How we keep kids safe
We're parents too. Every feature in Tumbly starts with one question: would we hand this to our own six-year-old in the back seat?
A grown-up gate in front of everything grown-up
Settings, purchases, links that leave the app, and the first request for location or microphone access all sit behind a parent check (read number words and type the digits, or a parent PIN). Three wrong tries and it locks for 30 seconds. Kids can't buy anything, change settings, or end up on the open web by tapping around.
No chat, no strangers, no sharing
Kids can't message anyone, see other users, post anything, or make a public profile. The back-seat screen only mirrors the phone in the same car, using a code that changes each trip.
No ads, ever
No ads, no ad networks, no tracking pixels for advertisers, no advertising IDs, and no selling or sharing data. We make money from an optional family plan, and buying it always needs a grown-up.
AI that answers, not AI that befriends
- Off until you turn it on. Live questions and "Tell me about here" stay off until a parent enables them, and can be turned off any time.
- Short, kind, true. Our narrator is instructed to answer in 2–4 short sentences for a young child, to say "people think" when unsure, and to tell scary or sad history gently.
- Filtered both ways. Questions and answers pass through a safety filter. Anything inappropriate gets a gentle change of subject, never a lecture. If a child says something that sounds like they're hurt or in danger, the narrator tells them to talk to a grown-up they trust right away.
- No memory and no persona. Tumbly doesn't remember what a child asked, doesn't hold conversations, doesn't pretend to be a person or a friend, and never encourages kids to keep talking to it.
- Voices are thrown away. Recordings are turned into text and deleted immediately. The text isn't kept either, and nothing kids say is used to train AI.
Stories that are checked
Our launch stories are written and fact-checked by people. Stories we generate for new places are built from public sources such as Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap, then every fact is checked against those sources and given a confidence score. Stories that don't pass aren't published. Found a mistake? Email support@tumbly.ai and we'll fix it, usually within a day.
Safe in the car
RoadStory runs on its own once a trip starts, so the driver never needs to touch it. Stories play through the car speakers, and the app never asks the driver to look at the screen. See our parents' guide for setup tips.
As little data as possible
Kids use nicknames and age ranges, never birthdays or real names. We don't store where you drove. Kids' activity goes only to our own analytics, without IP addresses, and never to Google. Read the Children's Privacy Notice.
Seen something worrying?
Email safety@tumbly.ai. A person reads every message, and we prioritize anything about a child's safety.