Parents Guide

🛡️ 1. Getting Started: The Dashboard

The Parent Dashboard is your command centre. Open KidShield on your phone and you'll see your child's real-time status at a glance.

• Child Switcher: Tap the child's name at the top (e.g. "Ruma") to switch between multiple children.
• Screen Time Card: Shows today's usage and this week's total. Tap Set daily limit to cap screen time.
• Lock / Unlock Device: Instantly pause or resume the child's device with one tap.
• Add Child: Tap + Add Child to generate a 6-digit pairing code for a new device.

♿ 2. Accessibility Service Required

KidShield's app-blocking and message monitoring works through Android's Accessibility Service. This must be enabled on the child's device for KidShield to function.

How to Enable (Child's Device)

1. Open Settings on the child's device.
2. Tap Accessibility (on Samsung: Settings → Accessibility → Installed apps).
3. Find KidShield in the list and tap it.
4. Toggle Use KidShield to ON and tap Allow on the confirmation popup.

What Accessibility Allows KidShield to Do

🌐 3. Web Filter & VPN Protection

KidShield uses a local VPN profile powered by Cloudflare for Families to block adult content, gambling, and malware at the DNS level — before pages even load. This is not a paid VPN subscription; it's a free, privacy-respecting DNS filter.

How to Enable / Disable

1. Open the Parent Dashboard and select your child.
2. Scroll to the Web Filter card.
3. Toggle the switch ON to activate Cloudflare DNS filtering on the child's device.
4. The child's device will show a key icon in the status bar — this is the VPN indicator.

What Gets Blocked

📱 4. Screen Time & Schedules

Set healthy daily limits and automatic routines that enforce themselves — no manual intervention needed.

Setting a Daily Limit

1. Open the Parent Dashboard and tap your child's name.
2. In the Screen Time card, tap Set daily limit.
3. Choose a time (e.g. 2 hours) and tap Save.
4. When your child reaches the limit, their device automatically locks with the "Shield Active" screen.

Schedules

Create named schedules that lock or restrict the device automatically:

⏳ 5. "Ask for More Time" Requests

When the device is locked, your child can tap a button to request extra screen time. You decide whether to approve or deny.

1. Child taps 15 min, 30 min, or 60 min on the Shield Active screen.
2. You receive a push notification with sound on your phone.
3. Tap the notification to open KidShield and review the request.
4. Tap Approve — the child's device unlocks immediately.
5. Tap Deny — the child sees a "Request denied" message.

🤖 6. AI Visual Shield & Message Monitor

AI Visual Shield

KidShield uses on-device AI to detect explicit images in real-time and blur them before your child sees them — across all apps including Instagram, TikTok, Chrome, and more.

• Always On: Works automatically with no setup required.
• Privacy First: All AI processing happens on the device. No images leave the phone.
• Cross-App: Works in browsers, social media, messaging apps, and any other app.

Message Monitor

KidShield scans visible text in messaging apps for signs of cyberbullying, predatory behaviour, and self-harm. When something harmful is detected, you receive an alert immediately.

📍 7. Safety, Location & SOS

Live Location Tracking

1. Open the Parent Dashboard and tap the Location tab.
2. Your child's current position appears on the map with a live marker.
3. Tap Location History to see where they've been today.

Geo-Fencing

Set safe zones (Home, School) and get notified the moment your child enters or leaves those areas.

SOS Emergency Button

If your child feels unsafe, they tap the red SOS button on their screen.

• You receive a high-priority siren notification immediately.
• Tap the notification to see their exact GPS location.
• KidShield provides a walking/driving route to reach them.

🔓 8. Child Auto-Unlock Safety New

KidShield includes a built-in safety mechanism to prevent your child from being permanently locked if your parent app becomes unavailable.

How It Works

While the KidShield parent app is open on your phone, it sends a heartbeat signal to your child's device every 5 minutes. This tells the child's device that a parent is actively monitoring.

Auto-Unlock Trigger

If no heartbeat is received for 24 hours while the device is locked, KidShield automatically unlocks the child's device. This protects against:

• Parent accidentally uninstalling the app while device is locked
• Parent's phone being lost or broken
• Account access issues preventing the parent from logging in

📡 9. What Happens When Your Child's Phone Goes Offline?

KidShield is built to keep protecting your child even when the internet goes down — on an aeroplane, in a dead zone, or if a child deliberately turns off Wi-Fi. Here's exactly what keeps working and what needs connectivity.

✅ Works with no internet at all

⏳ Queued — sent to you as soon as connectivity returns

🔓 The 24-hour auto-unlock safety rule

Your parent app sends a quiet heartbeat signal to your child's device every 5 minutes. If that signal goes missing for 24 hours while the device is locked, the child's device will automatically unlock.

This is a deliberate safety feature — it means if your phone is lost, stolen, or broken, your child will never be permanently locked out of their device.

🗑️ 10. Uninstalling KidShield

Uninstalling from the Child's Device

The Settings app is always accessible on the child's device, even during a lock. Here's how to uninstall:

1. Open Settings on the child's device (always accessible, even when locked).
2. Go to Settings → Biometrics and Security → Device Admin Apps.
   (Samsung path. On stock Android: Settings → Security → Device Admin Apps)
3. Tap KidShield and tap Deactivate. Confirm when prompted.
4. Go back to Settings → Apps → KidShield.
5. Tap Uninstall and confirm.

Uninstalling from the Parent's Device

The parent app has no Device Admin restrictions. Simply go to Settings → Apps → KidShield → Uninstall as normal.

🔧 10. Troubleshooting

Child's device stays locked after approving extra time

• Ensure both parent and child apps are on the latest version (v2.2.0+).
• Check your internet connection — approval is sent via the internet.
• Wait up to 10 seconds for the unlock to propagate.
• If still locked, tap Lock Device then Unlock Device in the parent app to manually override.

Notification has no sound

• Check your phone is not on Silent or Do Not Disturb mode.
• Go to Settings → Apps → KidShield → Notifications and ensure KidShield Alerts channel has sound enabled.
• If the channel shows "No sound," delete it and reinstall the app to recreate with correct settings.

App list is missing apps (Facebook, Temu, etc.)

• This was fixed in v2.2.0+51. Update KidShield on the child's device.
• After updating, open KidShield on the child's device — the app list syncs automatically on startup.

VPN / Web Filter not starting

• Open Settings → VPN on the child's device and check if KidShield VPN is listed.
• If it shows as disconnected, toggle the Web Filter OFF then ON again in the parent dashboard.
• Make sure the child granted VPN permission when prompted during setup.

Accessibility service keeps turning off

• Some battery optimisation settings on Samsung/Xiaomi automatically kill background services.
• Go to Settings → Battery → App Power Management and set KidShield to Unrestricted.
• Also go to Settings → Apps → KidShield → Battery and select Unrestricted.

Child appears connected but no data is updating

• Check that the child's device has internet access.
• Restart the KidShield app on the child's device.
• If the issue persists for 24 hours, try re-pairing the child's device using a new pairing code from the parent dashboard.