The Safeinest setup guide for parents.

What Safeinest is — and the honest limits on iPhone

Safeinest is a UK family-safety app that helps you look after your child's iPhone. There are two apps: Safeinest (the parent app, on your phone) and Safeinest Kids (on your child's phone). You pair the two once, then you set all the rules from the parent app. Your child's phone quietly applies them.

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 the apps you cover, set a timed block or a focus session for homework or dinner, approve extra time when your child asks for it, message and call your child, turn on live location and draw safe zones, and record that you don't want the app removed. The day-to-day rules are all set by you. There is one quick setup that has to happen on the child's phone, once — Screen Time permission 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. On iPhone, Apple decides what any app is allowed to do, so there are real limits we cannot get around:

No app can read your child's messages on iPhone (iMessage, WhatsApp and the rest). Apple does not allow it. Message monitoring and safety alerts are a future feature for Android phones, not something iPhone can do today.

No app can stop itself from being deleted on iPhone. Safeinest records your wish and shows your child a 'please ask first' message, but the thing that actually prevents deletion is a setting you turn on in iOS Settings (covered later in this guide).

Enforcement is cooperative, not absolute. Safeinest works through Apple Screen Time. Screen Time can be switched off in the phone's Settings, so Safeinest enforces the rules and reports back — it cannot force them to stay on. A Screen Time passcode is what makes the rules stick. If your child does switch it off, or covers fewer apps than before, Safeinest tells you.

Safeinest does not run a background timer yet — iPhone offers a way to do it and we have not built it. Block now, focus sessions and approved extra time reach a closed phone within seconds. Time-based rules — bedtime, school hours and timed blocks — are checked by the child's phone itself, so they start and finish the next time it checks in rather than on the dot. If the Safeinest Kids app has not been opened, a bedtime may not begin until it is, and a block may run a little past its end time. Once a rest is applied it stays applied, through app-switching, force-quit and a restart, because iOS holds it rather than the app.

No app can show how long each app was used. Apple keeps those figures on the child's own device, so no parental-control app can put "Games: 1h 40m" on your phone. Safeinest never sees which apps your child uses.

Get both apps and create your parent account

Safeinest is currently in TestFlight beta, so you install it through Apple's TestFlight app using the invite link we send you. You need Safeinest on your own phone and Safeinest Kids on your child's phone.

On your phone, create your parent account. You can use an email address and password, or Sign in with Apple (the quicker, private option on iPhone). Your password must be at least 8 characters.

1. On your iPhone, install Apple's free TestFlight app if you don't have it.
2. Open the Safeinest TestFlight invite link and tap Install to get the Safeinest (parent) app.
3. On your child's iPhone, use the Safeinest Kids invite link the same way to install Safeinest Kids.
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 the Apple button to Sign in with Apple.
6. Next time you open the app you can just Sign in with the same details.

Add your child and pair their phone

Pairing links your child's phone 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 phone, either by scanning the QR code or typing the code.

You do this in the Devices tab of the parent app. Each linked phone then shows its own status there (for example Setup, Protected, or Resting), and when it was last seen.

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 a few minutes.
4. On your child's phone, open Safeinest Kids 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 phone and type the code, then tap Connect.
6. When it says 'Connected to your family', the phone is paired. Back in the parent app, pull down to refresh the Devices tab and you'll see the new phone listed.

Turn on Screen Time access on the child's phone

For the app limits and bedtime to work, the child's phone must give Safeinest Kids permission to manage apps through Apple Screen Time (Family Controls). This is a one-time approval on the child's phone, done right after pairing.

On the child's phone, the Safeinest Kids home screen has a short 'Turn on protection' setup list. Work through it once.

1. On the child's phone in Safeinest Kids, find 'Screen Time access' and tap 'Turn on'.
2. Approve Apple's Screen Time request when it appears. The status should change to 'Allowed'.
3. Tap 'Choose' next to 'Apps covered' and pick the apps or categories Safeinest should manage, then confirm.
4. Check the status now reads Protected. Your rules from the parent app will apply to the covered apps.
5. Remember: this permission can be switched off again in the phone's Settings. To keep it firmly on, set a Screen Time passcode (see the 'Lock app removal' section).

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

When you block a category like Games or Video from the parent app, the child's phone needs to know which of its apps count as “Games” or “Video”. Apple keeps that a secret from every app, so you tell Safeinest once, on the child's phone. This is a quick, one-time setup — after it, your category blocks from the parent app just work.

Important to know: Apple's chooser always shows the full list of apps and categories, and it cannot be filtered — that's how iPhone works, no app can change it. Safeinest shows you a reminder first, then you tick only the row that matches.

1. On the child's phone in Safeinest Kids, open the Home tab and find the “App categories” card under Setup.
2. Tap “Choose” next to a kind — for example Games. Read the short reminder, then tap “Open picker”.
3. In Apple's chooser, tick only the “Games” row (under Categories), or the individual game apps, then tap Done.
4. Repeat for any other kinds you plan to block from the parent app — Video, Social media, Messaging, and so on. You only need to set up the kinds you'll actually use.
5. Each kind then shows how many apps it covers. Now, whenever you block that category in the parent app, those apps pause on the child's phone.

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 phone can do, and it applies them — you never have to touch the child's phone 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 you've done the App categories setup on the child's phone — see the section above.)
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 the apps you cover straight away — handy for dinner, homework, or a time-out. 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. That's it — nothing to save. Block now, focus and approved extra time normally reach the child's phone within seconds, even with the Kids app closed. If their phone is off, offline or that app was force-quit, iPhone holds the message and it lands the moment the phone is back in touch.
8. Honest note: time-based rules — bedtime, school hours and timed blocks — are checked by the child's phone itself, so they start and finish at its next check-in rather than on the dot. If the Safeinest Kids app has not been opened, a bedtime may not begin until it is, and a block may run past its end time. Safeinest does not run a background timer yet — that is our gap, not Apple’s — so we tell you rather than pretend. A Screen Time passcode, plus a habit of opening the Kids app 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 Kids 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 phone.
3. On the child's phone, they open the “Family” tab in Safeinest Kids 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 phone is, straight from the parent app — no separate Find My needed. It is off by default (a Children's Code high-privacy default), and you switch it on per child. The child's phone asks permission once; “Always Allow” gives the best results.

Only the latest position is kept, encrypted — Safeinest does not store a history of everywhere they've been. Honest limits, as always: your child can turn location off in their phone's Settings, and iOS occasionally reminds them the app is using location. If they turn it off, updates simply stop, and 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 phone, the next time Safeinest Kids runs it asks to allow location — tap Allow (choose “Always Allow” if offered).
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 phone was seen and roughly how accurate it is, with an “Open in Maps” button. 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. Turning it on records your wish that the app isn't removed and shows your child a 'please ask first' message on their phone. Be clear about what this is: on iPhone, no app can truly prevent its own deletion. This switch is a soft signal, not a hard lock.

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. This works best if the child's phone is in your Apple Family with you as the organiser. Only you should know the passcode.

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. It saves itself.
6. Keep the Screen Time passcode private. 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 phone 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 phone, rules, messages and location are all deleted.
4. The child's phone returns to the “Connect to your family” screen the next time it checks in.

Understanding safety alerts (redacted previews)

Safeinest does not send message-based safety alerts on iPhone, and it cannot: Apple gives no app access to another app's messages. There is no Alerts screen in the parent app on iPhone, and nothing in the app offers one. We would rather you knew that before you install than discover it later.

If we bring this to Android, here is how it would work. You would see only a short, redacted preview — never the full message. The excerpt would be trimmed on the child's device before it was stored, and the full message would never leave their phone. An alert would show the child, a category (such as Self-harm or suicide, Bullying or harassment, Sexual content, or Other), a priority (Urgent, Needs attention, or Logged), and when it happened.

Whatever phone 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 Kids is written to be calm and respectful, not scary. Once paired, the home screen simply says the phone 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.

When apps are resting (bedtime, or a Block now), tapping one of those apps shows Apple's own block screen instead of the app opening — iPhone does not let any app restyle that screen. Inside Safeinest Kids, your child sees a calm explanation that the apps are resting and will be back later, and can ask you for extra time. Everyday apps you haven't restricted keep working as normal, and Safeinest Kids itself is never blocked, so they can always message or call you.

If you've turned on 'Lock app removal', 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; it does not remove anything on its own. In your parent app's Devices tab, that child's phone will show 'Asked to remove the app'. To allow it, 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 only the latest position is kept — never a history. Voice calls go directly between the two phones and are never recorded. Safeinest cannot read anything in your child's other apps.

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, this is checked by the child's phone, so it takes hold at its next check-in.

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 phone within seconds; when the time is up the apps come back as soon as it checks in again.

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 phone 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.

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, and Safeinest tells you when your child arrives or leaves. This needs live location switched on for that child.

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

What Safeinest tells you: Screen Time switched off, fewer apps covered than before, more apps set to always-allowed, a phone disconnected by your child, a phone that asked to remove the app, and a phone 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 phone that is off or has the app deleted shows up as the two-day quiet alert.

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 only a few 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 phone. Make sure both phones have an internet connection.

Limits not applying on the child's phone: check three things on the child's phone in Safeinest Kids — Screen Time access shows 'Allowed', at least one app is chosen under 'Apps covered', and the phone was 'Seen' recently in your Devices tab. Opening or refreshing Safeinest Kids prompts it to fetch and apply your latest rules. There is no Save button to tap in the parent app — every switch saves itself as you move it. And check the App categories setup on the child's phone: a category with nothing ticked blocks nothing.

Screen Time keeps getting turned off: this is the cooperative limit — set a Screen Time passcode on the child's phone (see 'Lock app removal') so it can't be changed without your passcode.

Re-pairing a phone (new phone, or a fresh start): on the child's phone tap 'Disconnect this phone' in Safeinest Kids, 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 phone yourself from the Devices tab, without touching their phone at all.

Still stuck: email hello@safeinest.com with a short description and we'll help.