Parents and guardians

A. Yapp for parents and guardians

Yapp is for making friends, never for finding a partner. People 13 and older meet others their own age. Teens 13-15, teens 16-17 and adults are kept in separate groups that can never see or contact each other. Everyone, including your teen, passes an age check with a selfie video; adults also show a photo ID.

Teen accounts have strict protections that are always on: a private profile, chat requests that can be ignored silently, messages and calls with accepted friends only, country-only location, no friend suggestions, blurred sensitive media, quiet hours from 9 PM to 7 AM, and filters on links and contact details in first messages. Video calls are recorded for safety and kept for 30 days; a recording is opened only after a report, a safety flag or a legal request. Voice calls aren’t recorded. How We Protect Teens describes them all.

You don’t need to do anything for your teen to be protected. In most places, linking to your teen is optional, and Yapp works the same with or without a link. In a few US states, the law requires a parent’s agreement once, at sign-up (Part B).

Talking with your teen

The most effective protection is a teen who knows they can come to you. It helps to agree together:

• never to send images to someone they’ve only met online,
• that if anyone threatens them or asks for images or money, they come to you, and they won’t be in trouble,
• to block and report anyone who makes them uncomfortable.

If something has happened, see Part B.4 and the help lines at the end of this page.

B. Parental consent terms

B.1 Where consent is required

Some US state laws require a parent or guardian to agree before a teen can have an account on apps like Yapp. Where such a law is in force, Yapp asks for that agreement once, when the teen signs up. Where courts have blocked a law, or it doesn’t apply, Yapp doesn’t ask.

Status on the date at the top of this page:

Florida

Ages: 14 and 15 (under 14 can’t have an account)

Consent method: App store family approval, or Yapp consent page (card or ID; not email)

Georgia

Ages: 13 to 15

Consent method: App store family approval, or Yapp consent page (card, email or ID)

Mississippi

Ages: 13 to 17

Consent method: App store family approval, or ID check on the Yapp consent page

Tennessee

Ages: 13 to 17

Consent method: App store family approval, or ID check on the Yapp consent page

Texas

Ages: 13 to 17

Consent method: App store family approval

Utah

Ages: 13 to 17, from May 6, 2027 (HB 498)

Consent method: App store family approval

Louisiana

Ages: 13 to 17, from July 1, 2027 (Act 481, HB 570, as amended by HB 977)

Consent method: App store family approval

Laws and court rulings change often. We update this list when they do, and sign-up always applies the rules in force that day. If a new law requires consent for teens who already have accounts, we ask for it in the app and give a reasonable time to provide it.

B.2 How you give consent

We use the simplest method the law in your state accepts, in this order. You never need to set up an ongoing Parent Portal account to give consent.

1. App store family approval: if your teen’s phone is part of your Apple Family Sharing group or Google Family Link, you approve Yapp in your own phone’s family settings. In Texas, this is the only method, because Texas law routes consent through the app store.
2. A quick confirmation on the Yapp consent page: your teen sends you a link or code. Where your state allows it, you confirm with a payment card (we place a check that is voided straight away, so nothing is charged), or in Georgia also by replying to an email and completing a second step. Florida needs a stronger check than email, so there you use a card or an ID check. We don’t keep the card details.
3. An ID check on the Yapp consent page, only where the law needs more: you show a government photo ID and take a selfie so we can confirm you’re an adult. Before the check we show you the Age Assurance and Biometric Notice and ask for your consent, the same as for users. We keep only the result, never the images.

Then you confirm you’re the teen’s parent or legal guardian, read these terms and agree. It takes a few minutes. After you agree, your teen can start straight away. You can then choose whether to open the Parent Portal (Part C). You don’t have to.

B.3 What you agree to

By giving consent, you confirm that:

• you are 18 or older and the teen’s parent or legal guardian,
• you allow the teen to have a Yapp account and use Yapp under the Terms of Service, the Community Guidelines and the Virtual Items and Subscriptions Terms, and you agree to those terms on the teen’s behalf,
• you have read the Privacy Policy and allow Yapp to collect and use the teen’s information as it describes, including the age check.

You also agree to the Terms of Service for yourself in connection with your consent and any claim you bring about your teen’s use of Yapp, including, if you live in the US, the arbitration agreement in section 19 and its 30-day opt-out.

You don’t promise to supervise your teen, and you aren’t responsible under these terms for what they post or do on Yapp. You are responsible for purchases you approve through your app store’s family controls, under the store’s terms.

We keep a record that verified consent was given: your typed signature, the method, the time, the version of these terms and a reference number. We don’t keep the ID, card or other details used to check it. If you open a Parent Portal account, we also keep your portal sign-in. You can see the record in the Parent Portal or ask us for it.

B.4 What you can do afterwards

You can do these things at any time, from the Parent Portal or by writing to support@joinyapp.app. We may confirm you’re the parent first, using the same check as above.

• Take back your consent. In a state where consent is required, your teen’s account is suspended straight away: they can’t use Yapp, and nobody can see or contact them on it, until a parent or guardian gives consent again or the teen reaches the age where consent isn’t needed. Nothing is deleted while it’s suspended, unless you or your teen ask. Florida: if consent isn’t given again within 90 days, we close the account and permanently delete the teen’s personal information, except anything the law requires us to keep. In Texas, taking back consent in your app store’s family settings has the same effect.
• Ask us to delete your teen’s account. The account is hidden at once. Florida: the account is closed and its personal information permanently deleted within 10 business days, except anything the law requires us to keep. Elsewhere: deleted within 30 days.
• Ask what information we hold about your teen, and ask us to correct it, where your state’s law gives parents that right.
• Ask for a list of Yapp’s moderation and safety features and which ones can be changed. We send it to any parent or guardian who asks.
• Raise a concern. Tell us anything that worries you. We read every concern and reply. We don’t tell your teen who raised it.

In states where consent isn’t required, there’s nothing to take back: the Parent Portal is optional, unlinking ends your link, and your teen can keep using Yapp.

Your teen can also delete their own account at any time. Florida: within 5 business days of their request.

If a law where you live gives parents more rights than this page describes, we follow that law.

B.5 Changes that need new consent

If we make a change that the law in your state treats as significant (for example, a major change to the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, the information we collect, or Yapp’s age rating), we ask for your consent again before your teen can use the affected features. In Texas, this happens through the app store.

C. Parent and Guardian Terms (version 2)

These terms apply when you use the Parent Portal.

C.1 What the Parent Portal is

The Parent Portal is a separate place for parents and legal guardians who are 18 or older to link to their own teen’s Yapp account. It is not a Yapp account. It has its own sign-in and none of Yapp’s social features. If you also have a Yapp account, you sign out of it to use the Portal, so the two stay apart.

C.2 Who can use it

You can use the Parent Portal only if:

• you are 18 or older and pass our ID check (a government photo ID and a selfie compared with it; a card check or face estimate on its own is not enough), and
• you link only your own child, or a young person you are the legal guardian of.

You may link up to 5 teens. A teen may have up to 4 linked parents or guardians.

C.3 How linking works

Either you or your teen can start a link, with a code, link or QR code. The other person has to accept. Each time you link a teen, you confirm again that you are their parent or guardian. Codes work once and last 7 days.

C.4 What you see

A linked parent sees:

• the days the teen was active and about how long they spent on Yapp,
• the names of their friends and recent contacts,
• how many people they have blocked or reported,
• the privacy and safety settings in force on their account,
• the consent record (if you gave consent under Part B).

C.5 What you never see or do

• You never see what your teen writes, sends or shares: no messages, photos, voice notes, videos, snaps or stories.
• You never see their location beyond their country.
• Linking doesn’t let you change what your teen can do on Yapp, read their account, or sign in as them. Teens use Yapp freely with or without a linked parent.
• In a few US states (today Tennessee), the law requires that a verified parent can view their teen’s privacy settings, set a daily time limit and schedule breaks. Where that applies, those tools are in the Parent Portal, your teen is told, and nothing else changes.
• You or your teen can set a monthly spending limit. Lowering it applies at once; raising it applies after 24 hours.
• The summary is an overview, not a complete record, and it isn’t a substitute for talking with your teen. We don’t promise it will show you every risk.
• Your teen always sees who is linked to them and can unlink at any time. If they unlink, we tell you.

C.6 How you may use what you see

Use the Parent Portal only to look after your own teen’s safety and wellbeing. Don’t use it to watch or contact other young people, and don’t share what you see about other teens (such as friends’ names) except to report a safety concern to us or the authorities.

C.7 Claiming a teen who isn’t yours

Claiming to be a teen’s parent or guardian when you aren’t is misrepresentation. If it happens, we remove your Parent Portal access, end the link, and may report it. If you are not the parent or guardian, you are responsible for the harm and costs your false claim causes, and you agree to indemnify Yapp for claims caused by it, to the extent the law allows.

If a teen tells us “This isn’t my parent”, we end the link at once and review it.

C.8 Your information

We collect your Apple or Google sign-in, the result of your ID check (never the images), the teens you link, your consent records and the concerns you raise. The Privacy Policy explains how we use and protect this. You can ask what we hold about you, correct it, or delete your Parent Portal account at any time.

C.9 Leaving

You can unlink a teen, take back consent (Part B.4), or delete your Parent Portal account at any time. Your access to that teen’s summary ends straight away. All links end when the teen turns 18.

C.10 The rest of the Terms

The Terms of Service also apply to your use of the Parent Portal, including the limits on our responsibility and, if you live in the US, the arbitration agreement and its opt-out (section 19). Once Yapp opens in the UK, section 20 of the Terms of Service applies instead if you live there.

Help lines for parents

• US: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988); Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453; NCMEC CyberTipline 1-800-843-5678 or report.cybertip.org; Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org) to remove a minor’s intimate images.
• UK: NSPCC helpline for adults 0808 800 5000; Childline 0800 1111; Internet Watch Foundation (report.iwf.org.uk); CEOP (ceop.police.uk).
• In an emergency: 911 (US) or 999 (UK).

Contact: Latency LLC, [Address], support@joinyapp.app.