Norton Family Companion App Reviews

by DO NOT RECOMMEND WHATSOEVER

I would give NortonFamilyCompanionApp 0 stars if I could!! It’s an absolute privacy violator, like I know ya parents wanna monitor what your child is doing on the internet and checking what apps they have, but people need to have privacy on their devices. Even if they have no bad apps on it people still need to have phone privacy. This is an absolute trust breaker. And also the screen time is disaster. It is is so ridicoulous, their excuse is oh I want to limit my child’s screen time and blah blah blah blah, even tho the parent is on it just as much or more. NortonFamilyCompanionApp is ridiculous, it is a complete trust breaker and won’t even let you access apps that aren’t even bad. I don’t reccomend NortonFamilyCompanionApp at all!! One more thing that is terrible when there is a time set that you should be off of it at night, when you can go on it again all the apps are reorganized. Especially when you organized your phones apps the way you want them. This is app is terrible and do not reccomend!!

by Saturatedmoth6

NortonFamilyCompanionApp doesn’t really seem to work all that well. It doesn’t support the monitoring of safari and seemingly deletes it. Then there’s the forced vpn. It’s annoying, period. It doesn’t allow the download of other vpn’s and the vpn NortonFamilyCompanionApp comes with can protect against inappropriate content but doesn’t help with the internet speed at all. The worst part is that it’s a complete requirement to use WiFi. No vpn, no WiFi, no Internet. I don’t really see myself using the safe search all that much and unless certain improvements are made, I wouldn’t recommend NortonFamilyCompanionApp. Please look for another family protection app that actually works.

by Bmcgighan

I do not feel NortonFamilyCompanionApp is reliable. I can not get the profile To load on my IPhone XsMax.

I have emailed support and chatted with support. I am sent to a “higher” level of support each time with no resolve.

I was promised a 48hour call back after my case was escalated to a higher technician. NO call back day 3 now.

I have erased my phone and set it up like new to see if it was an app compatibility issue. The vpn installs fine, but the profile installation won’t complete.

Online It says my apps software is outdated however I deleted and installed The updated app several times.

I am —-highly—- disappointed, especially since I have been a loyal Norton subscriber for years.

This kind of customer service really makes me question whether my other anti-virus software is even functioning properly.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND NortonFamilyCompanionApp.

by For_real???

NortonFamilyCompanionApp has disabled native functionality on 5 devices across two different OS’ and no one can fix it. Promises of calls since you can’t speak directly to Level 3 support or their management have gone unreturned. I have been a Norton customer across several products for many years until 2021 when I let it all lapse but this one. I am the customer. Treat me like one. Now you can just respond to my complaint with the BBB. Surprised to say this but they are as bad as that large ISP that has awful service.

by Ztechreview

Absolutely terrible. When NortonFamilyCompanionApp is being used it turns on vpn and in the middle of browsing any website it makes my entire iPhone 8 Plus freeze and the touchscreen completely doesn’t work and I have to hold the power button and restart the entire phone and also sometimes while browsing it shuts down my entire phone completely and powers back on by itself. It also messes up social media apps ever since it was on my phone it disables Snapchat and instagram notifications.

by NoScore4U

When supervision turns off, all controlled apps appear on home screens ignoring the original organization in folders or clear home screens (using App Library).

I appreciated the ability to control my child’s devices in one management portal but unfortunately the supervision of Apple devices caused problems where I had to remove NortonFamilyCompanionApp and go back to screen time for my management. I have all of NortonFamilyCompanionApp shortcuts removed from home screens and exclusively use NortonFamilyCompanionApp Library. I have to remove all the apps every time supervision turns off.

by Belladogo

NortonFamilyCompanionApp is not the move. my dad installed it on my phone and it's horrible it was fine for one night but the next day it deleted all of my apps. it's also horrible for me cuz NortonFamilyCompanionApp restrictions and the screen time and it doesn't let me go on any websites even if i'm looking up a bible verse. if you're considering getting NortonFamilyCompanionApp for you kid i would not it shows you don't trust your child and it will make your kids annoyed as heck and make them frustrated which you probably don't want your kids to be mad. overall i DO NOT suggest NortonFamilyCompanionApp.

sincerely, a very annoyed teenager

by Kristi Lincoln

I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOWNLOADING NortonFamilyCompanionApp! It not only causes your phone to glitch but it also isn’t a very great app in general. I downloaded NortonFamilyCompanionApp because I thought it would help me and my child connect more but after downloading and using NortonFamilyCompanionApp for a week all of my accounts got hacked! My child started complaining and saying that there’s someone talking to him through the microphone of his phone and telling him to run. I am utterly disgusted. I deleted NortonFamilyCompanionApp after this fiasco. Afterward all of my accounts were fixed and my son’s phone wasn’t sending terrible messages. I am disappointed.

by Lizard_awesomes

Norton is an app designed for parents to see what their kids are doing and restrict everything, however this has the opposite effect on the kid.

Norton restricts every single website and even if your trying to search up a question or go on a school website. It entirely frustrates the kid making them not even to want to use their phone. Personally I wanted to throw my phone at a wall at how frustrating this is.

Now this is doing the opposite effect on the kid. This just wants to make kids to find other ways around it. For example if you installed this to get your kid away from going on social media or doing something bad online, and you go full on restrict mode, they are just gonna get upset and frustrated at you for installing this, and find other ways around it.

Right now I after this review is done, I am doing whatever to get around this and disable it.

Sincerely, A annoyed kid

by Sam Lanther😒😒😒

im a 13 year old, about to start 8th grade.
NortonFamilyCompanionApp litterally blocks google classroom, because its a "file sharing website." im trying to convince my mom to get life 360 but she says this is better. DO YOU REALIZE THAT IF I DONT GET RID OF NortonFamilyCompanionApp BEFORE SUMMER IS OVER, IM GOING TO FAIL SCHOOL?!?!?(keep in mind that i also have this on my computer)

and yet the only reason why my mom got it is so i could stop playing games on my phone during lunch at school, but i wasnt even doing that in the first place. so now my mom is gonna get REALLY MAD at me beacause of a stupid privacy app.

by MaditheBeast

The whole point of growing up and having privacy is so that parents and children can build a wall of trust. NortonFamilyCompanionApp absolutely tears that wall down and leads the children to feel as if they aren’t trusted. NortonFamilyCompanionApp is designed for helicopter parents that want to control everything about their children’s lives. i al 16 and going to be a junior in high school and my mom used NortonFamilyCompanionApp on my phone. i know it’s targeted though as she never turns off my sister’s apps. She’s going to be 13 in a few months and she’s going into 8th grade, So NortonFamilyCompanionApp also leaves room for favoritism. Thanks a lot Norton.

Love,
A very annoyed 16 year old

also, since norton doesn’t tell you how to uninstall it without uninstalling it, here’s how you do it: settings>general>device management>management profile>remove management and enter your pin. i wouldn’t suggest this unless you want your parents to know as it does inform them when you delete it. it’s only for if it’s glitched on your phone.

by Hungry For More Hungry Games

I speak from my own experience that NortonFamilyCompanionApp will do more bad than good yeah it provides parents with trust but the day I got it it started to delete all the apps on my kids phone starting at 2 am and ending at 11am witch makes no sense cause he’s sleeping at that time and wakes up at around 9 am I do not recommend NortonFamilyCompanionApp because it had deleted my kids apps for three days and we couldn’t do anything cause it basically removes them from you AppStore so you can’t access them at all. Devs this is a nightmare, I deleted NortonFamilyCompanionApp and it still will do this so warning all parents TRY A DIFFERENT PARENTAL CONTROL SITE FOR YOUR KIDS

by 🦊🦁🐯🐨🐼

NortonFamilyCompanionApp was put on my phone by my mom because her and my dad thought it was a good idea so they can see my search history and stuff like that. You can block apps from being used which would/could be used for if your grounding your child or they are not allowed to use their phone. But once this is on your phone everything will get messed up. You won’t be able to delete apps or anything your Wi-Fi gets messed up And When you search up for pictures you won’t see anything because It would be blocked and you would have to get them off of websites but only few because a lot of them would be blocked. Me my mom and my dad found this super annoying. Now I can’t get this off my phone and It is stuck on here. My mom and dad can’t delete it either. DO NOT GET NortonFamilyCompanionApp!!!

by Tecdiver

I used the time monitoring portion of Norton Family to restrict our two sons phones from 10am to 5:30 am. During this time it removed the icons from the phones. At 5:30 am the icons did not return. I called support and they could not see in THEIR system what was being transmitted to the phone app. I disabled the phone/iPad feature and after an hours the apps returned. Even though it was disabled the next evening it turned the icons off, at 5:30am again it did not turn back on and never did. I tried everything to gain control of the phone, but since when it took away the icons it took the norton app too, i cannot get into NortonFamilyCompanionApp to put in the over ride password. I cant remove NortonFamilyCompanionApp from the phone until it is unlocked and can not unlock it. We will be cancelling this service and going to Mcafee!!!

by 208.67.222.222

NortonFamilyCompanionApp installs a vpn profile and Norton’s own browser on my iPhone 6. It allowed for blacklist and whitelist of websites. That is the best part. The browser was working great on WiFi and cellular LTE. Then I tested the vpn. I easily uninstalled the vpn with my phone password and safari was back with regular norton filtering of safe search and its websites but my blacklist of websites were not filtered! This renders NortonFamilyCompanionApp useless. Please fix NortonFamilyCompanionApp ASAP. Please require the user to sign into the Norton account to get a password to uninstall the vpn. This would give it the right protection it needs. NortonFamilyCompanionApp could be great. We need more apps like this that works. I believe NortonFamilyCompanionApp would be great if the vpn was not easily uninstalled. Please fix it so I can change the rating to five stars.

by In Oblivion

This is from a preteen who has this on their iPad, so I recommend you read an adult’s review. They can tell you from experience what NortonFamilyCompanionApp is like.

NortonFamilyCompanionApp does not do it’s job well. It blocks EVERY (yes, every) website with a video on it. This is quite a struggle to work around and discouraged me from using Safari for quite a while. Second, if you set a time limit on your device using NortonFamilyCompanionApp (which you can already do without NortonFamilyCompanionApp) it removes almost all app icons and kicks you out if you’re in one of those apps. This becomes an issue because sometimes you’ll be being something that you enjoy, and then that time limit just makes your device as barren as a dessert.
Lastly, it doesn’t track your apps at all! I’ve accidentally been sent to horror games on Roblox, and have those games show up on my Continue menu. However, NortonFamilyCompanionApp didn’t do anything about it, which is unbelievable. It should at least store this information on NortonFamilyCompanionApp !

NortonFamilyCompanionApp can easily be summarized in two words: DON’T BOTHER. Instead of genuinely protecting your device, it traps you in a cage of limited content, doesn’t allow to access more even when you need it, and calls it protection. Parents, if you’re considering downloading NortonFamilyCompanionApp, do yourself a favor and trust the 1.5 rating - NortonFamilyCompanionApp is not worth your time.

by AFistfulOfLoadedDice

My parents installed NortonFamilyCompanionApp on my phone, and I am honestly just disappointed with how other reviewers treat it. NortonFamilyCompanionApp does what it says it does, and does it fairly well. It’s supposed to replace the phone’s browser with something more easily traceable for your parents, and that’s exactly what it is and what it does.

Now, that isn’t to say it’s perfect. New tabs take a considerable amount of time to load, and certain websites, like the one my school uses for grades, are pretty poorly optimized for it. Overall, it works well enough to be perfectly acceptable.

by Should Have "Checked" First

Got Norton a few months ago after my kids complained about Mobicip (and they were right). So far so good. The profiles were easy to put together, the kids are able to view what they want to view, I have guardrails up and I get a weekly report. I wish it would have more functionality with iOS and a PC, but it is what it is and you know that when you buy it. It recently went haywire on my son’s iPad but I don’t know of an app that is bug-free and I am confident we will work it out (when he finds his iPad that he left at his friends). Overall, I have been happy with it.

by TexJones

That’s all this is. It only disables access to Safari it doesn’t delete it. If you are downloading NortonFamilyCompanionApp then that is exactly what you want to do. Apple does not allow monitoring of safari so to get monitoring and blocking you have to use NortonFamilyCompanionApp. NortonFamilyCompanionApp is just a web browser BUT it tracks history and blocks sites. It’s for protecting your children from content you do not want them exposed to. It works. You view the logs on the Norton Family site NOT within NortonFamilyCompanionApp.

by Smoreeng

We just started to us this for our kids to help monitor their screen time usage. This is what we wanted with NortonFamilyCompanionApp. The fact that all the negative reviews are from the kids is a real indication that this works. Of course kids won’t be happy.

by Angela.vullo

I downloaded this with the hopes of making it easier to accept requests for website access for my son’s laptop. Usually I manually do it through email and must log in. Lately it has been for school and he needs access right away. NortonFamilyCompanionApp does not solve that issue. You can see the notification and visit the site they are requesting access to, but you can’t approve it from NortonFamilyCompanionApp . Waste of space on my phone. Norton, you can do better.

by FelixTN

I am disappointed with NortonFamilyCompanionApp for the iPad. Twice already I had to delete and reinstall the Profile management because it blocked not 1 but 7 properties that I have not chosen. The crash was so bad that I could not even access the Norton to get online Also, I could not access some apps that I was able to use just a few hours earlier. Please fix the issue. The reason I gave one star review is because, as long as it is working, the Norton Family app for iPad is good for keeping kids safe online.

by Person Who Acually Cares

Takes away ever sense of privacy that a kid has makes them not think they can have a conversation without being watched and stalked terrible invasion of privacy and all you helicopter parents think y’all are so cool and clever doing all of you really are just destroying your familys relationship overall terrible app terrible way to “take care” of your kids terrible hate it terrible app stupid invasion of privacy

by I Love Kitties!!!!!

this absolutely helped me and my family loose trust in each other! i have complete control over every aspect of my child's life! he doesnt need independence! hes thirteen but i cant trust him with anything so im going to socially handicap him by not allowing him on any websites that i dont like and make it impossible for him to do anything! arent i the best parent for forcing my child to have no privacy and being able to track wherever he is all the time? its so fun to know everything my child has ever done!

seriously. this is legitimately the best way to prove how little you deserve children. NortonFamilyCompanionApp messed me up and was part of the reason i was nearly driven to suicide. this is how you mess up a kid.