Calls and texts, with the people you approve.
FamilyPhone is the phone, texting and contacts app for a child’s phone. A parent decides who the child can call and text. No AI, no account, and it can’t go online.
How it works
No email, no phone number to give us, no password. FamilyPhone works on its own; no other app is needed.
1. Make it the phone app
In Setup, a parent sets a Parent PIN and makes FamilyPhone the phone’s phone app and its texting app.
2. Choose the people
Behind the Parent PIN, add the people your child can reach: a name, a number, and whether they can call and text, only call or only text. Type them in or pick them from the phone’s contacts.
3. Everyone else waits for you
A call from anyone else is turned away before it rings, and their texts are stored without a sound or a notification. Held for a parent lists both.
What FamilyPhone does
One app for calls, texts and contacts, with a list of people that only a parent can change.
Approved people
Each person has a name, a number and what they can do: calls and texts, calls only or texts only. Only a parent, with the Parent PIN, can change the list.
Held for a parent
Calls and texts from anyone not on the list are silenced and saved. A parent can read them, add the person to the approved people, or delete them.
Calls out are checked too
A call to anyone off the list is stopped, and the keypad says “Not on your list”.
Emergency numbers always work
The numbers Android lists as emergency numbers, plus 911, 112, 999 and 000 always, pass every rule, both ways, for calls and for texts.
Calls
Incoming and in-call screens with Answer, Decline, Reply with a text, Mute, Keypad, Speaker and End call. A call log, a keypad, and a notification for a missed call.
Texts
Conversations with plain text messages, unread marks, and notifications for approved people. A text that didn’t go says “Not sent · Try again”.
Contacts
The approved people, each with Call and Text.
Parent PIN
With a recovery code, a backup question and an optional second parent PIN. With FamilyLock on the phone, Setup offers to use your FamilyLock PIN or to make a separate one.
What FamilyPhone can’t do yet
It’s early, and we would rather you hear it from us.
Pictures and group texts
No pictures or group texts (MMS) yet. When an approved person sends one, a notification says FamilyPhone can’t show it yet, and the message isn’t downloaded. There’s no RCS either; Google keeps that to its own app.
Its own emergency call screen
Emergency calls show Android’s own emergency call screen, not FamilyPhone’s, because Android hands those calls to its own phone system. They are never blocked.
Stop another app’s call before it starts
Other apps can still try to place a call. FamilyPhone ends a call to someone off the list as soon as it appears, but the call starts for a moment.
More than one call
One call at a time: no call waiting and no conference calls. There’s no voicemail screen. On a phone with two SIMs and no default SIM, the first SIM is used.
Rules by time of day
There’s no blocking by time of day and there are no other rules per person yet.
Remove Google’s apps
Google’s Phone, Messages and Contacts stay installed. To stop them being used, block them with an app blocker such as FamilyLock or Google Family Link.
Back up
There’s no backup. The approved people and the PIN live only on this phone. Texts and calls are in Android’s own stores.
iPhone
FamilyPhone is Android only.
Coming to Google Play
FamilyPhone isn’t on Google Play yet. When it’s ready to install, this page will say how to get it.
Common questions
Do emergency calls still work?
Yes. Emergency numbers are never blocked, for calls or texts, whoever is on the list. An emergency call shows Android’s own emergency call screen instead of FamilyPhone’s.
What happens when someone who isn’t approved calls or texts?
The call is turned away before it rings, and the text is stored without a sound or a notification. Both wait under Held for a parent, behind the Parent PIN, where you can read them, add the person or delete them.
Do I need another Harborline app?
No. FamilyPhone is complete on its own and works with any home screen. If FamilyLock is on the phone, you can choose to use its PIN as the Parent PIN.
Can my child still open Google’s Phone or Messages app?
Those apps stay installed. To stop them being used, block them with an app blocker such as FamilyLock or Google Family Link.
Report a bug or send an idea
This goes straight to the person who builds FamilyPhone, and we reply by email. The app itself can’t go online, so it sends nothing; this form is part of our website.