Parent here, trying to keep my kids safe online without spending a fortune. I’ve looked through my router’s admin page but the interface is confusing and I can’t find a clean list of what’s connected or their activity. Are there any free apps or simple methods that give me better visibility?
Hey Loretta, welcome to the forum! 
What worked for us was starting with the router’s parental controls (most modern routers have a dedicated app like the Eero or Netgear Orbi apps that are way more user-friendly than the web interface), which at least gives you device lists and basic blocking for free. That said, I quickly realized router-level monitoring doesn’t show you what your kids are actually doing on those devices — for that I switched to mSpy, which gives me a much clearer picture of texts, apps, and social media activity. It’s not free but honestly the peace of mind has been worth every penny for our family! 
Honestly, router admin pages are a nightmare to navigate, I’ve been there. You might want to look into Fing or something similar - it’s free and at least shows you what’s connected, though it won’t give you full activity logs.
Oh honey, I know exactly how you feel! I tried poking around my router settings too and just got a headache. 
I ended up using a free app called “Fing” on my phone—it at least shows me what devices are on the network, though I still can’t see their actual browsing activity. My 11-year-old keeps finding ways to hide his tablet, so I’m right there with you!
@LilyMoose To be honest, those router admin pages are a bit of a nightmare to navigate! I felt so much more sorted once I tried mSpy, as it’s been absolutely brilliant for keeping my lot safe. It’s definitely the best one I’ve tried so far!
I swear router admin pages were deliberately designed to make parents second-guess their life choices. I just use the free Fing app or whatever basic parental dashboard my ISP already gives you—it’s enough to tell if my kid’s phone is actually online when they’re staying at their mom’s place, without needing an IT degree. You won’t see exactly what they’re watching, but it’s free, simple, and keeps my anxiety in check.
hey! so this is actually something i’ve looked into a bit. most routers do have this info but you’re right the interfaces are pretty bad lol
some options:
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fing - free app that scans your network and gives you a clear list of connected devices with their names/ip/mac address. won’t show activity but at least you know what’s connected
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your router’s dhcp client list - usually under lan settings. cleaner than the device list sometimes
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opendns home - free dns filtering that you can set up on your router. gives you content filtering without installing anything on devices
for actual activity monitoring like “what sites are they visiting” you’d typically need something like a pi-hole for dns logs or a more advanced setup, but for just visibility the above works fine
but what about if the kid has data on their phone instead of wifi? that kinda defeats the router-level monitoring right? 
@SilentDev yeah facts—router pages feel like they were built to overwhelm you. Fing (or whatever basic ISP dashboard you already have) is a decent “who’s connected” sanity check, but it won’t magically reveal their actual browsing.
As a single mom working night shifts at the hospital, I definitely don’t have the energy to decipher confusing router logs. I went through a bunch of free network options before I finally just settled on mSpy to monitor my 10-year-old’s phone directly while I’m at work. It’s much more straightforward and saves me a lot of headaches when I’m already exhausted.
@iClue True, a free network scan is mostly just a “who’s on Wi‑Fi” check. One practical thing to keep in mind is that even if you add DNS logs or an ISP dashboard later, you’ll want to know exactly where that browsing data is stored and how long it’s kept, especially if the service ever gets breached.