How it actually works
Two apps. One family code. You share videos, your kid watches them. That's basically it — but here's the longer version in case you want to know what's happening under the hood.
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Install the parent app on your phone, sign up
Email and password — the boring kind of signup. Add a nickname for your kid (no email needed for them) and an age range. The app spits out a 6-digit family code, the only secret in the system.
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Install the kid app on your kid's device, type in the family code
The kid app is a separate download — on purpose. There's no settings page they can change, no way to switch families, no "log out" to wander off into. They tap their name on the screen and they're in.
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Share videos to SafeFeed from anywhere
YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. X. Reddit. Or a video already on your phone. Hit the share button, pick SafeFeed, choose which kid you're sending it to. The video shows up on their device within a few seconds.
What your kid sees
A scrolling list of cards. One per video. Each card shows the thumbnail, the title, who sent it. They tap, it plays. When it ends, it ends — no autoplay, no "you might also like," no comments section to fall into. They tap back to the feed and pick something else, or they put the device down. Both are fine.
Videos download to the device, so they play offline once they're there. Most kids never see a buffering spinner. When everyone the video was sent to has confirmed they downloaded it, we delete the file from our server. We're not in the business of warehousing your home videos.
What you see
A History tab in the parent app — every video you've sent, who got it, who watched it, how fast. When your kid opens a video you sent, you get a notification: "Lily just watched the video you sent." That moment is, honestly, the whole reason I built this. It's the loop that makes you want to share another one.
There's also a Settings tab for the boring stuff — billing, adding more kids, deleting your account if you decide to leave. Nothing fancy.
What's under the hood, briefly
Accounts and metadata live in Firebase. Videos go through a Python backend that uses yt-dlp to grab them from the source platform, then to Firebase Storage just long enough to deliver them, then to your kid's device, then deleted. The kid app collects no advertising IDs, runs no third-party analytics, and shows no ads. We use Firebase Analytics for product metrics but it's configured for child-app strictness — anonymous categorical events only, no user IDs, ever.
I chose a separate kid app because I didn't want a single binary on the device that could pivot from "the parent's controls" to "the kid's content" with a button tap. Your kid never has access to your password, your billing, or anybody else's family. The two apps are walls, not doors.
What it doesn't do (yet)
SafeFeed isn't trying to be a parental control suite. It doesn't block other apps, limit screen time, monitor messages, filter websites, or track location. If you want those things — and you probably should want some of them — use Qustodio, Bark, Circle, Screen Time, or Family Link alongside SafeFeed. They handle that. SafeFeed handles videos.
The kid app is also receive-only right now. Your kid can't send videos back, can't message you, can't pick from a menu of stuff to ask for. That's all on the post-launch list but isn't here yet.