How the child app works
What the Android app reads, how it decides something is a risk, what it sends to you and how often.
The child app watches for risk signals in a few messaging apps, analyses them on the child's phone, and sends you a short summary only when something looks risky.
From screen to alert
Read
The app uses Android's Accessibility Service to read the text visible on screen in the supported apps, and only in those apps. For each app it keeps the most recent lines of visible text (up to 10) in memory.
Analyse on the device
Every so often it analyses that text locally. Nothing is sent to a server for analysis. It looks for these categories: grooming, bullying, sexual content, isolation, personal information, moving the conversation to another platform, and threats.
Decide
The result is a risk level — low, medium or high. Low results are discarded on the phone. Only medium and high create an alert.
Send a summary
The app sends the alert to the SafeCircle backend, and it appears in your dashboard.
What is sent
An alert contains:
- The risk level (medium or high)
- The detected categories
- A confidence score
- A short reason, such as which categories were detected
- The name of the app where it was detected (for example
com.whatsapp)
It does not contain the message text, contact names or screenshots, and the conversation is not stored by the app.
How often
To avoid flooding you, the app analyses each monitored app at most once every 5 minutes. Alerts are created from what is on screen at that moment.
The app doesn't queue alerts. If the phone has no connection when an alert would be sent, that alert isn't resent later.
Basic mode and the AI model
The app has two ways to detect risks.
| Mode | How it works | Download | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic (keyword scan) | Looks for risk-related phrases in the visible text | None | Lower — expect missed risks and false alarms |
| Horizon Mobile INT4 | On-device AI model, 4-bit | About 600 MB (3 GB+ RAM recommended) | Higher |
| Horizon Mobile INT8 | On-device AI model, 8-bit | About 1.2 GB (6 GB+ RAM recommended) | Highest |
A new installation starts in Basic mode, and the status screen shows Basic protection mode — AI model not installed — using keyword scanning. The AI models are optional and run entirely on the device.
Switch to an AI model
Open the tier setting
In the child app, open Settings and tap AI Model tier under Advanced.
Pick a model
In Change AI Model, choose a tier. The one that suits the phone's memory and storage is marked Recommended. Tap Apply.
Accept the model licence
Before the download, a Model License Agreement sheet shows the SafeCircle Research License (SRL-1.0). Tick the box and tap Accept & Continue. If you tap Decline, the app stays in Basic mode.
Wait for the download
Keep the phone on a good connection. The download continues in the background and you can leave the screen. When it finishes, Settings › AI Model shows Active.
Choosing a tier deletes the model file currently on the phone and downloads the new one. To go back, pick Basic (keyword scan) and confirm Switch to Basic. The app warns that detection accuracy is significantly reduced.
See Updates for how model updates arrive, and How the AI works for more on the technology.
Limits
- Only the supported apps are monitored.
- Detection isn't perfect. Use alerts as a prompt to talk to your child, not as proof.
- Protection stops while the Accessibility Service is off. The status shows PERMISSION MISSING until it is enabled again.
- Android 11 or later is required.
More in Known limitations.