The bind
Most family location apps are a map you can't stop checking.
The sharing is permanent, precise and one-way: from your child to you, whether or not anyone asked them. It teaches children that being watched is simply how life goes — and it doesn't settle parents either. A pin that's always there is a pin you check, and every check makes the next one harder to resist.
The worry it was meant to cure is the thing it feeds. More precision, more often, and you end up more anxious, not less.
Kindependence is built to need itself less over time.
How Kindependence works
Four promises, built into the app.
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They choose how they're seen.
Your child picks how much of their position the family gets. A rough position shows as an area on the map, never a fake pin standing in for a place nobody shared.
TownNeighbourhoodStreetPrecise
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They hear first.
If they leave a safe area, their phone warns them privately, with a grace period, before anyone else is told. It's worded as a heads-up, never as an accusation.
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Trust runs both ways.
Ask for their exact location and they'll see that you asked. "Who can see what about me?" is answered in plain view, on their own phone.
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Freedom that grows.
After a quiet month, the app offers you a step toward more freedom, with a clear before-and-after. No points. No streaks.
CloseGrowingTrusted
Kindependence In development
There for the landing.
Out of the way the rest of the time.
The landing, not the hover.
Say Sam leaves school earlier than usual. A hovering app tells you at once, and Sam finds out afterwards, if ever. Kindependence tells Sam first.
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Sam gets a private heads-up. Nobody else sees it, and the clock is visible to them.
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Sam can answer in one tap, before the grace period runs out.
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You hear what Sam said, not just that a line was crossed.
A moment of "I'm fine, going to Jo's" in place of twenty minutes of worry. That's the whole idea.
Sam's phone · only Sam sees this
Heads up, Sam
You've left the area around school earlier than usual. Your family will be told in 10 minutes — unless you tell them first.
Tell them I'm fineMum's phone
Kindependence
Sam left school · 15:12
Sam saw this first and says: I'm fine, going to Jo's.
Expected arrivals
"School by 08:45." A reminder shortly before, a note to the family only if the grace period passes, and a closing notice when they arrive.
Ask to go out
A short form from the child: where, who with, how long. Guardians set a default of Allow, Deny or Ask me.
Journeys
"Heading to the park." One tap to start, one to say they're there. Cancelling is just "never mind".
Pickups
Requested, on the way, picked up. A small timeline both of you can see, with room to suggest another spot.
Meeting points
A named spot that quietly disappears when it expires. No geofence, no alerts.
Hold-to-send SOS
A button you have to hold, so it can't be sent by accident. Always within reach, whatever else is on screen.
Check-ins and quick messages
"Can you check in?" "I'm okay." "Pick me up." One tap, no typing at the bus stop.
Battery, shared
On by default for children, and a single low-battery heads-up to the family at 15%.
Quiet hours
Ordinary notifications are held during the hours you set. An SOS, a precise-location request and a pickup always come through.
Age-based starting points
Under 10, 10–13 or 14 and up: a plain summary of what each setting changes, before you apply it.
Leave reminders On their phone
"Leave now to make school by 08:45." Worked out on your child's own device and never sent anywhere.
Home-screen widget Android
Up to four family members at a glance: whether they're live, and how their battery is.
Honest on both sides
The checking goes both ways.
A nudge for you, too.
If you've opened the map again and again on a day when nothing has happened, the app gives you a gentle, private nudge. It points out that arrival notifications are already doing the watching for you.
It never blocks anything. It never slows the map down, never appears on a day when something real is going on, and your child never sees it.
A location app that notices when you've stopped needing it. We think that's the right way round.
What it can't promise.
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Encrypted, not invisible. Circle traffic travels encrypted over relays. The relays can still see timing, IP addresses and other metadata.
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Members keep what they've received. Signing out can't recall a location someone already has.
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Leave reminders are a rough guide. Unless you run your own routing engine, travel time is a straight-line estimate, not a real route.
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Android and web first. No store listing and no date, and we won't invent one.
Questions
Straight answers.
Is it ready?
Not in the app stores yet. Kindependence is in development, with Android and web first, and there's no store date, because we'd rather say "on its way" than guess. The code is open on GitHub, so you can build the Android app yourself today.
Who can see where my child is?
Only the family circle they're in, and only at the precision they've chosen to share. What the app holds lives on the devices themselves. Between devices, circle messages are encrypted and pass through relays; the relays can't read them, but they can still see timing, IP addresses and other metadata. And anyone in a circle keeps what they've already received, even if you later sign out.
Does it use Google Maps?
No. By default the map tiles come from OpenStreetMap. That means OpenStreetMap's tile server can see the viewer's IP address and which areas of the map are being looked at. The tile source can be changed by whoever runs the app.
Can my child switch it off?
They choose how precisely they're seen: Town, Neighbourhood, Street or Precise, circle by circle. Agreements and schedules you set together, such as "after school, Street", can raise that for a set window, and they're always shown to your child in advance. A safety situation can raise it too, never lower it, and "who can see what about me?" is always one tap away.
Do I need an account?
No account with us. Your identity comes from My Signet, a separate app that holds your family's keys. Kindependence makes its own key for each device and never holds yours.
Does the freedom grow automatically?
No. After roughly a month with no safety incidents, the app offers you a step to the next level, with a plain before-and-after of what would change. You decide, and declining is silent. For now a level applies across a whole circle, and the app says so before you apply it.
Will it work with other family location apps?
For the core safety flows, yes: SOS, check-ins, pickups and dropped pins. Kindependence speaks the open FLOCK protocol, so a mixed circle works without anyone installing a second app.