’t take long for an opportunity to use it to come up. Apparently, a long period of dry weather had led to a tree falling on the power lines near my house, so we had a power cut right in the middle of the day.

I carried the power station into my office, turned it on, and plugged in my laptop. Nothing happened. About 30 seconds of wiggling the plug and pressing some buttons later, my laptop lit up. Turns out you need to select the power source you want to use for it to work. Yes, I should have read the instructions first, but it was a good test of how intuitive it is to use.

Three hours of work later, our electricity came back on. Compared to power cuts pre-Explorer 2000, where I would spend a few hours trying to work from my phone and panicking that the battery was going to die, this one was pretty seamless.

About a week later, another opportunity arose. This time, to test it out in the field. I took my son camping, and given the ridiculously hot weather, I took a large fan along to keep us a little more comfortable in the tent.

We parked about 300 meters from our camping spot, and carrying the power station over was pretty easy; I put the sweat down to the heat rather than the weight of the unit. It sat comfortably in the porch of our tent without getting in the way, and when the evening came, it easily ran all night, powering the fan and charging my phone via its USB-C port.

The last opportunity arose with another untimely power cut. This time when I was halfway through cooking our dinner. As anyone with an energetic five-year-old knows, any delay to food counts as a small domestic emergency. So, I grabbed the power station and plugged our air fryer in.

It only dropped by about 20% whilst running the air fryer for the last 25 minutes. The dinner and my sanity were both saved.

Jackery App

(Image credit: Future)

The Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 is compatible with the Jackery app, giving you an easier way to control how you use your power station. After the usual sign-up process, you turn your power station on, follow the simple instructions on the screen, and you are ready to go.

The home screen gives some simple insights and controls. You can view the charge level, temperature, current input, and output. You can also turn on/off the DC and AC outputs, switch light settings, and select how long the screen stays on.

Dig a little deeper into the settings, and you can select emergency charging, battery-saving modes, energy-saving modes, and automatic shut-off times. You can also switch between fast charging and quiet charging - ideal if you're charging near where you are sleeping or working, although I could barely hear it charging in the fast charge setting.

I’m assuming the app is even more useful for Jackery’s interconnected units, but for a standalone unit like the Explorer 2000, it offers some useful, although not essential, tools.

Jackery Explorer 2000 v2: What you need to know

The Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 meets my requirements perfectly. However, it isn’t without its downsides, which may matter more to others with different needs.

Unlike some of Jackery’s other products, the Explorer 2000 isn’t modular. This means you cannot expand capacity or functionality as your needs change. What you buy is what you get. If that isn’t likely to meet your requirements in 6 months, you’ll need to start from scratch.

The unit also comes with a 400W max solar output. This is pretty good for those who want to top up the power station on the go, but it isn’t as good as some competitors if that is going to be your primary method of charging.

Heavy users may also find just two AC inputs, one USB-A port, and two USB-C ports a little limiting. If that's you, you may want to check out the Explorer 3000 v2.

Jackery Explorer 2000 v2: Final verdict

The Explorer 2000 v2 has impressed me for several reasons. Firstly, the build quality and easy setup stand out, limiting setup stress and giving you peace of mind. I also really liked the amount of power you get from such a small and portable unit.

I used it extensively in different scenarios, including working, running home appliances, and during a camping trip, and it never even got close to running out.

It is clearly a capable power station that can handle much more than I've thrown at it. However, heavy users may find it limited due to its lack of modularity and small number of ports.

Over the past few years, I've become absolutely fascinated and have fallen in love with BenQ monitors. I love how they have become more Apple-esque, yet they include some features that most people wish Apple would add to their monitors. While I would love to have a studio display someday, I think that the quality would be amazing.

I am absolutely loving my MA series monitors across several of my workstations. I'm still loving my MA320U on my main desk in my home office studio, but the MA270S has made its home as the vertical monitor in my setup, where I currently have my RD monitor as well.

This panel is unbelievably crisp, integrates with everything in my DisplayPilot 2 app, and offers extra ports. It's got a halfway decent speaker for virtual meetings, though I wouldn't listen to music through it beyond background lo-fi. All around, this monitor has been an absolute treat for a ton of reasons.

BenQ MA270S: Price and availability

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The BenQ MA270S retails for just under $1,000 on BenQ's website. It's also widely available from online retailers, including Amazon.

If that price doesn't scare you and you're looking for a 32-inch variant, they do have an MA320UG panel that is the same type of panel, just 32 inches. Make sure you check that one out if you're interested.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )BenQ MA270S: Unboxing and First Impressions

The unboxing experience for this monitor is much like that of every other BenQ monitor I've tested. It comes in a simple brown box that's somehow still very well packed and secure. In the box is the monitor or panel, the stand, documentation, and every cable you could possibly need.

That is one thing I will always appreciate about BenQ: they include every single cable, regardless of how you use this monitor. If there's an HDMI option, they include an HDMI. If there's USB-C, they include USB-C, so you can get up and running right away.

The first time I laid eyes on the monitor, I immediately recognized how glossy the first panel was. Of course, that could be an issue if you're in a high-glare area, but I decided to put it to the test anyway. It took me exactly one second to know exactly what I wanted with this monitor.

I added it to my test setup that already has a BenQ R/D monitor. I knew this would be a perfect vertical monitor, even though there's a difference between the slightly matte display on the R/D monitor and the glossy display on this one.

Plus, to the left of my desk is a window. I have a semi-transparent shade on it, but still, there's a window. I did worry for a moment if there was going to be too much glare, but after setting everything up, I completely forgot that it was a concern. I was able to get to work immediately. Now, 100 days later, I am absolutely thrilled with this monitor.

BenQ MA270S: Design & Build Quality

As I briefly mentioned above, this monitor is incredibly clean. It comes with everything in the box, which is awesome. It has a fairly high-gloss finish. This is the kind of glossy finish that you would find on a studio display.

This is the kind of glossy finish that you would find on a MacBook or on a high-end creative laptop. It's beautiful. It's not just glossy for the sake of being glossy, but it's glossy to show just how sharp the image is, how beautiful the blacks are, and how vibrant the colors are.

That, plus the native integration with Apple's walled card, makes this monitor an absolute dream to use with a Mac. While I have used this desk setup with a PC, I prefer to use it with my MacBook Pro M4 Pro 14-inch. I can plug in a single cable through a docking station, technically, too, and run both these monitors without any problem.

When I need to just listen to a little bit of music or join a virtual meeting and I don't want to use my soundbar, I can run the audio through this monitor. While it's not great, it could get the job done before a virtual meeting if that's all you need it for, or maybe some lo-fi background music. If you're trying to actually listen to music or need to play audio for some other reason, I would suggest using headphones or an external speaker.

The bezels on this are sharp. The port access is phenomenal, and the ability to fit a clean Mac desk setup is truly uncanny. Sure, there's still a part of me that wishes I could have a studio display; however, with every upgrade to the BenQ Mac-specific line-up, that desire shrinks a little bit, by little bit, by little bit.

To bring me back to the ports for a moment, I genuinely appreciate that BenQ doesn't try to hide their ports under some sort of breakable plastic cover. Instead, they make the cables highly accessible, pointing directly over the monitor to avoid the cable dangling down underneath the bezel and being visible from the front.

The ports are firm yet not difficult to plug things into. They are well spaced, leaving room for even awkward cables, and they're in a good position. All around, a big win for me.

I've said it once, maybe even twice now, but I'll say it again: this is essentially BenQ's version of a 27-inch studio display. While the studio display has better speakers and a built-in camera and mic, this display wins out in pretty much every other category.

It's easy to set up and easy to use with both the Apple ecosystem and others, in case you need to plug in something else. It's got spectacular color accuracy, a beautiful panel, high resolution, a nice gloss, and it functions just as beautifully as it looks.

BenQ MA270S: In use

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Looking back at my arrival date, I've had this monitor for exactly 166 days as of this review. In that time, it has lived almost every single one of those days on my desk in the photos as a vertical monitor paired alongside my BenQ RD series monitor.

It truly is a remarkably good 5K monitor, especially with the built-in features that let me adjust brightness and volume directly from my keyboard. I've used this monitor for accessing emails.

I always have my calendar, some messengers, and reminders up on this monitor, as I can have it scaled up to the smallest size Mac offers and still see every single line super crisp. Unlike the Studio Display, what I really appreciate about this monitor is that it doesn't just have USB-C. It has USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, and others to make these a lot easier.

BenQ MA270S: Final verdict

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

At the end of the day, most Mac users decide whether they care about the Studio Display. Since it was released, most people with an X-ray monitor have thought about switching to the Studio Display, but usually see the cost and change their minds.

That's where this monitor comes in strong, serving as a shield unless you are sitting on cash to burn or need the proprietary one for some other reason. This BenQ monitor feels like a true MVP.

I have absolutely loved using this monitor for work, and I look forward to continuing to use it as much as possible in the future. For me, this is one of the best photo editing monitors I've ever used.

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For more top picks, we've tested the best monitors for Mac mini and the best monitors for MacBook.

The GL.iNet Beryl 7 is a travel router that is designed for those on the go who still need control over their networking.

Especially today, it feels like people are more aware of their networking than ever. There's fear over what people are able to see. There's fear of what other people can see of your own data, and there are people trying to take control of their own connections. That's one very real use case for the Beryl 7.

Alternatively, another use case that is possibly more common, or at least more widespread, would be that a lot of people travel with an abundance of gadgets these days. It used to be that people would have their phones, and that would be about the only thing they would connect to Wi-Fi, then maybe a laptop, then maybe an iPad.

Now the average family, to my understanding, travels with several tablets, laptops, phones, and oodles of other internet-connected devices, or perhaps that's just my family when we travel.

Regardless of which camp you're in, having a parallel router can actually prove to be incredibly helpful. Personally, I have seen some people use it as a way to connect to a VPN easily and with whatever device they have with them. I've seen some people use it as a way to be able to only have to connect to a guest Wi-Fi once and then extend that network to all of their devices.

I personally have used it in the sense of, when traveling, not having to disconnect and reconnect our devices at every stop that we make. Instead, I can connect just once and then keep all the kids' iPads and devices, as well as my own, on a known and already saved network, just simply for ease of setup.

I've also seen people use it as a way to turn Wi-Fi networks into a wired network and vice versa. All around, a little device like the Beryl 7 turns into a Swiss Army knife of networking capabilities.

GL.iNet Beryl 7: Price and availability

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The Beryl 7 is available direct from GL.iNet store in the US here and in the UK here. The travel router is priced at $130 / £117.

It's also widely available from online retailers, including Amazon, where I've seen it down as low as almost $100.

The Beryl 7 specifically is not as nice as some of its bigger brothers, but for the price, if you're not changing a ton of settings but more setting and forgetting, this one might just be the perfect little addition to your tech bag.

It's lightweight, doesn't take a ton of space, and setup and go is super easy, especially with the ability to run this off of just a single low-powered USB-C.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )GL.iNet Beryl 7: Unboxing and First Impressions

As a tech lover, I was excited to get my hands on this one. It seems like it's a solid update and even an upgrade from past models, and I wanted to see just how lightweight it really was. I got the mint green colorway, which is pretty striking, and for something like this, it is a little bit more fun than just a black model.

Normally, I'm an all-black or, these days, maybe even some silver technology kind of person, but I didn't mind the flash of color for something like a little networking device.

The weight is just as light as I expect it to be, or should I even say how much I hoped it would be. The ports are simple, the mode switch is sleek, and the ability to use USB-C really is just that convenient.

Even as a heavy tech reviewer, I've almost made it to where every single thing I carry is USB-C, which has become incredibly helpful for when traveling, working remotely, or at different offices and just going about my day-to-day. Needing to carry multiple cables and multiple different types of cables is a thing of the past… almost.

Having USB-C on even my travel router that I'm testing is super convenient. Further, it's nice to see two 2.5 GHz network ports, a USB 3.0 port (even though it is capped at a pretty slow speed), and two folding antennas that are satisfying enough to be near fidget-toy status.

GL.iNet Beryl 7: Design & Build Quality

Talking specifically about the build quality. While this is plasticky and the folding arms are fun to play with, it does feel like over a couple years, or even just some hard daily use, the arms could get pretty loose and won't snap open quite as nicely.

I'm also wary of dropping this because it feels like a single drop could crack the entire shell. Cases are available for the device, and if you're using it for business travel, I recommend picking one up.

With that being said, though, it is really nice to see little rubber feet on the bottom of the portable router, making it so that it's not just the sound or experience of plastic sliding along whatever I decide to put this down on.

Moving to the ports, they feel pretty well built. Cables snap in pretty easily and feel like they're a tight connection, and I appreciate the layout and spacing between all the ports.

It makes more sense to spread out even just these four ports than it does to have them all crammed together for a look of minimalism. Having them spread out a little bit on the back side of this unit makes more sense from just a usability standpoint.

GL.iNet Beryl 7: In use

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

I brought this with me on a few different planned trips, and then it's come in handy at other times as well.

The first trip I brought it on was a quick little family trip. Knowing that we were going to stop at a hotel on the drive and how insane it was to get everything set up for just a few hours in a hotel and then continue driving the next day, zero part of me wanted to spend time connecting my devices to the hotel Wi-Fi. I also needed to spend time setting up pack-and-plays and getting everything squared away.

I made sure to bring this travel router to try out what this would look like in real time. I already had all the devices programmed and ready to go ahead of time to the network I had set on the Beryl 7.

When we got to the hotel, I had to connect one single device to the hotel Wi-Fi, and then I was able to broadcast that signal to all of the devices. It was stable enough for 5 iPads, a laptop, and a couple of phones, and therefore earned its place in my bag for the next trip I went on.

The next trip I went on was a quick work trip where we stayed at an Airbnb. I knew I'd be working pretty heavily, and I did not want to have to deal with potentially sketchy Wi-Fi, connecting to an unknown source, and then again having to connect all the devices I travel with.

On this trip specifically, I had two laptops, two iPads, and my phone, just for my own devices, let alone my team that I helped support technology-wise. I brought the Barrel 7 so that I could connect one device and then broadcast my own network, or at least that was the plan. What I ended up actually doing was connecting directly to an Ethernet port and not even having to connect and then broadcast via Wi-Fi.

One thing that I wish I would have done on that trip is I wish I would have set up the VPN earlier on my Beryl 7. I was able to do it during the trip, realizing how handy it would have been to do ahead of time, but I ended up needing to remote into my network rack back at the office.

While I can do that through VPN connections on my laptop, having one on this portable router, for some reason, just feels so much easier because then I can connect quickly on my iPad as well without having to toggle through things. I can just know that anytime I connect to this router, or if anybody else needs to connect to it, they can all be on the same VPN.

Personally, for me, it was just to change some settings and prep some things for the upcoming week. But, I could see this being super helpful for those who have Home Lab servers that need troubleshooting or other things like that. Further, if you have a work VPN that you need to be connected to, check with your employer.

Potentially, this could be a great option for you to not have to connect several devices, but you can connect one. For some work, that may be a great option. But, one thing to keep in mind is the speed limitations if you are choosing to use VPN. Moving things around on the network that you're connected to should be fine, but pulling files through the VPN to your device or vice versa will feel very slow.

GL.iNet Beryl 7: Final verdict

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Whether you're working out of a coffee shop and don't want to connect multiple devices, or you have a secure VPN you need quick access to on any device you're bringing. If you simply want to be able to connect to a Wi-Fi network and turn it into a wired network, or take a wired network and turn it into a wireless signal, a little travel router like this can make things a lot easier.

Or perhaps you're like me, and you're starting to learn more and more about how scary network traffic can be, and you want to make sure that you're never connecting directly to a sketchy Wi-Fi. That's a great first step, and utilizing something like this and a VPN to help scatter your traffic may be a spectacular solution for you.

If you're looking for more networking capabilities, more features, and more power, make sure to check out GL.iNet for some of their other spectacular options, or keep an eye out for more reviews coming.

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The Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8 is a powerhouse and a semi-portable shell. It takes on the power of the beloved X1 Extreme, pairing an ultra 9 processor with quick memory, Thunderbolt 5, and decent storage. It's designed for engineers, creatives, and other power users who need a machine that can do it all while still having that hint of portability.

I think of this quite like the 16-inch MacBook Pro. It's the bigger choice in the line-up, but you would get it because you want the power and the ability, not necessarily the portability. The people who would get this laptop are the people who need the ports as well.

That's one of the reasons why I'm thrilled to see USB-A still, though it is just one, which is all that I would want. USB-C, Thunderbolt, an SD card reader, and an HDMI port. It honestly has every port I wish my MacBook Pro had, even as a guy who loves the MacBook Pro.

Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8: Price and availability

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8 is available from Lenovo in the US here, and in the UK here. Prices start at $3,632 / £5,0145.

My tested version of this laptop has an Intel Core i9-285H, an IPX5070 with 8 GB, 32 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. It's pretty hefty, and it does the job, that's for sure. The fact that it has a dedicated GPU shows that this thing is meant to work. The screen is also WQUXGA (3840x2400) with an 800-nit IPS panel.

You can fully inspect this thing out with a loaded Ultra 9 5070 with 64 GB and 4 TB of SSD. That will run you just over $4,000. My unit is not fully spec'd. It was pretty close and comes in at about $3,400 to $3,700, depending on how I look at it. If you get a base level with an entry point of an Intel Ultra Core 7 RTX 5060 and a terabyte of SSD, you can get it for just under $1,700 at $1,688.

So, much like most of Lenovo's line-up, you can expect this thing to go up and down the price chain however far you want. What's important to recognize is that they have laptops all across the spectrum for what you're wanting.

Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8: Unboxing and First Impressions

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Right off the bat, this is a super sharp machine. I'm a big fan of Lenovo laptops for how they always look uniform yet still have a little taste of differences.

When it comes to being uniform, it still has the matte black that I love, the touchpoint, a generous trackpad, a very comfortable keyboard, a great screen, a physical shutter on the camera, spectacular ports, and all-around really standard and clean branding.

The things that are different, though, are that, unlike a lot of the other models that I've tested, this doesn't have a left and right-click button at the top of the trackpad that's meant to be used with touchpoint.

It does still have a little bump, though, so that if you know that it's there, it's still accessible. I tested it, and the right-click still works just fine. It's just not a physical button; it's built into the touchpad.

Outside of that, this still looks super sharp. While it is bigger than some of the other models, it's by no means too cumbersome to carry. I would happily carry this around every day in my backpack, and it fits even at 16 inches in most standard-size or slightly bigger backpacks. It's a pretty tight fit in something like a Bellroy Daily Pack, but in my beloved Nomadic or TomToc bags, this fits without any problem.

In the box comes the standard charger and always great packaging to make sure that the laptop stays safe while in transit or in the store. Admittedly, I rarely use the chargers that come with these devices personally, but that's because I usually opt for more efficient and more useful chargers from Anker, Ugreen, or even Nomad.

For something this size, though, I'll probably continue to use one of my bigger Anker chargers that have a few ports, phenomenal output, and even Bluetooth capabilities to give me readouts. I can see where my power is going for each port on the plug.

Lenovo ThinkPad T1 Gen 8: Design & Build Quality

As previously mentioned, this is an absolutely spectacular build device. If you're more familiar with Apple products, this does feel quite a bit like the MacBook Pro. I feel bad constantly comparing it to that, but the reality is that the MacBook Pro is a little more distinguishable and more known in the popular field.

What's unlike the MacBook Pro, though, is that this also features a trackpoint, a privacy shutter, human presence detection, upgradable memory, and that USB-A port that I wish my MacBook Pro had.

It's no secret that this is a big machine. It's a 16-inch powerhouse, so don't expect it to be as light as a feather or as light as some of Lenovo's carbon models. That doesn't mean that it's wildly uncomfortable either.

Yes, it's a big laptop, but for its size, it's so barely portable and relatively thin and light. Especially when you consider that you can get this spec'd out with a tandem OLED 120 Hz screen, massive amounts of storage, 64 GB of RAM, and a dedicated graphics card. That's pretty insane all around.

Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8: In use

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

I've had this laptop in rotation for my team and myself for the last 163 days as I write this paragraph. Throughout the time, I've used it for virtual meetings, projects in Notion, a lot of writing, and emails.

I'm taking over the world one AI at a time, trying to teach myself things through Claude and GPT. I've taught myself how to code. I've done a lot of website work. I've sent a lot of Slack messages and even watched a fair number of tutorials on YouTube.

While working on project management, this executive screen fits a good amount of data, especially with the higher resolution. I can fit quite a bit on this screen. When it comes to basic photo editing, the screen is still pretty sharp and fairly color accurate. It may not be the best photo editing laptop I've ever used, but for most this would be just fine.

This machine is powerful enough that I can jump in and run quite a bit of my workload on it without even feeling like it's slowing down at all. I've done a ton of work building out Notion workers utilizing this laptop specifically.

I've done a lot of work in VS Code, GPT, Claude, and Notion, running some pretty heavy workflows to get the sinks working the way I wanted them to. It all happened without any problems on this machine, thanks to its robust processor, RAM, and storage.

Beyond that, typing has been an absolute dream on this. I have always said, and probably will continue to say, that Lenovo laptops, specifically the ThinkPad variant, have some of the best keyboards on the market, perhaps ever. Even throughout all their changes over the years, they continue to have a spectacular keyboard.

The best way I can describe this laptop is that it is for people who need a professional machine for workloads to match. These people aren't the ones that are just working on documents or emails or quick office tasks like that.

It's the people who need to be able to jump into any kind of work at any time. They're using a ton of processing power, and they need a lot of ports. They're the most likely to be more tech-savvy individuals who bounce in and out of what they do.

Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8: Final verdict

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

All in all, this laptop has been wonderful to use. I have most appreciated the parts and the reliability of this machine. Being able to plug in any device I may need without having to carry a dongle is peace of mind that I do not take for granted.

Also, having enough headroom in your powertrain to take care of all the projects in one's own busy days is a superpower that many would appreciate.

If you're the generalist or the specialist of many, if you're into systems, IT, or you're just the kind of guy who always has a thousand projects he's juggling, then this is absolutely a laptop you should consider.

For most people, this would be overkill for them. In my technical world, people I work with would absolutely benefit from this kind of machine. It has the power to run bigger programs and the storage to manage data if that's part of what they're doing.

It has ports to jump in and out of whatever they are solving, and it's portable enough to carry around from place to place (even though they're not going want to walk around holding this in their hand anytime soon). It's possible, but it's just not comfortable.

It's sharp, it's sleek, it's powerful, and it has ports. It's expandable all around. Lenovo nailed it with this laptop.

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For more top picks, see our guide to the best business laptops we've tested.

Sometimes you need a standing desk; sometimes you need a small standing desk; sometimes you want a certain color; and sometimes you just need a phenomenal foundation to build on to create your dream desk.

That's how the Vernal Core 3 came to be for me. I have a team member who had a triple-monitor setup on a tiny little desk that wasn't stable, and overall it looked quite sad.

When I had the opportunity to check out the Vernal standing desk after seeing everything in their commercials and learning about the company, I decided it was absolutely worth it to see if it lives up to the hype so far. 157 days in, we've been using the desk for probably 150 of those, and so far there have been absolutely zero problems. It has worked like an absolute dream.

The solid wood desktop is beautiful. The walnut is crisp and gorgeous. The legs are smooth, and the control panel has worked great. We've been able to build out exactly what this team member has always wanted in their desk, all made possible by the desk's high quality.

One of the reasons why I knew I wanted Vernal for this was its newly promoted stability in standing desks. The company recently updated its internal framing to make it even more stable than ever.

What better way to test that than with a shelving system resting on the table and triple monitors that, if not for a stable desk, would rock and shake back and forth nonstop?

Vernal Core3: Price and availability

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The Vernal Core3 standing desk starts at $510 from the US store, and £470 from the UK store.

But, as usual with high-quality models, if you choose a more solid options on the site, you can get up to around $1,000.

Still, for what this desk is, it's a pretty reasonable price. Some of the desks that I've had, made of high-quality materials like this, have cost twice that or even three times that. So, overall, good value for money.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )Vernal Core3: Unboxing and First Impressions

The Core3 desk is simple, refined, and professional-looking, and this week the walnut desktop is sharp. The integrated style keypad is pretty good-looking. The legs are based on a widely used industry standard design. Most of what makes Vernal tick, though, is transparency and the drive to make something that works and keeps working well.

For this specific desk build, we needed a solid foundation because we knew we wanted a unique triple-monitor setup that would require high stability due to the monitor arm tension. Plus, I knew we wouldn't want extra space and stability for a shelf we're gonna add. Having a flat underside also allowed us to add features like our undermounted laptop dock.

Vernal Core3: In use

For the last 100+ days, this desk has been an absolute rock-solid companion to my team. It has not had any issues going up and down. It has not rocked or faltered in any way. We've been able to build out everything that we hoped for and more.

The stability of the dual-stacked monitor arms, with the left mount to the side and a vertical monitor, has worked great. The extra weight from the shelf has not caused any issues at all.

So far, we have absolutely loved this desk. It looks great, works great, and after using it for some time now, I would recommend it for future use as well. The desk is quality, the price is right, and the size is massive, so if you are looking for a large standing desk, this one is definitely worth considering.

The controller is easy to use, and the presets make it easy to save your favorite or most frequently used heights and keep them easily accessible. Having presets makes all the difference.

Yes, there are cheaper desks that are still technically standing that have a crank or have an up-and-down electric button, but having a preset means you can press it and know it goes to the exact height you need whilst sitting or your perfect standing height, so you can get situated while the desk then meets you where you want it.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )Vernal Core3: Final verdict

In short, this is a desk you should consider if you have a knick-knack or 17 on your desk and you're still trying to find a way to organize your series workflow. This is the kind of desk you want if you are into gadgets. This is also the kind of desk you should consider if you have a few gadgets on your desk and want to project a professional image.

However, if you're the kind of person who just throws things on their desk, doesn't really care, or is going to stay seated at all times, then you can probably find another desk that fits your budget and desires a little better.

This is the desk meant for those who like to be organized, get things done, and do it in style. There are a handful of areas that always make sense to spend a little more, and in my view, I stay in this because I'm quickly becoming one of them.

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For more top picks, see our guide to the best standing desks we've ever tested.

Minor spoilers for Practical Magic 2 ahead.

"I like this... your molecules next to my molecules. It's chemistry," is a verbatim line from Practical Magic 2 that sent a wave of groans around my screening room in a way that I've never experienced collective groaning before. This, in a nutshell, sums up the experience of watching a legacy sequel that hasn't delivered.

Of course, we're living through an industry spike of dusting off old IPs for a box office resurgence, which in itself is frustrating. But in the main — think Top Gun: Maverick, Freakier Friday and The Devil Wears Prada 2 — these have been successful replicas. I've no doubt that Practical Magic 2 will do big theatrical numbers over the next few weeks... but where is the actual magic?

Whereas my three examples stayed largely true to the essence of their original stories, Practical Magic 2 has veered too far away from what made it so special to begin with. This time around, Sally Owens' (Sandra Bullock) daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), are all grown up, but magic is no longer a part of their lives.

But when Kylie's boyfriend has a fatal accident, the Owens curse returns to the surface. It's up to Sally and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) to work together to make things right, which is where the sequel transforms from whimsical nineties Massachusetts vibes into a knockoff Harry Potter film.

It's a pretty underwhelming setup, and that's before we dissect the continually poor narrative choices that the creative team makes. Pretty soon, the action is split between the US and UK, and that's only bad news for everybody involved.

Practical Magic 2 comes too far away from what makes the original special

Before I get too carried away with the faults of Practical Magic 2, let's start with the good. When they're left to their own devices, the Owens sisters are as loving, mischievous and playful as they ever were, and those moments are a portal straight back to 1998. Their house is exactly as we left it, and spending time in their hometown is a bittersweet reminder of the cosy 90s whimsy we've left behind.

But the real stars of the show are Dianne Wiest (Aunt Jet) and Stockard Channing (Aunt Franny), for whom this sequel feels like an extension of who they were 28 years ago. When the storyline strays too far from what we want (more on that later), Practical Magic 2 still proves that the greatest love story ever told is between these two sisters... and by God, how lucky we are to have them, characters and actors alike.

From here, it's all downhill. It's almost difficult to critique the movie in exactly the way I want to, because in doing so, I'd spoil absolutely everything about it. So you're going to need to trust me when I say that at every conceivable turn, it lets the original down.

Let's start with the fact that Practical Magic 2 feels nothing like its predecessor — and reliving the feeling of the first is the number one reason why people will be buying a ticket. Yes, there are nods to the moments that put the first film on the map (such as the midnight margaritas), but they feel as though they've been included disingenuously.

Then there are the narrative decisions that made me wonder why a sequel was even being made in the first place (obviously for the money, Jasmine). 25 minutes in, there is a choice so catastrophic that the rest of the movie felt sullied, and the story only gets further from the events of the first film from there. We're trying to break a generational curse for a boy who means nothing to us? And not Sally's two lovely, but dead, husbands? Okay then.

The men somehow find themselves at the center of the drama, despite how much the dialogue vapidly thrusts the importance of sisterhood onto us. Aside from the haphazard CGI, our final showdown is bafflingly boring, with the real curse being having to listen to how a man we've never met before feels wronged because he can't have something that doesn't belong to him.

Joey King gets a huge slice of the action throughout all of this, but I can't help feeling sorry for Maisie Williams. We know how brilliant she is, yet she's incredibly underused... to the point where you might forget that she's actually in the movie. If I was an Owens, I'd be kicking off purely because of the huge sibling favouritism, put it that way.

It's a particularly hilarious watch if you're British

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

My favourite part — because it's so badly done — is the transition of Practical Magic 2 to UK soil. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise given how widely publicized their filming across the city was, but as a Brit, things take on an entirely different meaning.

We start with the introduction of sorcerer Ian Wright (Lee Pace), who the Aunts recommend to the Owens sisters to help Kylie. If you aren't from the UK, then you might not know that this is also the name of a very famous footballer and sports pundit, making every use of his full name (which is surprisingly a lot) leave me chanting his signature "Ian Wright Wright Wright!" heckle under my breath instead of staying rooted in the dwindling story.

As a friend of mine put it, "I'd have given this five stars if Wright had played this as himself," as seriously as Michael Caine in The Muppets Christmas Carol. Frankly, everything else that's happening is so woefully disconnected from the Practical Magic I know and love that I'd have genuinely enjoyed him running up to Bullock and booting a ball into the back of a net as a distraction.

But alas, Hollywood has given their view of England the Notting Hill treatment. If you didn't know better, you'd think that Agatha Christie-style trains could be picked up with ease between Paddington and North Weald stations, and that small aesthetic buses with charming drivers can drop you off in a town resembling the set of The Sheep Detectives.

The most offensive choice, in my opinion, is the insinuation that Brits eat savory pies with... custard. Served out of gravy boats, no less. I see it as my public duty to highlight that if you watch Practical Magic 2 before visiting England and try to ask for this in a local pub, you will be laughed out of there, and rightly so. The fact that this is the detail I feel most about in the entire movie tells you how low the mighty has fallen.

The cherry on the cake, however, is the unexpected casting of British comedic actor of Ghosts and Taskmaster fame, Katy Wix. She's not boozing in the background in UK scenes, but has instead inserted herself into the heart of the Owens' community back home. She plays a pivotal part in the party scene with a drunken auntie aura that I can only feel immensely proud of. Her face also suggests she has no idea how she's ended up starring alongside Bullock and Kidman. No notes.

Take my wittering on about bodged Britishisms that don't matter as a stark warning: if you are a true fan of the original, avoid Practical Magic 2 at all costs. Look what it has done to its legacy, and to me in turn. If this were the end of a war movie, I'd be telling you to save yourselves while I lay bleeding to death on a scenic European beach. Don't make my sacrifice be for nothing.

Alienware AW3926QW: One-minute review

For serious PC gamers, few monitors have been more hotly anticipated than this epic 39-inch ultrawide beast. The Alienware AW3926QW combines LG's latest OLED panel tech with 5K2K native resolution on an incredible scale. The want is strong for this one.

But even those impressive highlights don't quite capture why the Alienware AW3926QW is such a hot item. There's more to it than that. Firstly, not only does it pack LG's new Tandem WOLED panel technology, it adds a further twist by offering RGB-stripe subpixels.

That probably seems like an arcane detail. But it has a broad impact on image quality, and not necessarily always for the better. Then there's the price. At $1,099 in the US and £999 in the UK, this is hardly a budget gaming monitor.

However, next to its closest rival and the only other 39-inch 5K2K OLED currently available, LG's own $1,799 UltraGear Evo GX9 39GX950B, it's massively cheaper and yet arguably more appealing. Of course, even on paper, the Alienware AW3926QW isn't perfect.

(Image credit: Future)

Its most obvious shortcoming is the mere 165 Hz refresh rate. Given that 32-inch 4K OLED panels with 240 Hz refresh are widely available, the step back to 165 Hz is a notable downgrade.

The pushback on that objection, however, is twofold. First, the 5K2K resolution translates into 5,120 by 2,160 pixels and therefore one heck of a lot of GPU load. In other words, the idea that you're going to be pushing 240fps-plus to this monitor in the latest and most demanding games is a bit fanciful. Most of the time, 165 Hz will be plenty.

Moreover, this isn't the kind of display anyone would buy specifically for high-frame rate esports gaming. It's wrong in all kinds of ways. But even then, Alienware has included a number of lower-resolution dual-mode resolution options with 330 Hz refresh. So, if you absolutely insist on esporting on this huge panel, well, it will accommodate that use case.

More likely, however, people will be considering this panel for all-round gaming and daily computing tasks. And in that context, the promise of a huge OLED panel that actually offers decent pixel density thanks to that 5K2K resolution is an absolutely tantalising proposition. This Alienware definitely looks set to take its place among both the best gaming monitors and the best ultrawide monitors in 2026.

Alienware AW3926QW: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $1,099 / £999 / AU$1,999
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

$1,099 is hardly the stuff of budget gaming. But it's still a very, very punchy price for this class of gaming monitor. The only comparable 39-inch 5K2K OLED monitor is the LG UltraGear Evo GX9 39GX950B. But that has an MSRP of $1,799.

What's more, despite the lower price, you get a glossy screen coating where the LG is matte, plus RGB-stripe pixels, albeit that comes with slightly lower brightness. Of course, if you shop around, you can grab a 32-inch 4K OLED for about half the price of this Alienware ultrawide monster.

So, even at this relatively discounted price compared with the closest competition, you're still paying quite the premium versus a "conventional" 32-inch 4K model. Still, given how cutting edge this display is, Alienware has done a solid on the pricing. It's very impressive.

• Value: 4 / 5

Alienware AW3926QW: SpecsAlienware AW3926QW Specifications

Screen size

39-inch

Resolution

5120 x 2160

Panel technology

LG Tandem WOLED RGB-stripe

Refresh rate

165Hz @ 5K2K, 330 Hz @ 2560 x 1080

Response time

0.03ms

HDR

DisplayHDR 500 True Black

Brightness

300 nits full screen, 1,300 nits peak HDR

Connectivity

HDMI 2.1 x2, DisplayPort 2.1a, USB-C with 90W PD, USB hub with KVM

Alienware AW3926QW: Design and features

• Good connectivity
• Glossy anti-glare coating
• Sensible 1500R curve

While the huge OLED panel is obviously the star of the show, the support act of features and design do matter. Alienware's latest visual language has ditched the Storm Trooper vibe of its earlier gaming displays comprising white glossy plastic and Sci-Fi lines in favour of organic, rounded shapes and dark blue, lightly textured plastic.

The new look is definitely less distinctive. But the chassis is well enough put together, and at least the minimalist look and slim bezels mean this monitor is unlikely to date quickly. For the record, the stand supports height, tilt, and swivel adjustment, plus a few degrees of pivot, the latter intended to allow for making the screen level as opposed to supporting portrait mode, which wouldn't be practical with such a large ultrawide panel.

Speaking of which, this is a huge monitor, and you'll need decent desk space to accommodate it. But the ergonomics are helped by the relatively gentle 1500R panel curvature.

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Just what makes for the ideal curve is subjective, of course. But at least some curve on an ultrawide display of this size does help with both immersion and maintaining reasonable viewing angles at the extremities of the panel. But you can go too far with extreme curvature, too, something this monitor certainly avoids.

The glossy anti-glare coating is another feature that comes down to personal preference. The advantage is boosted contrast and clarity, the downside added reflectivity. On balance, it's probably a net win for this kind of OLED monitor due to the incredible HDR visuals it enhances.

Connectivity is another strong point. Along with the usual HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, you get USB-C with 90W of power delivery and a KVM switch. There's also a USB hub with both USB-A and USB-C sockets, an example of each is located conveniently on the lower bezel.

Finally, it's worth noting that Alienware provides a full suite of burn-in mitigation features, like pixel cleaning. There's also a reassuring three-year warranty which includes burn-in cover.

Zooming in on the panel reveals the true RGB-stripe subpixel structure. (Image credit: Future)

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Alienware AW3926QW: Performance

• Glorious HDR visuals
• RGB-stripe precision plus decent brightness
• "Only" 165Hz

The OLED gaming monitor market has gotten pretty complicated of late, what with all the different panel technologies on offer. The Alienware AW3926QW is absolutely a case in point. It combines LG's latest Tandem WOLED panel generation with a new RGB-stripe subpixel structure in a huge 39-inch 5K2K package.

The immediate upshot is an OLED gaming monitor that combines an epic viewing vista with pixel density on-par with a 32-inch 4K monitor. That's an incredible combination of sheer scale and image detail, the likes of which are only matched by the aforementioned LG UltraGear Evo GX9 39GX950B. The 5K2K native resolution also makes this a pretty fabulous monitor for day-to-day computing. Text is crisp and clear, and there's oodles of desktop space.

However, it's that RGB-stripe subpixel structure, plus the gloss anti-glare coating, that separates this Alienware from that LG. So, how do the two compare? On paper, the LG is rated at 335 nits full-screen brightness and 1,500 nits peak HDR, while this Alienware tops out at 300 nits and 1,300 nits, respectively.

On the bottom image you can just see the impact of the Alienware egde dimming during gaming. (Image credit: Future)

That's because the LG model uses a panel with an additional white subpixel in an RGWB configuration to boost brightness, where this Alienware has a pure RGB — or red, green and blue — subpixel structure. The thing is, that added white subpixel on the LG model isn't as effective at boosting color brightness as it is at boosting pure white brightness. So, in the real world, this Alienware feels pretty much just as punchy.

Even better, because of the pure RGB feature, if anything, colors are richer and more vibrant. Add in the glossy panel coating, and the results are a little short of spectacular. The HDR performance in games like Cyberpunk 2077 is incredibly impactful. Indeed, the punchy colors are closer to Samsung's QD-OLED tech than an RGWB LG panel.

Even better, you don't have to put up with downsides of QD-OLED, including its characteristic purple tint in bright ambient light. For pure visual theatre and immersion, this is probably the most impressive gaming monitor currently on the market.

It is not, however, perfect. In extremis, full-screen brightness is a limitation. As with all current OLED monitors, this display can only hit its peak 1,300 nits performance over a very small section of the panel. As you light up more and more of the panel, the maximum available brightness tails off.

(Image credit: Future)

So, in some outdoor scenes in games, let's say under the desert sun in Cyberpunk 2077, the results can be just a touch underwhelming. That's the one scenario where a traditional LCD monitor, and particularly one with mini-LED backlighting, can be more impressive thanks to far superior full-screen brightness.

While we're talking brightness, this Alienware suffers from another slight issue. Likely due to an anti-burn-in feature called Convex Power Control, the edges of the panel can dim slightly during gameplay. It's not a super-obvious problem, but once you notice it, it can detract a little from the overall impact of the display. Unfortunately, you can't toggle the feature off for now. Hopefully that will change in a future firmware update.

It's also true that the 165Hz refresh is modest by current gaming monitor standards, especially at this price point. How much of a limitation that really is in practice, well, it depends on what games you play. With the latest, most graphically demanding titles, it's not much of a limitation if you want to use the highest visual settings. It's not like you're going to hit 300fps at 5,120 by 2,160 pixels with all the eye candy switched on.

(Image credit: Future)

Of course, if you're playing, say, Counter-Strike 2 competitively, you're going to want a lot more than 165Hz. This monitor can actually deliver 330Hz running at one of its lower "dual-mode" resolutions that use pixel doubling to achieve alternative pseudo-native resolutions.

What's more, thanks to the incredible response performance of all OLED panels 330Hz plus 0.03ms response makes for excellent motion clarity. But like all dual-mode monitors, overall image quality and sharpness does take quite a hit. And, anyway, if you're really serious about esports, you're almost certainly not shopping 39-inch ultrawide panels.

Ultimately, then, our only significant reservation is the edge dimming that can happen during gaming. It's a bit of a pity because in pretty much every other regard, this is one of, if not the, most spectacular and enjoyable gaming monitors out there right now.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the Alienware AW3926QW?Alienware AW3926QW scorecard

Value

$1,099 sounds like a lot. It is a lot, frankly. But for a 39-inch 5K2K OLED gaming monitor, it's actually very competitive and undercuts the only other similar monitor by $600.

4 / 5

Design

Alienware's current design vibe is a bit dowdy. But this is still a well built and generously featured gaming monitor.

4 / 5

Performance

This 5K2K RGB-stripe OLED monitor delivers an incredible high-DPI HDR gaming experience. But it does have at least one flaw.

4.5 / 5

Final score

This Alienware isn't perfect. It has at least one pesky flaw. But it's still probably the best big-screen gaming monitor currently available.

4.5 / 5

Buy the Alienware AW3926QW if...

You want HDR sizzle on a huge scale
The Alienware AW3926QW's huge 39-inch OLED panel makes for an incredible immersive HDR gaming experience.

You want a high-DPI experience, too
Thanks the the epic 5K2K resolution, the pixel density and therefore image detail and sharpness is great, too.

Don't buy it if...

Esports is your priority
Despite the 330Hz dual-mode, this huge 39-inch ultrawide is overkill for esports.

You think the dimming flaw will bug you
It's not a catastrophic flaw, but the way the panel can dim slightly at the edges during gaming is a slight problem.

Also Consider

Alienware AW3426DW

If you like the idea of ultrawide OLED gaming, but this 39 incher is too massive and too expensive, try its little brother, the 34-inch Alienware AW3426DW. It's roughly $300 cheaper and also makes for a better fit with mid-range graphics cards with its "mere" 1440p resolution.

Read our full Alienware AW3426DW review

How I tested the Alienware AW3926QW

I used the Alienware AW3926QW for literally everything for two weeks. As well as running it through pretty much my whole steam library, it was also my daily driver for all kinds of computing tasks and also doubled as my movie watching panel.

I was looking out for how it compares with both LG-based monitors with RGWB-spec Tandem OLED panels and competition displays with Samsung's QD-OLED tech. It was fascinating to discover how it performs in terms of brightness compared to those alternatives and also what impact the RGB-stripe subpixel tech has.

Using it as a daily driver for work and web browsing was almost as interesting as the gaming larks. This is such a large, high-resolution display, it was all a real treat.

I also investigated all of the concerns that early adopters of this monitor have been dicsussing, including including green tinting, adaptive refresh flicker and so-called "vignette dimming." I found only the latter was much of a problem and even then it probably isn't a deal breaker.

• Originally reviewed in August 2026

Turbo VPN impresses on paper: 21,000 servers across 140+ locations, consistently priced plans from just $3.33 a month, broad streaming unblocking, and a beginner-friendly interface.

Unfortunately, testing exposed fundamental flaws, including IP leaks and severely outdated security components. Combined with an as-yet unaudited no-logs policy, a suspected Chinese-owned parent company, and a deliberately obstructive cancellation process, Turbo VPN is impossible to recommend without sweeping changes.

Pricing, Value & Billing Traps

Turbo VPN offers one-month, one-year, and two-year subscription plans, each available in two tiers: Gold and Platinum. The key difference between tiers is the number of simultaneous connections – 10 versus 20.

As with most VPNs, the monthly option ($11.99 for Gold, $13.99 for Platinum) carries the highest per-month cost in exchange for short-term flexibility. One-year plans deliver 58% savings, working out at $5 (Gold) and $5.83 (Platinum) per month. The best value lies in the two-year plans: Gold includes three additional months free and, at 72% off, costs $3.33 per month, while Platinum, discounted at 67%, comes to $4.58.

These prices sit broadly in line with leading providers, and encouragingly, renewal rates remain consistent rather than increasing after the initial term, as some competitors do.

More concerning, however, is Turbo VPN’s convoluted cancellation process for website signups. There’s no option to disable auto-renewal within the account dashboard, which also doesn’t tell you about the renewal.

Canceling requires email verification, contacting support, explaining our reasons, and declining a retention offer – all compounded by the requirement to contact support at least three working days before renewal. Signing up through an app store is a safer bet – you can manage subscriptions yourself. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

App Experience, Features & Usability

(Image credit: Future)

Turbo VPN has apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, plus a Chrome extension. However, there are no apps for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Linux, and router support is absent. It does offer a Smart DNS feature, which may provide a workaround for bypassing geo-blocks on devices that can’t run VPN apps.

The apps themselves are refreshingly beginner-friendly. On mobile, a minimalist interface shows a rabbit silhouette and a quick connect button (complete with a carrot graphic), while the desktop apps add a left-hand server list.

Once connected, the desktop apps display additional details such as connection duration, upload and download speeds, and – on Windows – the VPN IP address. Power users may find the apps overly simplistic, but less experienced users will appreciate the ease of use.

Protocol support is generous, though uneven. Windows and Mac both offer OpenVPN TCP, Lepus, and LinkSentinel, but Mac users get the broader selection with OpenVPN UDP, IKEv2, and ISSR also available. Notably absent is WireGuard – a strange omission given the speed and security advantages that have made it the most popular VPN protocol.

More worrying still are the results of our leak testing. The custom Lepus protocol failed to mask the user’s IP address entirely on Windows, while LinkSentinel suffered from persistent IPv6 leaks. Turbo VPN subsequently issued an emergency Windows update in response to these findings, but it highlights concerning gaps in the app’s security fundamentals.

The underlying technology shows its age elsewhere, too. Inspection of the Windows app’s files suggests it ships OpenVPN 2.4.7, released in April 2019 – meaning years’ worth of security patches and bug fixes are missing. Combined with the absence of WireGuard support, it’s a picture of outdated security foundations.

Split tunneling is limited to Windows and Android, although it covers both websites and apps. The caveat is that only exclude lists are supported – you can route all traffic around the VPN except selected apps, but you can’t do the reverse. That’s a drawback if you only need the VPN tunnel for one specific app, such as Netflix.

Turbo VPN claims P2P support, and that held up in testing, with files downloading without issue. However, there are no dedicated P2P servers, and the lack of port forwarding may deter more serious torrent users.

Server Network, Privacy & Infrastructure

(Image credit: Future)

Turbo VPN boasts 21,000 servers – far more than most VPNs offer. The website says these span 111 locations, though our count found more than 140, suggesting a rapidly growing network. All the most popular locations are covered, including over two dozen cities in the US.

Unlike the vast majority of VPNs, Turbo VPN offers particularly strong Asia coverage spanning 33 countries. On the flip side, Oceania gets just two locations (one each in Australia and New Zealand), and Canada is under-represented with only Toronto and Richmond Hill.

Connecting via the Windows, Mac, or iOS apps puts you behind an in-app kill switch. Oddly, this isn’t on by default and has to be enabled manually in settings. Once activated, the Windows kill switch performed flawlessly in testing, cutting our internet connection immediately when we simulated an app crash.

Turbo VPN claims to operate a strict no-logs policy, saying it doesn’t retain identifying information such as your browsing history. That’s promising, but the privacy policy is vague, leaning on qualifiers like “such as” when describing collected data – suggesting the full picture isn’t being painted. Worse, the no-logs claim has never been verified by an independent audit, so it rests on the company’s word alone.

Finally, while the parent company, Innovative Connecting PTE Ltd., lists an address in Singapore, research indicates it’s owned by a Chinese company. This raises legitimate concerns about potential government access to customer data.

Speed Performance & Streaming Unblocking

(Image credit: Future)

Turbo VPN doesn’t support WireGuard so for our speed tests, we instead connected via Lepus, one of Turbo VPN’s custom protocols. Using the nearest available server (USA East), we averaged 339 Mbps. As expected, speeds dropped over greater distance, with a UK server averaging 283 Mbps when connecting from the US.

Either way, those speeds are comfortably fast enough for bandwidth-heavy activities like streaming, torrenting, gaming, and video calls. It’s just that they trail well behind the fastest VPNs we’ve tested.

Streaming-optimized servers cover platforms in over two dozen countries, and unblocking performance was generally strong. In testing, we successfully accessed multiple country versions of Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, DAZN, and YouTube. Smaller local services posed no problem either, with BBC iPlayer, ITVX, 7Plus, 9Now, and TVNZ+ all accessible.

Still, few VPNs have a flawless unblocking record, and Turbo VPN is no exception. It failed to get around blocks on Disney+ in the UK and Australia, DAZN in the UK, New Zealand, and Canada, and both Prime Video and DAZN in Canada.

The overall picture is a dependable VPN for everyday streaming. However, if raw speed is your top priority, rivals with WireGuard support simply offer more headroom.

Support, Accessibility & Reviews

(Image credit: Future)

As VPN support sites go, Turbo VPN’s is decent, with a good number of troubleshooting articles and a search function that reliably surfaces relevant results. However, some articles contain outdated or outright wrong information – incorrectly describing the kill switch’s function and even suggesting PPTP for better speeds, a protocol Turbo VPN dropped years ago. Annotated screenshots to accompany the step-by-step tutorials wouldn’t go amiss either.

A chatbot exists, but it’s essentially another keyword search. Live chat with an agent can be requested through it, and support is also reachable via email or directly in the app. We received a knowledgeable response within 20 hours.

Accessibility is mixed: the app supports keyboard navigation but offers little visual feedback, while the website scored just 36% on AccessibilityChecker, with contrast and keyboard-navigation issues flagged.

App store ratings tell a more positive story: Turbo VPN’s Android and iOS apps carry excellent scores that rank among the industry’s best. Its Chrome extension is notably weaker, with recent complaints pointing to unreliable connections and slow speeds.

Final Verdict

Turbo VPN’s cheap long-term plans, broad streaming unblocking, and strong coverage in the US and Asia make it superficially appealing. Yet a VPN’s core job is protecting your traffic – and our testing found the custom Lepus protocol failing to mask users’ IP addresses on Windows, with persistent IPv6 leaks on LinkSentinel.

Privacy concerns compound the problem: an unaudited no-logs policy, outdated components like OpenVPN 2.4.7, and a parent company with Chinese ties. For audited security and reliable performance, look instead to the best VPN services like ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

Indeed has a claim to fame as the world's largest job board. It aggregates millions of job listings from companies and makes them easy to search. For job seekers, it’s a major hub for discovering job opportunities, with search filters to narrow results down to exactly what they seek.

But is Indeed your best bet for finding job opportunities? What are its pros and cons? What features does it offer, and how does it compare to the competition? I’ve tested the platform thoroughly to answer these questions. Let’s see what it offers.

Indeed: Plans and pricing

You can check out Indeed in the US here, and in the UK here.

Indeed is free for job candidates. You can sign up and scour job listings without paying a dime. However, businesses get charged to access certain features, like the ability to publish many job postings and to keep the posts active for a long time. Most job sites adopt this model of being free to job-seekers while charging subscriptions to employers, a fair model if you ask me.

Businesses can actually create free accounts, but with limited features. For instance, the free plan allows only 3 job postings per month, and each posting stays up for only 30 days. Free job postings also have lower visibility than paid placements. If your business wants to post more jobs, keep posts up as long as needed, and make them reach the most candidates, you’ll need to pay.

There’s no standard pricing plan. Instead, job postings are run like ad campaigns. You'll choose the number of days to keep the job posting up with better visibility, advanced matching, and the ability to target candidates in specific locations. Ad budgets start from $5 daily, or $150 monthly.

Indeed also charges businesses for access to its vast database of resumes, from which candidates can be quickly matched to job postings, and businesses can contact these candidates right on Indeed.

Known as Indeed Smart Sourcing, access to the resume database can be obtained through either the Standard or Professional plan. For $120 per month, or a discounted $1,150 if you pay annually, the Standard plan lets businesses contact up to 30 candidates per month and run advanced searches on Indeed's resume database.

For $520 per month, or a discounted $4,992 annually ($1,248 less than paying month-to-month), the Professional plan allows businesses to contact up to 100 candidates monthly, sync candidates’ data to applicant tracking systems (ATS), and use more advanced search filters on the resume database (e.g., candidates’ willingness to relocate). Indeed offers a 14-day free trial for this plan.

I’ll say Indeed’s plans are pricey, but they aren’t out of the norm compared to other job sites. I’ve reviewed many job sites and seen even more expensive plans for employers, so I’ll say Indeed is mid-range. Its plans aren’t the most affordable, but they aren’t the most expensive either.

Indeed: Features

Indeed is a popular job board with two user bases. On one hand, it connects job seekers to available opportunities based on their preferences. On the other hand, it helps employers find the right talent from a vast pool of job candidates.

Each party interacts with Indeed from a different perspective, but the goal of connecting job-seekers and employers remains intact, and Indeed does that well.

Job-seekers can sign up and immediately access Indeed’s database hosting millions of job postings. Of course, you can filter postings by type, pay, remote or in-office, experience level, and other factors to find exactly what you seek.

You can also upload your resume to Indeed’s database, and algorithms scan your resume to match you with fitting employers.

(Image credit: Indeed)

Many companies use Indeed to post job opportunities and find job candidates, so you’re at the right place if seeking a new role.

However, Indeed’s immense volume of listings has both upsides and downsides. I noticed some duplicate listings when scouring through the job board and a few job listings that seemed off. I’d advise taking some time to analyze job listings before deciding to apply.

It also doesn’t help that there’s too much competition for jobs on Indeed. A massive user base means a single job listing often draws hundreds of applicants, and your resume might get lost in the sheer volume.

Indeed doesn’t show how many people have applied for a role, so you can’t tell the volume of candidates you’re competing with, unlike LinkedIn, which gives you a hint.

Yet, I found Indeed’s job board very helpful. Not only could I find roles through search filters, but I could also create email alerts for future job openings. I entered a job title, location, and keyword (e.g., "remote"), and received several job alerts matching these criteria. Alerts can be turned off anytime.

Indeed also lets you read company reviews posted by current and former employees. These reviews give you a hint of what working at a company is like, and you’ll know if it suits your preferences.

However, beware of both negative and positive biases in reviews. They can be overly negative or overly applauding with few details, so don’t make decisions based on one or two reviews. Check many reviews so that you’ll get a balanced opinion.

(Image credit: Indeed)

Likewise, Indeed also displays salary data submitted by former and current employees. This data tells you the salary range to expect for a role you’re applying for. It isn’t 100% accurate, as compensation varies based on various conditions, but the data comes close.

(Image credit: Indeed)

However, Indeed isn’t a networking site like LinkedIn. There’s no connecting with industry professionals and building relationships to leverage for future jobs. Indeed is for finding jobs and data about potential employers, and it excels at these core functions.

Indeed: Ease of use

Indeed offers one of the best interfaces among numerous job boards I’ve reviewed. Everything from signing up to uploading resumes, parsing job listings, and viewing company data was seamless during my tests.

Features are arranged neatly, and you can easily switch from one dashboard to another with a coherent workflow. The interface is quite minimalistic, with a mostly white background and a few blue-shaded colors to highlight other elements, which I found pleasing.

You can access Indeed via a web browser or download the iOS or Android mobile app for convenient, on-the-go usage.

LinkedIn: Support

Support isn’t an issue when using Indeed. Job-seekers have a dedicated Help Center containing how-tos, guides, and FAQs on issues they’ll likely encounter when using Indeed. The same goes for Employers, with a dedicated Help Center that solves issues encountered by businesses and recruiters using Indeed.

Employers can seek direct help from Indeed’s support team via email, live chat, or telephone. Free users can fill out a support ticket and wait for an email response within 24 to 48 hours, but direct live chat or telephone support isn’t available.

Understandably, Indeed reserves live chat and phone support for businesses paying for subscriptions.

Indeed: The competition

I’ve already mentioned LinkedIn as a major competitor, highlighting that it provides networking opportunities and gives a hint of how many people applied for a role, features not available on Indeed.

However, Indeed has a larger volume of job listings, particularly for entry-level roles, hourly jobs, and skilled trade positions, while LinkedIn is geared more towards corporate, finance, and tech-adjacent jobs.

ZipRecruiter is another major rival. Just like Indeed, it aggregates a large number of job listings and matches candidates to job opportunities. ZipRecruiter stands out with its AI-powered matching system, which analyzes job-seekers’ resumes and matches them to fitting job opportunities. Indeed offers a similar feature, but I think ZipRecruiter is better at matching resumes and job opportunities.

I’d say Glassdoor is another competitor, but the catch is that it’s now owned by the same company that owns Indeed. Glassdoor is known for its rich company data, particularly salary data across diverse industries. It remains a separate platform from Indeed, but both now share a unified login system and job listings.

Indeed: Final verdict

Indeed is a valuable tool for finding job opportunities. You can find abundant job listings in diverse industries and also upload your resume for employers to find you.

For businesses, Indeed makes it easier to find talent. Its vast user base gives businesses a second-to-none pool of candidates to select from, but at a cost. Overall, Indeed excels at its job of matching job-seekers with opportunities.

For more picks, we've tested the best recruitment platforms and the best job sites.