Questions parents ask.

Kinuvo helps you guide your child’s phone use. You use the Kinuvo app on your phone, and your child’s Android phone runs Kinuvo Kids. You set fair screen-time and app rules, keep harmful websites away, get notified when your child arrives at places you choose, and receive their SOS. Kinuvo Kids is visible to your child and never reads their messages.

How Kinuvo worksLink to this answer

Kinuvo is the app on your phone: you set rules, answer requests and see alerts, reports and location there. Kinuvo Kids runs on your child’s Android phone and applies your rules on the phone itself, even offline. The two phones connect through Kinuvo’s secure service, never directly.

How the two apps work togetherLink to this answer

The Kinuvo app for parents runs on Android. Kinuvo Kids, for your child’s phone, needs Android 7.0 or newer. There is no Kinuvo Kids for iPhone or iPad.

What you’ll needLink to this answer

In Kinuvo, tap Add Child to show a QR code and a pairing code (KIN-XXXX-XXXX), valid for 10 minutes. On your child’s phone, open Kinuvo Kids, scan the QR code or type the code, and add your child’s name, avatar and age. Your child then appears in your app. The two phones connect through Kinuvo’s secure service, never directly.

Setup, step by stepLink to this answer

A few minutes. Most of it happens on your child’s phone, where Kinuvo Kids explains each permission one at a time before Android asks for it.

Setup, step by stepLink to this answer

Your child can type the pairing code instead of scanning it. Codes last 10 minutes and can be used once; if one expires, tap Add Child again for a new one.

Setup, step by stepLink to this answer

No. Your child’s name, avatar and age are entered on their phone during pairing. You can edit them later from your app.

Setup, step by stepLink to this answer

Yes. Your family’s rules are kept on your child’s phone, so limits, blocked apps, schedules, Phone Lock and Web Protection keep working without internet and after a restart. Changes you make while it’s offline arrive when it reconnects.

How Kinuvo works offlineLink to this answer

Store links will appear on our Download page as soon as Kinuvo is available.

The Download pageLink to this answer

Apps pause with a calm screen until tomorrow. Phone calls, Settings and the home screen keep working, and your child can tap Ask for more time. You decide.

What stays availableLink to this answer

Yes. Use the same limit every day, a weekdays and weekend split, or a different limit for each day of the week.

More about the Daily LimitLink to this answer

Yes. You can add Bonus Time for today in one tap, or approve your child’s request with the amount you choose: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour or your own amount. Bonus Time never carries over to tomorrow.

More about Bonus TimeLink to this answer

Your child sees that it wasn’t approved and can ask again after 10 minutes. Only one request can be open at a time.

How requests workLink to this answer

Yes. Add them to Always Allowed, for example a reading or school app. They stop using Daily Limit time from that moment, but they still follow any App Limit, schedule, block or Phone Lock.

More about Always AllowedLink to this answer

Yes. Kinuvo Kids sends reminders at 15, 5 and 1 minute left, as long as notifications are allowed on your child’s phone.

More about remindersLink to this answer

Yes. Every child starts with a ready-made Night Screen Lock from 9 PM to 7 AM that you switch on with one tap, and you can create your own schedules for homework or dinner.

Bedtime schedulesLink to this answer

Kinuvo is designed so that changing the phone’s date, time or time zone doesn’t reset the Daily Limit or add time.

Designed to resist clock changesLink to this answer

The Daily Limit is a total for the whole phone. App Limits cap individual apps, for example one hour of a video app on school days. You can use both together.

More about App LimitsLink to this answer

Yes. App Limits cap individual apps on the days you choose, for example one hour of a video app on school days. When an app’s time is used up, only that app pauses until tomorrow. There’s no “ask for more” for a single app, but you can raise its limit at any time.

More about App LimitsLink to this answer

They stay on the phone but can’t be opened. Your child sees a calm screen that explains why, and can tap Request Access to ask you.

More about Block AppsLink to this answer

Yes, if you turn on Ask Me to Approve New Apps (new apps wait for your decision) or Auto Block New Apps (new apps are blocked and you’re told). You’re also notified when an app is uninstalled.

More about New App ApprovalLink to this answer

Yes. Tap Lock Device Now on your Home screen. It stays locked until you unlock it, and calls still work.

More about Phone LockLink to this answer

Not without you. Removing Kinuvo Kids or changing its protection needs your Parent PIN, and you’re alerted if Accessibility or Usage Access is switched off. A full factory reset of the phone would remove it, as with any app.

The Parent PIN and protectionLink to this answer

A 6-digit code that protects removing a child, disconnecting or replacing a child’s phone, and unlocking Kinuvo’s protection on your child’s phone for two minutes.

The Parent PIN and protectionLink to this answer

Nine categories you choose from: Adult Content (on from the start), Violence, Gambling, Dating, Drugs, Weapons, Social Media, Malware and Phishing, plus any website you add. You can also allow specific sites. Categories use curated lists of known sites, not the whole internet, so you can add anything they miss.

The nine categoriesLink to this answer

Yes. Add any website to your own Blocked or Allowed list. An allowed site stays reachable even if its category is blocked, but an active Internet Schedule still turns off the internet.

Your own site listLink to this answer

No filter can. Categories use curated lists of known sites, not the whole internet; Web Protection works on whole websites, not single pages, videos or searches; and apps that use their own private way of looking up websites may not be filtered. You can add any site it misses.

What Web Protection coversLink to this answer

Yes, with an Internet Schedule. It covers Wi-Fi and mobile data, and apps that don’t need the internet keep working. There’s no instant one-tap pause; create or switch on a schedule that covers now instead.

More about Internet ScheduleLink to this answer

No. Kinuvo keeps no browsing history. When a site is blocked, it records the site name, the reason and the time so you can see blocked attempts. Those records are kept for 30 days.

The blocked sites reportLink to this answer

No. Web Protection works on whole websites, not individual pages, videos or searches.

What Web Protection coversLink to this answer

Yes. Web Protection and Internet Schedule work on Wi-Fi and mobile data.

Where Web Protection worksLink to this answer

Kinuvo uses Android’s VPN slot for its Network Protection, and Android allows only one VPN at a time, so another VPN app will conflict with Web Protection and Internet Schedule.

Where Web Protection worksLink to this answer

Your Home screen shows their latest reported location and how long ago it was. For a fresher view, open Child Tracker: while it’s open, Kinuvo aims for a new location about every 15 seconds, though GPS, signal and the phone can slow it down.

Child TrackerLink to this answer

A map of every child in your family, opened from your Home screen or Rules. Each child has a card with Live now or Last known, their address, when it was last updated, and buttons for Directions and History. While it’s open, Kinuvo aims for a new location about every 15 seconds (a target, not a guarantee), for up to 30 minutes at a time, then you can tap Continue tracking.

Child TrackerLink to this answer

Child Tracker shows Live now while tracking is active and the latest location is fresh. While it’s open, Kinuvo aims for a new location about every 15 seconds; that’s a target, not a guarantee, and GPS, signal or the phone saving battery can delay updates. It isn’t a constant stream: everywhere else you see their latest reported location and how long ago it was.

What Live now meansLink to this answer

Every location shows its age. In Child Tracker, Live now means tracking is active and the latest location is fresh. On your Home screen and in history, a location from the last 15 minutes is marked Recent; older ones say Last known, with their age, like “2h ago”.

Latest locationLink to this answer

Usually their phone is offline, switched off or has location turned off, or Android is saving battery. While your child stays in one place, Kinuvo checks only now and then. Open Child Tracker for fresh updates; if it still says Last known, their phone isn’t sending a location at the moment.

When their phone is offlineLink to this answer

Child Tracker shows their last known location and how old it is; its updates aren’t saved for later, so it updates again once the phone reconnects. Meanwhile location history can wait on the phone for up to 7 days and upload when it’s back online, though some points may not arrive. Arrive and leave alerts can follow then too.

When their phone is offlineLink to this answer

Just leave the screen. Tracking stops when you go back, switch apps or lock your phone, and each session ends after 30 minutes unless you tap Continue tracking. Your child’s phone then goes back to its normal location updates.

Child TrackerLink to this answer

Yes. Trip History shows their recorded journeys on a map and timeline, with stops and an approximate path between them matched to your Saved Places, and you browse it by month, week or day. It shows up to the most recent 30 days; older trips become unavailable and are removed through automatic retention. Child Tracker updates aren’t added to Trip History.

Trip HistoryLink to this answer

Approximately. Each trip in Trip History shows its stops and a path between them on a full-screen map, built from the location points their phone reported, so it can have gaps. Open Directions takes you to any stop.

Stops and routesLink to this answer

Child Tracker shows where your child is now, while you have it open. Trip History shows the journeys they’ve made over up to the last 30 days, browsed by month, week or day. Saved Places send you an alert when they arrive at or leave a place you choose, so you don’t have to look. Child Tracker updates aren’t added to Trip History.

Location and safetyLink to this answer

Yes. Save School or Home as a place and turn on an arrive alert, a leave alert or both. You’ll get a notification such as “Arrived at School”, without opening the app.

Arrive and leave alertsLink to this answer

Places you save for each child, like Home or School, with a spot on the map and a radius from 50 metres to 5 kilometres. Each one can send an arrive alert, a leave alert or both, up to 100 active place alerts per child. In the app they’re under Rules › Geofence.

Saved PlacesLink to this answer

Yes. Kinuvo Kids explains location sharing during setup, before Android asks for permission, and its Dashboard always shows that location is shared. While their location is being updated, including when you have Child Tracker open, its notification says “Updating your recent location for your family.”

What your child is toldLink to this answer

Location set to “Allow all the time” on Android 10 and newer, with location services on, so location works when the app is closed. Approximate location is enough; precise location makes positions and place alerts more accurate.

What you needLink to this answer

Not with an alert: turning off location, notifications or Network Protection doesn’t notify you. Kinuvo Kids asks your child to switch it back on. You are alerted if Accessibility or Usage Access is switched off.

The alerts Kinuvo sendsLink to this answer

Normally Kinuvo checks location only now and then while your child is still, and more often while they’re travelling. Child Tracker can use more battery while it’s active, because it asks for location more often; it stops when you leave the screen.

Location and batteryLink to this answer

Your child taps SOS and a three-second countdown starts, which they can cancel. Then every phone you’re signed in on gets an urgent alert, with their location when it’s available. Tap I’m on my way and your child sees that help is coming. If their phone has no connection, the SOS keeps trying to send.

More about Emergency SOSLink to this answer

No. Kinuvo’s SOS reaches you, not emergency services. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

More about Emergency SOSLink to this answer

An SOS, your child arriving at or leaving a saved place, a new app waiting for approval or blocked automatically, a request for more time or for a blocked app, an app being uninstalled, and a key protection setting being switched off. There are no alerts for the Daily Limit running out, an app being blocked or a schedule starting.

The alerts Kinuvo sendsLink to this answer

There are four reports, covering up to the last 30 days: App Usage, Location, Installed Apps and Web Blocked Attempts. Alerts stay in your feed for 24 hours.

The four reportsLink to this answer

Not at the moment. Reports are available in the Kinuvo app.

The four reportsLink to this answer

No. Kinuvo Kids is a visible app that explains itself to your child. It doesn’t read messages, capture what your child types, record the screen or keep a history of the websites they visit. It records only what its features need, like app time, location for your saved places and the sites it blocked.

What Kinuvo never collectsLink to this answer

No. Kinuvo doesn’t read messages, chats or emails, capture what’s typed, or record or screenshot the screen.

What Kinuvo never collectsLink to this answer

Only what its features need: which apps your child uses and for how long, the apps installed on their phone, location, the websites that were blocked, and the phone’s status, such as battery, language and the Wi-Fi network it’s connected to. Our privacy page lists everything, and why.

Everything Kinuvo collectsLink to this answer

Each of the seven setup steps powers a feature: measuring app time, showing limit and block screens, location, reminders, staying reliable in the background, Web Protection, and making removal need your Parent PIN. Kinuvo Kids explains each one to your child in plain words before Android asks.

Every permission, and whyLink to this answer

Time used today, app usage for up to 30 days, installed apps, blocked-site attempts, where your child is now in Child Tracker, their latest location and 30 days of history, arrive and leave alerts, requests, SOS, and the phone’s status. Not messages, typing, the screen or browsing history.

What you see as a parentLink to this answer

Kinuvo Kids shows your child their Daily Limit and time left, their next schedule, how many App Limits and blocked apps apply, whether Web Protection is on, and that their location is shared. It also has an SOS tab and a way to ask for more time. Before each sensitive permission is switched on, it explains in plain words what it’s for.

What your child seesLink to this answer

No. Your child sees the rules that apply to them and the answers to their own requests. They can’t see your app, reports or other children, and they can’t change or pause rules.

What your child seesLink to this answer

Kinuvo is designed to be used openly. Your child can see their rules, gets reminders before time runs out, and can ask for more time or for a blocked app instead of arguing. Screens are calm and never punitive.

What your child seesLink to this answer

No ads, and no advertising software, in either app. The Kinuvo app for parents uses Google Firebase Analytics to help us improve the app; Kinuvo Kids, on your child’s phone, has no analytics.

Analytics and service improvementLink to this answer

Data travels over encrypted connections, passwords and PINs are stored only as one-way hashes, and sensitive details such as your child’s contact information are additionally encrypted.

How we protect informationLink to this answer

Alerts stay in your feed for 24 hours. Trip History, app usage and blocked-site records cover up to the most recent 30 days; older records are removed through automatic retention.

How long we keep informationLink to this answer

Your child is removed from your account straight away, and their phone is disconnected and released from Kinuvo’s protection. Everything else Kinuvo holds about them, including their profile, location history, Saved Places, app and usage information, rules and phone records, is then deleted in the background, with nothing more for you to do. Only a minimal record that the deletion happened is kept, without your child’s details.

Removing a child or a phoneLink to this answer

Yes. Each child has their own phone, rules, alerts and reports, and you switch between them at the top of the Home screen.

One family, every phoneLink to this answer

Yes. Sign in to the same Kinuvo account on each parent’s phone. Every signed-in phone gets alerts, requests and SOS. Separate co-parent accounts aren’t available.

One family, every phoneLink to this answer

Use Replace in the Kinuvo app and pair the new phone: every rule moves across, and the old phone is released. Replacing a phone needs your Parent PIN.

One family, every phoneLink to this answer

Open your child’s profile and choose Remove Child, or use the phone’s menu to Disconnect it. Both need your Parent PIN and release the phone from Kinuvo’s protection. Removing a child also deletes their information; disconnecting a phone keeps it with their profile.

What happens to their informationLink to this answer

You can create your account or sign in with your email address and a password, or with Google or Facebook. Signing in with Apple isn’t available.

Setup, step by stepLink to this answer

Kinuvo sends a verification email when you create your account, and you can start using the app straight away.

Setup, step by stepLink to this answer

Contact us and we’ll help. Resetting them inside the app isn’t available yet.

Contact KinuvoLink to this answer

You can delete your account in the Kinuvo app, or on the web at kinuvo.net/account-deletion without reinstalling the app. A deletion request has a 7-day grace period you can cancel within; you can also delete permanently now from the app.

Deleting your accountLink to this answer

Kinuvo is currently available in English.

What you needLink to this answer

Use our Contact page or email support@kinuvo.net. A real person reads every message.

Contact KinuvoLink to this answer