Privacy Policy

Last updated November 9, 2026.

Who we are

FamilyPhone is made by Harborline (“we”, “us”, “our”). You can reach us at harborlineapps@protonmail.com.

How FamilyPhone works

FamilyPhone is the phone’s phone app and its texting app. A parent, behind a Parent PIN, keeps a list of approved people. Calls and texts with those people work as usual. Calls and texts from anyone else are silenced and saved for a parent. All of this is decided on the phone. The app doesn’t ask for internet access, so there is no server, no account and nowhere for your family’s calls, texts or contacts to go.

Texts, calls and contacts

• Texts are kept in Android’s own text message store on the phone, where a texting app has to keep them. FamilyPhone keeps no copy of its own. It reads them to show conversations and writes them when a text arrives or is sent. A text travels over your mobile carrier’s network, as any text does.
• Calls are listed in Android’s own call log on the phone. FamilyPhone reads it to show Calls and Held for a parent, and removes an entry only when a parent deletes a held call.
• Contacts stay in Android’s own contacts on the phone. FamilyPhone reads a contact only when a parent picks one for the approved people, and then takes that one name and number.
• Held for a parent. Calls and texts from people who aren’t approved are in those same Android stores. FamilyPhone only keeps them out of the child’s lists and shows them to a parent behind the Parent PIN.
• Pictures and group texts (MMS) aren’t downloaded. FamilyPhone shows a notification that one arrived from an approved person, and nothing else.

Because these are Android’s own stores, Android decides which other apps on the phone may read them, and they stay on the phone if FamilyPhone is uninstalled.

What the app stores itself

All of the following is stored only on the phone, encrypted with a key held in the phone’s Android Keystore. None of it is sent to us or to anyone else.

• The approved people: each one’s name, number and whether they can call, text or both.
• Your Parent PIN, and an optional second parent PIN, each stored as a salted hash (PBKDF2), never as the PIN itself.
• Your one-time recovery code, stored only as a salted hash.
• Your optional backup question, and its answer as a salted hash.
• The count of wrong PIN tries, with any wait.
• Small choices: the light or dark theme, whether the first tour was shown, whether you were already asked about notifications, and whether the Parent PIN is shared with FamilyLock.

None of it is included in Android cloud backups or device-to-device transfers.

What we never collect

• No account, sign-in, email address or phone number.
• No texts, call history, contacts or approved people. They never leave the phone through FamilyPhone.
• No analytics, crash reporting or usage statistics.
• No advertising, and no ad or tracking software.
• No location, photos or browsing.
• We never sell or share data, and we never pass it to data brokers.

Other services the app uses

None. FamilyPhone has no internet permission and no third-party services. Feedback, Privacy and Terms in the app open our website in the phone’s browser; FamilyPhone itself sends nothing.

Why the app asks for the permissions it does

Android gives most of these together when you make FamilyPhone the phone app and the texting app in Setup.

• Phone app and call screening. So calls come to FamilyPhone’s own screens, and callers who aren’t approved can be turned away before the phone rings.
• Make phone calls. To place the calls your child makes from the keypad, Calls and Contacts.
• Read and change the call log. To show Calls and Held for a parent, and so a parent can delete a held call.
• Contacts. So a parent can pick an approved person from the phone’s contacts instead of typing the number.
• Texting app; read, send and receive texts (SMS). To show conversations, send your child’s texts and receive new ones. Only the phone’s texting app is handed incoming texts.
• Receive MMS. Only to tell you that a picture or group text arrived. FamilyPhone can’t show them yet and doesn’t download them.
• Notifications. For a ringing call, a missed call and a new text from an approved person. On Android 13 and newer, Android asks you.
• Full-screen notification. So a ringing call can show over the lock screen.
• Keep the phone awake. Only during a call, so the screen can go dark while the phone is against your ear.
• Seeing other Harborline apps. FamilyPhone checks whether the other Harborline apps are installed, by name. It can’t see the list of other apps on the phone.

FamilyPhone does not ask for internet access, location, the camera, or your photos and files.

Working with other Harborline apps on the same phone

FamilyPhone is complete on its own. If other Harborline apps are on the same phone, two things can happen, both on the phone, directly between the apps. Nothing is sent over the internet. Each app checks that the other is really a Harborline app, by its package name and signing certificate, and answers no other app.

• One Parent PIN, if you choose. With FamilyLock on the phone, Setup offers “Use your FamilyLock PIN” and “Make a separate PIN” as equal choices. If you share it, the two apps hand each other one-way codes (salted hashes) of the parent PINs, the recovery code and the backup answer, along with the backup question’s text. Never the PIN itself.
• The same theme. With “Same as my other Harborline apps” on, the apps tell each other whether you last chose Light, Dark or Match the phone, and when.

Deleting your data

A parent can delete held calls and texts in Held for a parent, and remove approved people in Settings. Uninstalling FamilyPhone, or clearing its storage in Android’s settings, deletes everything the app stores itself. Texts and the call log are Android’s and stay on the phone for whichever phone and texting app you use next. We hold no copy of anything, so there is nothing to request from us.

Children

FamilyPhone is made for a child’s phone and is set up by a parent. We don’t collect personal information from anyone, children included, because the app has no way to send it.

Security

What FamilyPhone stores is encrypted with a key protected by the Android Keystore, and the parent screens are behind the Parent PIN: after 3 wrong tries there is a wait that grows from 1 to 60 minutes. If you find a security problem, please email us.

This website

This site is hosted by Netlify. Like any web host, Netlify’s servers see the ordinary technical details of a visit, such as your IP address, when they deliver a page. We don’t use analytics, tracking or advertising on this site. The light or dark theme you pick is remembered only in your own browser. Fonts and images are served from this site, so your browser doesn’t contact Google Fonts or any other third party.

The report form. If you send us a bug report or an idea through the form on the home page, the details you enter (your email address, your message, and any phone details you choose to give) are received and stored by Netlify’s form service and delivered to us by email. We use them only to understand the problem and reply to you. We don’t share them with anyone else. Email us if you would like a submission deleted.

Google Play

FamilyPhone isn’t on Google Play yet. When it is, Google Play will handle installation, and any purchase, under its own privacy policy.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Because the app has no account and no way to contact you, this page is the place to check.

Contact

Questions about this policy: harborlineapps@protonmail.com.