Securly Home App Alternatives: Better Options After the 1.3-Star Disaster

What's Wrong with Securly Home?

1. It crashes constantly

"App crashes every single day. I have to reinstall it weekly just to get it working again. My son figured out if he just waits, it'll crash on its own and stop filtering." - Google Play Review

Technical stability is the biggest complaint. Parents report "Service unavailable" errors and a dashboard that simply refuses to update or sync with their child's device. If the app isn't running, the filtering isn't working.

2. It kills the battery

"This app drains my daughter's phone battery in 3-4 hours. She can't make it through a school day without charging." - Google Play Review

Securly Home uses a VPN to route traffic through its filters. Because the app is poorly optimized, that VPN connection stays "active" in a way that drains a phone's battery in just a few hours.

3. The "School Device" bait-and-switch

Many of the features Securly advertises only work if the device is managed by a school. If you install this on a personal iPad or phone at home, you get a watered-down version. Most parents don't realize this until after they've paid the subscription fee.

4. No YouTube Channel Whitelisting

This is the biggest letdown. In the school version of Securly, teachers can approve specific channels and block the rest. Securly Home doesn't do this. You’re stuck with three bad options: block all of YouTube, allow all of it, or use a "restricted mode" that misses a huge amount of inappropriate content.

5. Kids bypass it in minutes

If your child is even slightly tech-savvy, Securly Home won't stop them. Common bypasses include:

• Free VPNs: Kids download a free VPN to route around Securly's filter.
• Incognito Mode: Private browsing often slips right past the browser-level filtering.
• Switching Browsers: If Chrome is filtered, they just download Firefox or Edge.
• Cellular Data: The filtering often fails the moment the child leaves the home WiFi.

6. Support is non-existent

When things go wrong, don't expect help. Parents report waiting weeks for ticket responses or sitting on hold for nearly an hour only to get a generic, unhelpful answer.

Why Is Securly Home So Bad?

Different Products, Same Name

It’s a classic case of a company focusing on where the money is. Securly makes its real profit from multi-million dollar school contracts. The home app feels like a side project that’s been left to rot.

Best Securly Home Alternatives (2026)

1. WhitelistVideo (Best for YouTube Control)

If your main reason for using Securly was to manage YouTube, this is the better choice. It actually does what Securly Home promises: you pick the channels your kids can watch, and everything else is blocked. It’s also way more stable (4.7 stars) and doesn't kill the battery because it doesn't use the same clunky VPN tech.

Pros:

• True channel whitelisting (the only consumer app that has it)
• Free tier available
• Works on cellular and WiFi
• Cheaper than Securly ($4.99/month)

Cons: Only filters YouTube, not the whole web.

Best for: Parents who specifically want to fix the "YouTube problem."

Try WhitelistVideo Free →

2. Qustodio (Best for Full Monitoring)

If you need to monitor everything—texts, location, and web history—Qustodio is the standard. It’s not perfect, but it doesn't crash every ten minutes. It’s better at detecting VPNs and has much more reliable activity reports.

Pros: Works on everything (iOS, Android, PC, Mac) and includes location tracking.

Cons: No YouTube channel whitelisting and it's more expensive ($137.95/year).

Best for: Parents who want a "command center" for all device activity.

3. Circle (Best for Home WiFi)

Circle is a hardware box that plugs into your router. Because it's a physical device, it doesn't "crash" like an app and it doesn't drain your kid's battery. It filters every single device on your home WiFi automatically.

Pros: Very reliable and easy to set up. Great for "pausing" the internet for dinner.

Cons: Doesn't work when the kid is on cellular data (unless you pay for their extra mobile app) and requires a $129 hardware purchase.

4. Apple Screen Time (Best Free Option)

If you have an iPhone family, don't overlook the built-in tools. Screen Time is free, it’s built into the operating system (so it can't be uninstalled), and it doesn't drain the battery.

Pros: Free, reliable, and impossible for a kid to delete.

Cons: Only works on Apple devices. No YouTube channel whitelisting.

Comparison: Securly Home vs. The Competition

How to Switch and Cancel

Don't just delete the app—you need to make sure the subscription is dead and the hidden profiles are gone.

1. Set up your new service first. Test it for a week to make sure you like it before cutting ties with Securly.
2. Delete the VPN profile. On iPhones, go to Settings → General → VPN and delete the Securly profile. If you don't do this, the phone might still try to route traffic through their broken servers.
3. Cancel the subscription. Do this through the Securly dashboard or your app store settings.
4. Ask for a refund. If the app never worked for you, contact their support. Many parents have successfully argued for a refund by citing technical failures.

The Bottom Line

A 1.3-star rating is hard to achieve. It takes a special level of technical failure and poor support to get there. You aren't imagining the bugs, and you aren't "doing it wrong"—the app just isn't good.

If you're paying $80+ a year for something that your kid can bypass with a free VPN, it’s time to move on. If YouTube is your main concern, WhitelistVideo actually provides the control Securly Home only pretends to have. If you need a full suite of tools, Qustodio or Circle are much more dependable.

Stop fighting with an app that doesn't work. Switch to something that actually keeps your kids safe.

Try WhitelistVideo Free – Get the YouTube Control Securly Home Promises But Doesn't Deliver →