The Safeinest setup guide for parents.

What Safeinest is — and the honest limits on each platform

Safeinest is a UK family-safety app that helps you look after your child's phone. There are two apps: Safeinest (the parent app, on your phone) and Safeinest Connect (on your child's device — an Android phone, an Android tablet, a Chromebook, or an iPhone). You pair the two once, then you set all the rules from the parent app. Your child's device quietly applies them. If your child's device still shows the name "Safeinest Kids", that is the same app before its rename — it updates to Safeinest Connect.

From the parent app you can: allow or block whole categories of apps (social media, games, video, entertainment, web browsers, messaging), set a bedtime window and school hours, tap Block now to pause things straight away, set a timed block or a focus session for homework or dinner, give the whole day a screen-time allowance or a single app its own daily limit (Android), see today's screen time and a 7-day report (Android), write earn-time tasks your child can finish for extra minutes, get message safety alerts from an Android device, approve extra time when your child asks for it, message and call your child, get a mood check-in, turn on live location with safe zones, a 24-hour trail and tell-me-if-they-don't-arrive alerts, and lock app removal. The day-to-day rules are all set by you. There is one quick setup that has to happen on the child's device, once — the protection permissions and the App categories card — and this guide walks you through it.

Please read these limits before you start — Safeinest is built to be honest, not to over-promise. Each platform decides what any app is allowed to do, so there are real limits we cannot get around:

Message safety is real on Android — and honest about its edges. With your child's agreement (they read a consent screen first), the latest Safeinest Connect on an Android phone checks messages AS THEY ARRIVE, on the device itself, for signs of self-harm, bullying and sexual content. When something worrying is found you get the child's name, the kind of danger, how serious it looks, which app it arrived in, and a few words of it — never the conversation, never a feed, and the full message never leaves their phone. What it can never do: read an iPhone child's messages (Apple allows no app to), see a muted or notification-less app, or see what your child types out themselves. Detection understands English only for now. It is a smoke alarm, not a guarantee — and your child always knows it is on.

No app can make its own removal impossible, on either platform, and Safeinest will never tell you otherwise. What it CAN do differs: on Android, with 'Lock app removal' on, your child can agree to a removal lock — from then, uninstalling Safeinest first needs the lock switched off in the device's Settings, a deliberate extra step, and you are told the moment that happens. On an iPhone, real prevention is a setting inside iOS Settings behind a Screen Time passcode (covered later in this guide); Safeinest records your wish and shows your child a 'please ask first' message. Either way, if the app is removed, Safeinest tells you the phone has gone quiet.

Enforcement is cooperative, not absolute. On an iPhone, Safeinest works through Apple Screen Time, which can be switched off in the phone's Settings — a Screen Time passcode is what makes rules stick there. On Android, the pause works through permissions the child's device can also switch off in its own Settings. Either way Safeinest enforces and reports — if protection is switched off, or fewer apps are covered than before, Safeinest tells you. And Android always keeps the notification shade, volume and power menu reachable above a pause: a pause is firm, but it is not a full lock of the device.

Timing is honest, not magic. Block now, focus sessions and approved extra time normally reach the child's device within seconds. Bedtime and school hours ring on a server alarm tuned to the child's own clock, so they normally start and end within a minute or two — but that ring is a silent push which can be delayed or dropped, and a device that has not run the kids app recently has not told the server its clock. The one guarantee is the kids app itself, which checks every 15 seconds while it is open. If a bedtime seems not to have happened, have your child open Safeinest Connect once — it applies straight away.

Screen-time figures come from Android, not iPhone. An Android child with the 'Screen time report' switch on shows you today's total and their top apps, with a 7-day view a tap away — minutes and app names only, never what was on the screen. Apple keeps an iPhone's per-app figures on the child's own device (Settings, Screen Time), so no parental-control app can show them to you — with one exception Apple opened: a child whose Apple Account region is in the EU, on iOS 26.4 or newer, reports the same figures, and Safeinest shows them. Everywhere else, Safeinest does not pretend to.

Get both apps and create your parent account

The parent app, Safeinest, goes on your own phone — free on Google Play for Android and on the App Store for an iPhone (search "Safeinest"). The kids app, Safeinest Connect, is free on both stores too: Google Play for an Android phone, an Android tablet or a Chromebook with the Play Store, and the App Store for an iPhone (iOS 16 or newer).

On your phone, create your parent account. You can use an email address and password (8+ characters), have a 6-digit sign-in code emailed to you instead of a password, or continue with Google or Apple.

1. On your own phone, install "Safeinest: Parental Control" — from Google Play on Android, or from the App Store on an iPhone.
2. On your child's Android phone or tablet, install "Safeinest Connect" from Google Play.
3. On a child's Chromebook, open the Play Store on the Chromebook and install "Safeinest Connect" the same way. On a child's iPhone, install "Safeinest Connect" from the App Store.
4. Open Safeinest on your phone. On the welcome screen, tap 'Create one' to make a new account.
5. Enter your email and a password (8+ characters), then tap Create account — or tap 'Email me a login code' for a passwordless 6-digit code, or use the Google or Apple button.
6. Next time you open the app you can just Sign in the same way.

Add your child and pair their device

Pairing links your child's device to your account. First you add the child in the parent app (a nickname and their age — never a full legal name or date of birth). Then you create a single-use pairing code and enter it on the child's device, either by scanning the QR code or typing the code. The steps are the same on Android, Chromebook and iPhone.

You do this in the Devices tab of the parent app. Each linked device then shows its own status there (for example Setup, Protected, or Resting), and when it was last seen. If you have two or more children, their pictures sit in a row at the top of the Devices tab. The colour of the ring around each picture is that child's status. Tap a picture to see that child, or switch on 'Show all' to list every child.

1. In the parent app, open the Devices tab and tap 'Add child'.
2. Type a name or nickname and choose the child's age (1 to 17), then tap Add. (This is stored privately and encrypted.)
3. On that child's card, tap 'Pairing code'. A QR code and an 8-character code appear (for example MQNS7AYH). It is single use and expires after about 10 minutes.
4. On your child's device, open Safeinest Connect and tap 'Scan QR code'. Point the camera at the QR code on your phone.
5. If scanning won't work, tap 'Enter code instead' on the child's device and type the code, then tap Connect.
6. When it says 'Connected to your family', the device is paired. Back in the parent app, pull down to refresh the Devices tab and you'll see it listed.

Turn on protection on the child's device

For the app limits and bedtime to work, the child's device has to grant Safeinest Connect its blocking permission. This is a one-time approval on the child's device, done right after pairing — and it is the one step that differs between an iPhone and Android.

On the child's device, the Safeinest Connect home screen has a short 'Turn on protection' setup list. Work through it once. On an iPhone the list starts with 'Screen Time access' and 'Apps covered'; on an Android phone, tablet or Chromebook it starts with 'Pause screen' and 'App blocking'.

1. ON AN IPHONE: tap 'Turn on' next to 'Screen Time access' and approve Apple's request. Then tap 'Choose' next to 'Apps covered' and pick the apps Safeinest should manage — an empty list blocks nothing.
2. ON ANDROID: tap 'Turn on' next to 'Pause screen' and allow Safeinest to display over other apps. This is what lets it show the calm pause screen, and bedtime, school hours and Block now pause the whole device with just this.
3. ON ANDROID, OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED: tap 'Turn on' next to 'App blocking' to pause one KIND of app (like games) while the rest keep working. Your child first sees a consent screen explaining exactly what it reads — the name of the app that is open, nothing more — and 'Not now' is a real answer that changes nothing.
4. ON ANDROID, TWO MORE OPTIONAL ROWS: 'Screen time report' ('Turn on') lets their device report minutes per app — a number, never content — which also powers the daily limits below. 'Message safety' ('Turn on') shows your child a consent screen first, in their own words, then Android's Notification access switch; nothing is read until they agree.
5. Check the card now reads Protected. Your rules from the parent app will apply from here on.
6. Remember: these permissions can be switched off again in the device's own Settings, and Safeinest tells you if that happens. On an iPhone, a Screen Time passcode is what keeps them firmly on (see the 'Lock app removal' section).

Set up App categories on the child's device (one time)

When you block a category like Games or Video from the parent app, the child's device needs to know which of its apps count as “Games” or “Video”. Nobody can decide that for you — so you tell Safeinest once, on the child's device. This is a quick, one-time setup — after it, your category blocks from the parent app just work. It is the step most families skip, and the number one reason a category block seems to do nothing.

The picker looks different on each platform. On an iPhone, Apple's own chooser opens — it always shows the full list and cannot be filtered; tick only the row that matches. On Android, Safeinest's own picker opens — a list of every app on that device with a search box; tick the apps of that kind and tap Save.

1. On the child's device in Safeinest Connect, open the Home tab and find the “App categories” card under Setup.
2. Tap the button on the card — it reads “Set up categories” the first time. It is a short wizard, “Step 1 of 6”.
3. ON AN IPHONE: tap “Open Apple's list” and tick the matching row — for Games, the “Games” row under Categories — then tap Done. Ticking a whole Apple row also covers apps installed later.
4. ON ANDROID: tick the apps of that kind from the list (use the search box), then tap Save. A brand-new app installed later is in no kind until someone adds it.
5. Repeat for the kinds you plan to use — there are six: Social media, Games, Video, Entertainment, Web browsers, Messaging. “Skip for now” is always there. Your progress shows in the parent app's Devices tab as “App categories set up — N of 6”.

Set the rules from the parent app: categories, bedtime, block now

All the rules live in the Limits tab of the parent app. You choose what the child's device can do, and it applies them — you never have to touch the child's device again for day-to-day changes.

If you have more than one child paired, pick the child from the selector at the top first. There is no Save button — every switch saves itself the moment you move it, and the screen confirms 'Changes apply straight away'.

1. Open the Limits tab and (if needed) choose which child you're setting rules for.
2. Blocked categories: tap to switch on any of Social media, Games, Video, Entertainment, Web browsers, or Messaging. A highlighted chip means that category is paused. These only bite once App categories is set up on the child's device — and on an Android child, pausing one kind also needs the 'App blocking' switch on (see the section above). Without it, Android pauses the whole device instead of one kind.
3. Bedtime lock: turn it on, then tap 'From' and 'Until' to set the hours apps should rest (the default is 21:00 to 07:00). Overnight times that cross midnight are fine.
4. School hours: choose the days and hours, and which kinds of apps pause during class.
5. Block now: switch this on to pause things straight away — handy for dinner, homework, or a time-out. On an iPhone it pauses the apps covered; on Android it pauses the whole device. Switch it off to release.
6. Timers and focus: set a timed block (30 minutes, 1, 2 or 5 hours) or tap a focus preset for Homework, Dinner or Sleep.
7. Daily screen time: one whole-phone budget for the day — chips from Off to 5 hours. When it is spent, apps pause until tomorrow (always-allowed apps keep working). On Android it needs 'App blocking' and 'Screen time report' on; on an iPhone it needs Screen Time access with apps chosen, and the pause can arrive a few minutes late.
8. App time limits (Android): give one app its own daily budget — '1 hour of TikTok'. Tap 'Add a limit', pick from their own top apps, then a minutes chip. The X removes a limit. Same two switches as above; on an iPhone a single app gets its own limit too, chosen through Apple's own picker on the child's phone.
9. Earn-time tasks (both platforms): write a chore and the minutes it pays — 'Tidy your room, 30 minutes'. Your child taps 'I did it' in their app; you tap Approve and the minutes become real free time on their device ('Not yet' hands the chore back). An approved task stays as history they earned.
10. That's it — nothing to save. Block now, focus and approved extra time normally reach the child's device within seconds, even with the kids app closed. If the device is off or offline, the message lands the moment it is back in touch.
11. Honest note on bedtime and school hours: the server rings the child's device at each edge on its own clock, so they normally start and end within a minute or two. But that ring is a silent push which can be delayed or dropped, and a device that has not run Safeinest Connect recently has not told the server its clock. The one guarantee is the kids app checking every 15 seconds while it is open — so if a bedtime seems late, have your child open the app once. A habit of opening it in the evening is what makes bedtime dependable.

Message your child (Family chat)

Safeinest has a calm, built-in family chat between you and your child. The clever part: the Safeinest Connect app itself is never blocked, so even when you've paused everything else, your child can still message you — and you can message them. It's a lifeline, not another app to police.

Messages send a notification to the other phone, both ways. If your child writes to you, your phone shows “New family message”; tap it to open their chat. Message text is private and is never shown in a notification — only that a new message arrived.

1. In the parent app, open the Devices tab and tap the chat icon (💬) on your child's card.
2. Type your message and send. Your child gets a notification on their device.
3. On the child's device, they open the “Family” tab in Safeinest Connect to read and reply — this works even while their other apps are resting.
4. When your child replies, your phone shows a notification. Tap it to jump straight to that child's chat.

Tip: if notifications don't appear on the parent phone, open the parent app's Settings tab and check “Push status” — it should say “Registered OK”. Tap “Try again” if needed, and make sure notifications are allowed for Safeinest in the phone's Settings.

See where they are (Live location)

Live location lets you see where your child's device is, straight from the parent app. It is off by default (a Children's Code high-privacy default), and you switch it on per child. The child's device asks permission once; “Always Allow” gives the best results.

By default only the latest position is kept, encrypted. Two more switches are off until you turn them on: “Where they have been” keeps a 24-hour trail of stops (a day, then gone — and switching it off deletes it), and “Tell me if they don't arrive” warns you if the device hasn't reached a place by a time you set. Honest limits, as always: your child can turn location off in their device's Settings, and if they do, updates simply stop — the “last seen” time tells you how fresh the map is.

1. In the parent app, open the Limits tab and choose the child.
2. Switch on “Live location”. It saves itself — there is no Save button.
3. On the child's device, the next time Safeinest Connect runs it asks to allow location — tap Allow (choose “Always Allow” if offered). On a Chromebook, if location never appears: Chrome OS keeps its switch in Settings → Privacy and security → Location access — choose Allowed. On a school-managed Chromebook it may be locked.
4. Back in the parent app, tap the location pin (📍) on that child's card in the Devices tab.
5. You'll see how long ago the device was seen and roughly how accurate it is. Safe zones, the day's trail on a real map, and arrival alerts all live on this screen too. Turning the toggle off again stops sharing and clears the stored position.

Lock app removal — and the honest step that actually stops deletion

In the Limits tab there is a 'Lock app removal' switch. Be clear about what it is: no app, on any platform, can make its own deletion impossible — but Safeinest can now put a real, visible step in the way on Android, and it records your wish and tells you what happens on both platforms.

On Android, switching 'Lock app removal' on makes a 'Removal lock' row appear in Safeinest Connect on your child's device. Your child reads a consent screen — it guards only this app's removal, sees nothing, and the Settings door stays open — and agrees; Android then refuses to uninstall Safeinest until that lock is deactivated in Settings first. If your child ever deactivates it, you get a 'Removal lock switched off' notification; if the app is then deleted, the phone going quiet tells you too. Switching 'Lock app removal' off releases the lock automatically — your child never has to undo anything.

On an iPhone, the reliable way to stop apps being deleted is a setting you, the parent, turn on inside the child's iOS Settings, protected by a Screen Time passcode. Only you should know the passcode. The steps below walk you through it.

1. On the child's iPhone, open Settings and tap Screen Time.
2. If Screen Time isn't on yet, turn it on. Tap 'Use Screen Time Passcode' and set a 4-digit passcode your child does not know (choose a different code from the phone's unlock passcode).
3. Tap 'Content & Privacy Restrictions' and switch it on.
4. Tap 'iTunes & App Store Purchases' (or 'App Store, Media & Purchases'), then 'Deleting Apps', and choose 'Don't Allow'.
5. Back in the parent app's Limits tab, you can also switch on 'Lock app removal' so your child sees the polite 'ask first' message — this part works for Android children too. It saves itself.
6. Keep the Screen Time passcode private. On an iPhone it's the passcode — not the app — that makes deletion and Screen Time changes stick.

Remove a child

If you no longer need a child in Safeinest — they've grown up, or you added one by mistake — you can remove them completely. This unlinks their device and deletes their rules, messages and location from the server. It can't be undone, so Safeinest asks you to confirm first.

1. In the parent app, open the Devices tab.
2. On that child's card, tap the remove-person icon.
3. Read the confirmation, then tap “Remove”. The child, their linked device, rules, messages and location are all deleted.
4. The child's device returns to the “Connect to your family” screen the next time it checks in.

Message safety alerts — turning them on, and their honest edges

Message safety is why Safeinest exists. On an Android child device, the latest Safeinest Connect can check arriving messages ON THE DEVICE for signs of self-harm or suicide, bullying, and sexual content. A match sends you an alert with the child's name, a category, how serious it looks (Urgent, Needs attention, or Logged), which app it arrived in, and a few redacted words — at most about 120 characters, trimmed on the child's device before anything is stored. The full message never leaves their phone, and there is no feed of their conversations. An Urgent alert also emails you, with the UK helplines attached.

1. Update both apps to the latest version — message safety ships with the seven-features build.
2. On the child's Android device, open Safeinest Connect's Home tab and find 'Message safety' in the setup list, then tap 'Turn on'.
3. Your child reads the consent screen — what is checked, what you will see, and what is never kept — and taps agree. 'Not now' is a real answer: nothing turns on, and the row stays visible so nothing runs in secret.
4. Android's 'Notification access' list opens; your child taps Safeinest Connect and switches it on. The row now reads Allowed.
5. In your parent app, alerts arrive in the Alerts tab (and as a notification; Urgent ones also by email). The 'Message safety' strip on the child's Devices card shows the switch state and carries the unread count — and if the switch is ever turned off on their device, that strip and a push tell you.

The honest edges, so you are never relying on more than is there: it reads arriving notifications, so a muted app, an app with notifications off, or a conversation your child only types INTO shows nothing. Detection understands English only for now. An iPhone child sends no message alerts at all — Apple gives no app access to another app's messages, and anyone claiming otherwise on an iPhone is misleading you. It is a smoke alarm, not a guarantee, and it is never a replacement for talking with your child.

Whatever device your child has, these UK numbers are worth keeping to hand: NHS 111, Childline on 0800 1111, and Samaritans on 116 123. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. Safeinest is a support tool, not a replacement for talking with your child.

Your child's experience

Safeinest Connect is written to be calm and respectful, not scary. Once paired, the home screen simply says the device is looked after by their family, and shows a small 'Protected' status. Your child doesn't set or change any rules — those all come from you. Nothing runs in secret: every switch that affects them is visible on their own screen, in their own language (all fourteen).

When apps are resting (bedtime, or a Block now): on an iPhone, tapping a resting app shows Apple's own block screen — no app can restyle it. On Android, your child sees Safeinest's own calm pause screen instead, explaining that apps are resting and will be back later — and Android always keeps the notification shade, volume and power menu reachable above it. On either platform, inside Safeinest Connect they can see what is on and ask you for extra time, everyday apps you haven't restricted keep working, and Safeinest Connect itself is never blocked, so they can always message or call you.

If you've turned on 'Lock app removal': on an iPhone your child sees a 'Locked by your family — please ask them first' card with an 'Ask to remove' button — tapping it sends you a request and removes nothing on its own. On Android they see the 'Removal lock' row and choose whether to agree to it, with the honest note that switching it off later is always possible and always seen. Either way, the Disconnect button is hidden while the lock is on; to allow a removal, switch 'Lock app removal' off in the Limits tab.

Privacy and how your data is handled

Safeinest is built around UK GDPR and the ICO's Children's Code (the Age Appropriate Design Code), with data minimisation as the starting point. It stores the child's age rather than a date of birth, and a nickname or alias rather than a legal name.

Sensitive information is kept to a minimum and encrypted at rest. Family messages are encrypted on our servers and never shown in a notification. Live location is off by default, per child, and by default only the latest position is kept — the 24-hour trail is a separate switch, off until you turn it on, and deleted when you turn it off. Voice calls go directly between the two phones and are never recorded. Safeinest cannot read anything in your child's other apps — and on Android its accessibility service, if your child agrees to it, reads only the name of the app that is open.

In short: you get what you need to keep your child safe, and no more. If you have a privacy question, contact us at hello@safeinest.com.

The rest of what's in the app

These are all in the apps today, and most parents find them after a week or two — so here they are up front.

School hours: in the Limits tab, choose the school days and hours and which kinds of apps pause during class. Like bedtime, the edges ring on the server's alarm and the kids app checks while open.

Focus and timers: tap Homework, Dinner or Sleep for a one-tap focus session, or set a timed block for 30 minutes, 1, 2 or 5 hours. Focus sessions start on their device within seconds; when the time is up the apps come back.

Extra time: your child can ask for more minutes and say why. A gold Approve / Not now banner appears on their card in your Devices tab, and approving lifts every limit for exactly the minutes they asked for — on their device within seconds.

Voice calls: tap the call button to ring your child inside Safeinest, and they can ring you. Both phones show a proper ringing screen. Audio goes directly between the two phones and is encrypted; we never record calls, and we keep no call history — so there is no list of who called whom.

Family SOS: your child has an SOS button that alerts every parent phone straight away and writes a permanent line into the family chat, so it isn't lost if a notification is missed. It calls your family, not the emergency services — for those, call 999. When the device's position is fresh, the alert carries a tappable map link. From version 1.2.0, an SOS also rings LOUDLY on an Android parent phone — through silent, Do Not Disturb and low volume. An iPhone shows it as a time-sensitive notification; Apple allows louder only with a special permission Safeinest has applied for.

Safe zones: on the location screen you can draw a circle (from 50 m to 5 km) around school, home or a grandparent's house — or add one by typing an address — and Safeinest tells you when your child arrives and when they leave. "Tell me if they don't arrive" adds a deadline: pick from, to and a time, and if they're late, your phone says so. No-go areas have their own card just below: tap "Add a no-go area", type the address, and you are told the moment your child enters it (and again when they leave); no-go circles draw red on the map, and a street is covered by placing one or two circles over it. All of these need live location switched on for that child.

Always-allowed apps: on the child's device, apps like Phone and Maps can be set to keep working through a block. That list is chosen on their device, so if it grows, Safeinest tells you. One iPhone quirk: if a whole category is paused there, iPhone pauses those apps too — Apple gives no way to make a hole in a category block.

What Safeinest tells you: protection switched off, message safety switched off, the removal lock switched off, fewer apps covered than before, more apps set to always-allowed, a device disconnected by your child, a device that asked to remove the app, and a device that has not been heard from for two days. These arrive as notifications (some also by email). All of them except the last need the kids app to have been opened, so a device that is off or has the app deleted shows up as the two-day quiet alert.

The Apple Watch: a parent with an iPhone can install Safeinest on their own watch (from the iPhone's Watch app) and block or unblock from the wrist. No app can manage a child's Apple Watch — only Apple's own Screen Time reaches one — and the card at the bottom of the Limits tab walks you through Apple's four steps so a blocked phone quiets the watch too.

The setup helper: the parent app's Settings tab has a built-in helper you can ask setup questions in plain words, in your own language. What you type there is sent to our AI helper service to be answered, so ask it about the app — not private family matters. It always shows the UK helplines alongside safety answers.

Screen time report (Android): with the 'Screen time report' switch on, the child's Devices card shows 'Screen time today' with their top apps — and tapping it opens the last 7 days, day by day, with a daily average. Minutes and app names only, and only from their Android devices — or from an iPhone whose Apple Account region is in the EU, on iOS 26.4 or newer, the one case where Apple allows it.

The Safeinest Browser (from 1.2.0): the kids app’s Browser card opens a simple browser with SafeSearch forced. On your side, the globe icon on the child’s card opens Browsing: the full history (blocked attempts marked red) and the blocked-websites list on one screen — add a domain and their browser refuses it with a calm page that says you blocked it. The browser tells your child, under its address bar, that you can see these pages; history deletes itself after 30 days. It sees only itself — pages opened inside other apps are invisible to every parental app — and to make it the only browser, block the Web category in Limits.

The line under the Limits cards (from 1.8.0) rests on the child's phone's own reports, never on hope. Green — "…has these limits ✓ — the phone confirmed at 20:31" — means the phone itself reported in. Amber means one of three things: the phone has not confirmed a bedtime or school-hours edge for five minutes, it has not been heard from for a day, or it says its own bedtime alarm is not set. In every amber case do the same thing: open Safeinest Connect on the child's phone once and look again — the server has already sent that phone a notice and you an alert. The child's Devices card also shows "Bedtime alarm armed on the phone" once the phone has reported it.

Two Android steps in the kids app's checklist that matter more than they look. "Keep Safeinest awake": some phones put apps to sleep to save battery, and a sleeping app cannot ring when the family calls or apply a rule; the step opens the battery setting — choose "All apps", find Safeinest Connect and set "Don't optimise" (on a Samsung, also Settings → Battery → Background usage limits → Never sleeping apps → add Safeinest Connect). "Ring on a locked phone": so a family call can pop up on the screen while the phone is locked, allow full-screen notifications for Safeinest Connect when the step asks.

Samsung notifications: if a Samsung phone shows nothing when the family calls or a rule lands, open Settings → Notifications → App notifications → Safeinest Connect and set the notification style to "Alerts", not "Silent" — Silent hides the ring and the pause notice. Then restart the phone once.

Picture warnings (iPhone): the child's Devices card has a "Picture warnings" box. It turns On when the iPhone's own Communication Safety check is switched on, which blurs a sensitive picture opened full-screen in the Safeinest Browser before your child sees it. Turn it on on the child's iPhone: Settings → Screen Time → Communication Safety → "Check for Sensitive Photos". A Family Sharing parent can do it from their own iPhone: Settings → Family → the child → Screen Time → Communication Safety. (On an adult Apple ID the switch is Privacy & Security → Sensitive Content Warning.) Needs iOS 17 or newer; the kids app reports the switch on its next check-in.

Troubleshooting

Most issues are quick to fix. Here are the common ones and what to do.

Pairing code expired or not working: codes are single use and last about 10 minutes. In the parent app's Devices tab, tap 'Pairing code' again to generate a fresh one, then scan or type the new code on the child's device. Make sure both devices have an internet connection.

Limits not applying: first check the child's card in your Devices tab — 'App categories set up' under 6 of 6 is the usual answer for a category block. On an iPhone also check 'Screen Time access' shows OK and 'Apps covered' isn't 0. On an Android child, a category block needs the 'App blocking' switch on in Safeinest Connect on their device — without it, only whole-device pauses work. Opening Safeinest Connect once always fetches and applies your latest rules. There is no Save button in the parent app.

Protection keeps getting switched off: on an iPhone, set a Screen Time passcode (see 'Lock app removal') so Screen Time can't be changed without it. On Android there is no passcode equivalent — Safeinest tells you when it happens, and that is a conversation rather than a setting.

Re-pairing a device (new phone, or a fresh start): on the child's device tap 'Disconnect this phone' in Safeinest Connect, then create a new pairing code in the parent app and pair again. If you have 'Lock app removal' switched on, that button is hidden on purpose — your child can only tap 'Ask to remove', which sends you a request to approve first. Switch the lock off in the Limits tab and the button reappears. You can also unlink the device yourself from the Devices tab, without touching their device at all.

Still stuck: the in-app setup helper (parent app → Settings) answers in your language, or email hello@safeinest.com with a short description and we'll help.