Safety & privacy

Built to protect, by design.

Privacy isn't a setting we bolt on — it's how the whole product works. Here's exactly what that means for your family.

Our promises

Safe by default, private by default

A child sitting calmly on the floor, talking on their Smalltalk phone

Approved people only

A closed contact list you control. Unknown numbers can't call your child or be called.

One child at a time

Inviting a grandparent or an aunt gives them their own Smalltalk number, not a way in. You add them to each child's contact list yourself, one child at a time — and you can undo it whenever you like.

No apps, no feed, no ads

There's no screen, no social media, and nothing to scroll. We never show ads — to you or your child.

No GPS, no location tracking

The phone has no GPS. It can't track your child's location — and we won't pretend it can.

Call history you can delete

Clear the activity log whenever you like. We keep call records for 90 days, then they're gone.

You hold the controls

Approve contacts, set quiet hours, and lock the phone from anywhere — all from your app.

Family records stored in Canada

Your family's records — the account, contacts, schedules and calling history — are stored in Canada. Some providers we rely on for telephone calls, payments and notifications operate in the United States. The app is built in Canada, and the company is Canadian. Where your data lives.

Priority Contacts

Trusted people like a parent or grandparent always get through — even during quiet hours or when the phone is locked.

Under the hood

Secure at the device level

The protections above aren't just policy — they're built into the phone itself, before it ever makes a call.

Verified every time it starts

Secure boot checks the phone's own software each time it powers on, so it can't be quietly tampered with.

Its own identity

Each phone carries a unique security certificate, so only your phone can join your family's network — nothing else can impersonate it.

Locked-down settings

The phone's settings are delivered over encrypted connections, and calls run only on our closed, invite-only network. Voice encryption is on our hardening roadmap.

Ready when you are

Pick your child's number and check it's free — you'll claim it when you choose a plan.

Check if their number's free
Every phone gets its own 7-digit number. Starts with 2–9.

This phone and app cannot call 911

Neither the phone nor app can call 911 or any other public emergency number. It runs on our own private network, which by design has no connection to the public phone network — that's part of what keeps strangers out, but it also means emergency services can't be reached from this phone.

Please keep another phone that can reach 911 available in your home, and make sure your child knows where it is and how to use it.

Questions about safety? We'd genuinely rather you ask than wonder — write to us and a human in Toronto will answer.