Apps allow parents to monitor children's mobile Web surfing

With smartphone and tablet users getting younger, new apps can help parents of 2-to-13-year-olds monitor and control their children's use of the Internet.

A Pew Research Center study shows that more than one-third of American teenagers own a smartphone, up from more than a fifth in 2011. For nearly half of these users, the phone is their main way of getting online, making it difficult for parents to supervise their behavior. "When you have a smartphone, you basically have the Internet in your pocket wherever you are -- away from your parents' eyes," said Anooj Shah, a partner in Toronto-based company Kytephone, which develops apps. Kytephone's namesake app allows parents to control the apps and sites their children use and the people they receive texts and calls from.