SA entrepreneur builds global app to protect kids online

A desire to protect her own child online led a South African entrepreneur, Rachelle Best, to develop an app that does just that – and now she’s marketing it to a worldwide audience.

The app, called “FYI play it safe” — also the name of the company, which Best heads as MD — helps parents protect their children from online harm and potential physical danger.

The app is not a parental control app, but rather a complementary layer of added security where parents are kept informed of potentially harmful situations.

The company claims it’s the first in the world that can monitor all your children’s apps.

Being confronted by the dangers associated with social media platforms and the open world of the Internet led Best to embark on a research study to get a clear view of the available solutions.

Speaking to TechCentral, she said: “I couldn’t find anything that was quite good enough. I also couldn’t find anything that would tell me what was really going on, and that would warn me if she (her daughter) was exposed to any harmful situations.”

FYI play it safe serves as an extra barrier of protection for children and scans the language in various apps to detect whether something harmful is happening. Using artificial intelligence, FYI play it safe scans every app, every online search, and every chat across your child’s devices, but only alerts parents or a caregiver if there is potentially harmful communications or activities.

Focus on South Africa

The app was launched globally for Android (it’s priced in US dollars), but it has a particular focus on ensuring safety of children in South Africa, where many children go missing.

The app recognises words used for various drugs that are uniquely South African and is kept up to date with the local slang used for such narcotics.

The app can be downloaded and installed in three steps: signing up on the website, downloading and installing the app, and following in-app prompts to bind the child’s device to the parent’s device. The app lets parents know of their child’s online activity such as time spent online and any alerts that are triggered, and from which app.

The app also can’t be uninstalled from the child’s device without their parent’s knowledge. Best said the app will soon be available for iPhones as well as Windows laptops and Chromebooks. Pricing starts at about R90/month for a single child (about R900 annually), and goes up to about R120/month for a family plan (about R1 200 annually).  — (c) 2022 NewsCentral Media