SAFETY & SCREEN TIME
Screen Time That Works With You, Not Against You
Every design decision in Todpoles is made with one question in mind: would a responsible parent be comfortable with this? No ads. No dark patterns. No features that try to maximise how long your child stays on screen.
5 Things We Don’t Do
Most apps use at least one of these. Todpoles uses none.
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No advertisements
There are zero ads in any part of the app your child sees. No banner ads. No video ads. No sponsored characters. Every screen your child encounters is a learning or play screen.
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No auto-play or endless loops
Games don’t queue up automatically. There are no “just one more” prompts. When a session ends, it ends. Your child is not nudged to keep playing — the decision to continue is yours.
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No scores or competitive pressure
No points, no stars, no leaderboards. Toddlers don’t benefit from competition — they benefit from confidence. Todpoles measures nothing and compares your child to no one.
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No external links from the child’s view
Children cannot navigate outside the app. There are no links, no social sharing, no “visit our website” prompts on any child-facing screen. The app is a closed, safe environment.
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No upsells to children
Subscription options and purchase flows are only accessible from the Parent Zone — a section of the app that children do not navigate to. A child cannot accidentally or intentionally trigger a purchase.
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No data collected from children
Todpoles does not collect personal data from children. The app does not ask for a child’s name, age, photo, or location. Analytics are limited to app performance and are never tied to individual child profiles.
Our Approach to Screen Time
We follow the principle that the best screen time is active, intentional, and bounded.
Active, not passive
Your child is always doing something — choosing a card, tracing a letter, holding up an answer. The screen responds to their actions. They are never just watching.
Short by design
Every game is built for 5 minutes. This aligns with recommended screen time guidelines for young children and leaves them wanting more — rather than making them feel overstimulated or difficult to peel away.
Parent in control
The app is handed from parent to child. When you want to stop, you stop. There is no separate child profile that runs independently. Your phone, your rules — and the app is built to support that.
Built with Safety in Mind
Todpoles contains no advertisements, no external links from child-facing screens, and no social features of any kind.
The app does not encourage prolonged use. It avoids fast flashing animations, sudden loud sounds, and reward loops specifically designed to make it hard to stop — design choices that are common in many children’s apps but that we consider harmful for young minds.
All learning experiences are calm, predictable, and age-appropriate for children aged 2–7. Toto (the bear character) always responds warmly — there are no scary sounds, no negative feedback, and no content that could cause distress.
The Bear Scan camera feature is used only to recognise flash cards. It does not capture or store photos or video. The recognition is done entirely on your device and nothing is sent to any server.
Learning You Can Feel Confident About
Thoughtfully designed for kids. Reassuringly simple for parents.