We treat the parent as a possible adversary.
Most parental-control software assumes the parent is the trusted actor and the kid is the threat. That holds in most homes. It does not hold in all of them, and "parental control" is one of the most weaponized categories of consumer software there is. OpenWarden's threat model includes the adult holding the parent phone.
Four properties we will never weaken.
These aren't mitigations bolted on. They're load-bearing. Any change that erodes one is rejected on sight, no matter the parent-side demand.
Kid transparency, always.
Every monitored category is visible to the kid on their own phone. There is no admin toggle that turns on secret monitoring, because no such feature exists to toggle.
The emergency floor is unblockable.
Emergency dialing and crisis hotlines run through the phone and carrier, not through OpenWarden. We cannot disable them, log them, or see them, even if a parent wanted us to.
The audit log belongs to the kid too.
The "what OpenWarden saw this week" view is the kid's copy of the same record the parent sees. A parent can't act in the kid's name without the kid being able to know.
Open source, fully auditable.
Apache 2.0 with reproducible builds. A kid, the other parent, a teacher, an advocate, or a clinician can verify OpenWarden does only what the transparency screen claims. No black box.
The kid copy never says "Dad is watching you."
The shift is small and load-bearing. "Dad is watching" frames the parent as omniscient, and a kid in a coercive home reads that as confirmation. "OpenWarden was set up by your dad" frames the parent as the deployer of a tool the kid can inspect, which is literally what is happening.
"Dad is watching you."
"OpenWarden was set up by your dad. Here's what it does, and here's how to ask for help outside the family."
A non-removable help-seeking footer rides on every kid-facing screen. It is part of the core string set, not a setting a parent can switch off.
Autonomy that the parent cannot override.
Older teens get capabilities that sit explicitly outside parental control. These thresholds are conservative next to GDPR and several US state laws, and aggressive next to commercial products. The conservatism is on the parent's side; the agency is on the kid's.
- Age 14+: the kid can start a 7-day decommission countdown without justifying it. The parent is notified, either party can cancel, and at the end OpenWarden removes itself cleanly. The delay defuses an impulsive conflict; the option defeats indefinite coercive control.
- Age 16+: the parent can configure full graduation, which removes the controller and converts the phone back to an ordinary Android device with no monitoring at all.
- Throughout: the help-seeking footer stays, the audit log stays visible, and the transparency screen stays the source of truth.
What OpenWarden will never ship.
Each of these would make OpenWarden more "competitive" with commercial parental-control products. Each would also make it a stalkerware vector. The list is open-ended and never shrinks.
- Audio recording of any kindNo calls, no ambient, no microphone capture.
- Continuous screen capture
- Message-content monitoringNo SMS bodies, no in-app contents, no keylogging.
- Remote camera or microphone activation
- Covert modeAny feature whose job is to hide OpenWarden from the monitored person.
- Per-parent secret accessNo view one parent has that the other parent or the kid cannot.
OpenWarden is anti-stalkerware. It is designed so the kid always sees what is monitored. If you are in an unsafe home and need help: call or text 988, call Childhelp at 1-800-422-4453, or contact the Coalition Against Stalkerware.
OpenWarden cannot prevent abuse. Software cannot intervene in a coercive household. What it can do, and what we commit to, is make sure OpenWarden is never the abuse vector. The kid always knows what is monitored. Help-seeking is one tap away on every screen. The recovery phrase is symmetric. The emergency dialer is unblockable. We will not cross that line for market share, for feature parity, or for any "safety" framing offered as the excuse.
Get help outside the family
These calls are private. OpenWarden does not see who you call, and cannot block them.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US, call or text)
- 1-800-422-4453 Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
- Text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line)
- Coalition Against Stalkerware
- RAINN