1. Our principles
Securely is committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable users. We design our family features in line with the UK Children's Code (Age Appropriate Design Code) and applicable UK GDPR safeguarding requirements. Where this policy and our other policies overlap, the protections most favourable to the child or vulnerable user apply.
2. Minimum age
Securely is not intended for children under 13. Users aged 13–17 may use Securely only as part of a Family Pack established by a parent or legal guardian. A standalone Securely account requires the user to be at least 18.
3. Parental & guardian consent
- Inviting a person under 18 to a Family Pack requires the parent or legal guardian to act as the organiser (or to have authorised the organiser to do so).
- Inviting a vulnerable adult requires confirmation that the inviter has the authority and the individual's informed consent (or appropriate lawful basis) to share account-level safety information within the family group.
- By inviting a minor or vulnerable adult, the organiser confirms they have provided that person with an age-appropriate explanation of what Securely does and what the family group can see.
4. Elderly & vulnerable adult users
Members may be tagged as Elderly, Grandparent, or Vulnerable Adult. These profile types can enable High Sensitivity Mode, which lowers risk thresholds, enlarges warning banners, simplifies explanations, and increases the rate of family alerts. High Sensitivity Mode is a protective default, not a clinical assessment. It does not change the legal capacity of the user and is not a substitute for adult social care, safeguarding services, or professional support.
5. Visibility & monitoring
When a child, teen, or vulnerable adult joins a Family Pack:
- The organiser and assigned guardians can receive alerts when a scan crosses configured risk thresholds.
- The Family Activity Timeline records family-level events (e.g. alerts triggered, cases opened, members joined) but does not display the raw content of every scan.
- Scans, screenshots, or notes added to a shared case are visible to other case participants and to the organiser.
- The member's personal Securely activity outside of alerts and shared cases is not surfaced to the organiser.
The protected user should be told what is visible to whom. We provide age-appropriate explanations in-product where required.
6. Safeguards
- Children's data is processed only to deliver the safety service and is never sold.
- We apply data minimisation: we collect only what is needed for scam detection and family safety.
- High-risk profiling and decision-making with significant effects on a child are not performed by Securely.
- Profile types and high-sensitivity settings can be changed or removed at any time by the organiser.
- A minor or vulnerable adult (or a person acting on their behalf) may request access, correction, or deletion of their data — see Data Retention & Deletion.
7. Safeguarding concerns
If you believe a child or vulnerable adult is at risk of harm, contact the appropriate authority immediately — in the UK, the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000, the police on 999 in an emergency, or your local adult safeguarding team. To raise a safeguarding concern relating to use of Securely, contact privacy@securelyapp.co.uk.
8. Contact
Questions about safeguarding on Securely: privacy@securelyapp.co.uk.
Questions? Reach us at privacy@securelyapp.co.uk or support@securelyapp.co.uk.