Frequently Asked Questions

My Digital Nanny is a parental monitoring app that uses on-device artificial intelligence to listen to audio playing on your child's device — from apps like YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, and others — and alerts you in real time if inappropriate content is detected.

You install the app on both your phone (Parent mode) and your child's device (Child mode), pair them with a 6-digit code, and the monitoring runs quietly in the background.

The app uses two AI models that run entirely on your child's device:

• VOSK — an offline speech recognition model that transcribes spoken words in real time.
• YAMNet — a Google audio classification model that identifies audio categories (e.g., shouting, gunshots, explicit speech).

Audio is analysed in 3-second batches. If a problematic category or keyword is detected, a notification is sent to the parent device. No raw audio is ever stored or transmitted.

Only a brief PII-redacted text snippet (names, emails, phone numbers, and addresses stripped) may be sent to the parent device as part of a Pro tier alert — never the audio itself.

No. My Digital Nanny uses anonymous authentication — no email, password, or personal information is required to use the app. Devices are paired using a one-time 6-digit code only.

Yes — transparency is a core principle of the app. When the monitoring service is active, a persistent notification is displayed on the child's device (this is a requirement of Android's MediaProjection API). The app is designed to be used with your child's knowledge, not as a covert surveillance tool.

The app collects minimal data:

• Anonymous device identifiers (for pairing and push notifications — no personal data)
• Alert events: timestamp, app name, detected category, and a PII-redacted text snippet (Pro tier only)
• No audio, no location, no contact data, no browsing history

See the full Privacy Policy for details.

Alert history is stored locally on the parent device using an encrypted database. Anonymous pairing data is stored in Firebase (Google Cloud) using anonymous authentication — no personal identifiers are attached.

Firebase infrastructure is hosted in the EU/EEA where possible, compliant with UK GDPR requirements.

Yes. The app is designed with privacy-by-design principles:

• No personal data is required to use the app (anonymous authentication)
• No audio ever leaves the child's device
• Data minimisation — only the minimum data needed for alerts is processed
• Parental consent is explicit — a parent must initiate pairing

For full details, see the Privacy Policy.

No. Alerts are only sent to the paired parent device via Firebase Cloud Messaging, which is secured to the specific device pairing. There is no web dashboard or shared access — only the paired parent device receives notifications.

Child's device (monitored): Android phones and tablets running Android 10 (API 29) or newer, and Amazon Fire TV devices. This requirement is set by Android's AudioPlaybackCapture API, which enables audio monitoring.

Parent's device (alerts): Android phones running Android 10+ or iPhone running iOS 15+.

My Digital Nanny monitors audio from any app that plays audio on the child's device, including:

• YouTube and YouTube Kids
• TikTok
• Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video
• Spotify, Apple Music
• Games with voice chat (e.g., Roblox, Fortnite)
• Any other audio-playing app

Note: Some apps may opt out of audio capture. This is rare but possible with certain DRM-protected content.

Not currently. Apple's iOS does not permit third-party apps to capture audio from other apps, so monitoring a child's iPhone or iPad is not technically possible. The child's device must be Android or Fire TV.

The parent's device can be an iPhone — alerts will be delivered via push notification.

The audio processing is optimised for efficiency, but running a foreground service with real-time AI inference does have a battery impact. In our testing on typical Android devices, expect approximately 5–10% additional battery drain per hour during active monitoring.

We recommend monitoring is run while the device is plugged in, or that parents configure monitoring hours that suit their family's routine.

The Free tier includes:

• Full on-device audio monitoring
• Real-time push notifications to the parent device
• 1 child device paired
• 7 days of alert history
• Basic content categories (profanity, violence)

No credit card or account is required. The free tier is available indefinitely.

Subscriptions are purchased directly through the app via Google Play or the Amazon Appstore in-app purchase system. Open the app, go to Settings → Upgrade to Pro, and follow the store's payment flow.

Pro is available monthly (£2.99/mo) or annually (£19.99/yr — saving 44%).

Subscriptions are managed through the store you purchased from:

• Google Play: Google Play Store → Profile → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions
• Amazon Appstore: amazon.co.uk → Account → Memberships & Subscriptions
• Apple App Store: Settings → [Your Name] → Subscriptions

You'll retain Pro access until the end of the current billing period after cancelling.

Yes. All subscriptions auto-renew at the end of each billing period (monthly or annually) unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the renewal date. You'll receive a notification from your app store before each renewal.

Refunds are handled by the app store through which you purchased. My Digital Nanny does not process refunds directly. Contact Google Play, Amazon, or Apple support for refund requests — each store has its own refund policy.