Safety built into the design, not left to settings.
Most apps are open by default and ask families to lock them down. OurDot starts closed, and every rule is built into the system rather than left to a settings page.
Who can reach a child
- Only people a guardian invited. No search, no public profiles, no friend requests.
- Trusted adults never message a child one-on-one. Group chats that include a kid always include a guardian.
- A child is never on a call alone with an adult who isn't their guardian.
- Guardians can remove anyone from the family instantly.
When something goes wrong
- Every post has a ••• menu, and every message can be pressed and held, to report or block.
- Urgent reports are hidden right away while our team reviews them.
- The guardian line is always open, so a child can reach a guardian at any hour.
- We report child sexual exploitation to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as the law requires.
Healthy habits, built in
- School-time and sleep-time locks that run on our servers, not on the phone.
- Daily game time each guardian sets per child. Lessons never count against it.
- A gentle "Pause for a sec?" before unkind words are sent.
- No endless scroll, no autoplay, no streaks and no public like counts.
Your information
- No ads, no tracking tools, never sold.
- Photos and voice clips sit in private storage; photo location data is removed before upload.
- Sign in with a one-time email code, so there's no password to steal.
- A child's journal is private to the child, even from guardians. Why →
Why we don't treat "family" as automatically safe
In US national data, most children who were harmed knew the person who harmed them. That's why OurDot applies the same open rules to every adult, related or not, instead of trusting anyone by label. No study has tested this exact design, and no app replaces an involved guardian. Read the research →
Tested every time we change the app
Every table in our database starts locked. A rule opens exactly what one person may see. Automated tests check that outsiders see nothing, hearts stay private, journals stay private, locks hold, and the guardian line stays open, every time we change the app.
Common questions
Is OurDot safe for kids under 13?
OurDot was designed with kids under 13 in mind: only guardian-invited people can reach them, adults can’t message them one-on-one, and guardians set school, sleep and game-time limits. No app makes a child perfectly safe, so we also built lessons that teach kids what to do when something feels wrong.
Can a child turn off school or sleep mode?
No. The locks are enforced on OurDot’s servers, so changing a phone setting or the clock doesn’t skip them. Only a guardian can change the schedule.
What happens when someone is reported?
The report goes to the OurDot review team. Urgent reports are hidden right away while we look. Guardians can also block or remove anyone at any time.