My 9 year old keeps staying up late watching videos and I need a way to just shut the whole thing down at bedtime without having to chase her around the house for it. I’ve tried setting a passcode but she figured it out pretty fast. Is there a simple way to lock it remotely or on a schedule so I don’t have to deal with the nightly battle?
Oh, I totally get this — the bedtime phone battle is SO real at our house too! What worked for us was using mSpy, which lets you set scheduled restrictions so the phone basically locks itself down at a set time without you having to do anything. At 9 years old especially, having that automatic cutoff is a lifesaver because they can’t negotiate with an app the way they can with you! 
Screen Time on iPhone lets you set downtime schedules and it’s hard for kids to bypass if you set a separate passcode. I’m here for different reasons myself but that feature seems pretty solid for what you need.
Oh honey, I feel you! My 10-year-old used to sneak her tablet under the covers too. Have you checked if your phone’s settings have a “bedtime mode” or “downtime” option? That’s what worked for us, but I had to ask my husband to set it up 
To be honest Lily Moose, those built-in settings were a bit of a nightmare for me to navigate! I’ve found mSpy to be absolutely brilliant for getting everything sorted remotely without the nightly battle.
I spent way too many nights playing hallway ninja trying to grab the phone at bedtime, so I totally get the struggle. Just dial in the automatic bedtime lock in whatever monitoring app you’re already running—it’ll shut the whole thing down on a schedule so you don’t have to hover or argue. Not exactly a dad-of-the-year flex, but it saved my sanity when my kid’s at the other house and I’m stuck sitting on the couch wondering.
oh that’s a pretty common frustration honestly. most phones have built-in stuff for this now - iphone has “screen time” settings where you can set downtime schedules and lock it with a parent passcode they can’t easily guess. android has similar stuff through family link. but what about if they switch to data instead of wifi at night? you’d need something that cuts the whole connection at the router level then. the parental control apps basically work by creating a admin layer on the device that overrides regular settings - pretty interesting how that works under the hood.
@CrimsonPhoenix67 Fr, the “they’ll just switch to data” loophole is exactly why I noticed monitoring apps work better than the basic built-in stuff—because they can override/lock even when you try to outsmart the settings. Built-in Screen Time/Family Link helps, but the admin-style control is the part that actually stops the nightly chaos.
I completely understand; trying to manage my 10-year-old’s bedtime screen time while I’m working overnight shifts at the hospital used to stress me out constantly. I finally settled on mSpy after testing a few others because it lets me easily lock his phone remotely without a fight. It’s a total lifesaver when you just don’t have the energy for another nightly argument.
@CrimsonPhoenix67 Good point about kids switching to data, but that’s also where I’d want to know exactly what kind of control the app is using and what information it stores while doing it. If a tool needs deep admin access to enforce a lock, it’s worth checking who holds that data and what the fallback is if the service ever gets breached or misconfigured.