How it works

From an episode you are unsure about to one you have decided on.

The whole design rests on one rule: the version your child receives is the exact version you approved. Everything below exists to make that true and to let you check it.

The categories

Each is a rule you switch on or off. Nothing is applied because we think it should be.

Language

Profanity and crude language. Removed as short cuts around the words themselves rather than whole passages.

Sexual content

Spoken sexual references and discussion.

Violence

Descriptions and discussion of violence.

Substance use

References to drugs and alcohol, including their use and abuse.

God’s and Jesus’s name

Irreverent use, kept separate from prayer and from ordinary religious discussion. A separate rule so it is your choice, not an assumption.

Orientation and gender identity

Explicit references. When switched on this includes neutral, supportive, critical, educational and religious discussion alike. Identity is never inferred from a speaker’s voice.

Short cuts are used for individual words. Broader removals are used where the subject itself is the issue and cutting a word would leave the passage intact. You can widen or narrow the boundary on any cut.

What happens to the audio

One captured copy of the episode is used for the transcript, the evidence, the edit and the approval. That matters more than it sounds.

Why one copy

Many podcasts insert ads dynamically, so two downloads of the same episode can have different timings. If the version your child received were fetched separately from the version that was analysed, every timestamp could be wrong and a cut could land in the wrong place. Analysis, review and delivery all run against the same captured audio.

How the edit is prepared

Once you approve, the approved version is prepared from your saved cuts and delivered to your child’s library. The intervals you removed are absent from the file they receive. Playback follows the approved timeline, including when they seek.

Two devices, or one

A separate iPhone for your child

Pair it once with a code from your phone. It holds a credential for that child profile only, and shows just their approved library. Siblings are separated: one child’s pairing never reaches another’s episodes.

A shared iPhone

The child area is what opens by default. Returning to the parent side requires signing in again — not a passcode you would type in front of them. There is no unrestricted player, no original clips, and no access to the full findings or transcript on the child side.

Changing your mind

Approval is not permanent, and withdrawing it is a first-class action rather than a support request.

Withdraw an approval and the episode is removed from your child’s library, any downloaded copy is deleted, and further requests for that audio are refused. Re-analysing an episode with different filters replaces the earlier approved version rather than leaving both available.

There is one honest gap, and the app is explicit about it. A device that is offline cannot learn that you changed your mind. The copy it already downloaded keeps playing under the approval it was given until it reconnects and synchronises successfully. The app distinguishes a change you have saved from a change a particular device has acknowledged, so you can tell which is which rather than assuming.

What it is honest about

Automated analysis is not a guarantee. It can miss something, and it can flag something you would have kept. Your review is the control that matters; the analysis narrows what you have to listen to.
Cuts are enforced, not asserted. The intervals you removed are absent from what is delivered and playback follows the approved timeline. That is tested. It is not a claim that a deliberately modified or compromised device cannot be worked around.
Only speech is analysed. A transcript cannot tell you about music, sound effects, or a tone of voice carrying something the words do not.
No age bands. There is no automatic “suitable for 9-year-olds” judgement, because suitability is your call and depends on the child.