Hedgeglow
Guarding Little Ones on the Web.
A free, private child-safety app for Android that spots grooming and cyberbullying in Roblox, Discord and chat apps – and steps in before your child sees the harmful message. Predators don’t stand a chance.
Our promise
Free forever. For every family.
No family should ever have to pay to keep their child safe. Hedgeglow will always be free – no subscriptions, no ads, no premium tier, no selling data. Ever.
Free forever
Every feature, for every family. No subscriptions, no paid tier, no catch.
Your child’s data stays on the phone
Chats are checked on the device. Nothing is uploaded, stored on our servers or sold.
No hidden spying
Your child can see that Hedgeglow is protecting them. Visible protection also deters predators.
Child first
Kind, calm screens. Your child is never blamed, shamed or punished for what someone else sent.
Emergencies always work
999 and 112 are never blocked, and a child in real trouble can always reach help.
Honest evidence only
No AI pretending to be a child, no fake details sent to anyone. Just the real conversation, saved for you and the police.
What it does
Protection that acts in the moment
Planned for the first Android version. Not released yet, see progress.
Grooming shield
Spots warning signs – questions about age or school, secrecy, moving to another app, gifts like Robux – and pauses the chat before your child sees it.
Cyberbullying guard
Blurs hurtful messages so your child chooses whether to read them, and notices when the same people target them again and again.
The Safe
Stops your child from sending their home address, phone number or school to strangers – however it’s typed.
SOS and emergency release
One hold sends you their location. In a real emergency your child can still share details – and you’re told instantly.
Alerts with real advice
Only when something matters – with calm, practical guidance on how to talk to your child about it.
One-tap evidence pack
Messages, usernames, IDs and times, ready to report to CEOP, Roblox or your child’s school.
How it works
Private by design
You choose the apps
Pick where your child chats – Roblox, Discord, WhatsApp and more.
Checked on the phone
Messages are read and checked on the device. Game screens are read in memory and thrown away straight after.
Steps in when needed
A risky chat is paused with a kind message. Your child is never shamed.
You get the full picture
An alert, the saved conversation and advice on what to do next.
Nothing is recorded. Hours of play leave nothing behind. Only a conversation flagged as risky is kept – encrypted, on the phone, for you.
Early design
A first look
Why Hedgeglow
Safety shouldn’t be a subscription
Most parental tools cost a yearly fee, tell you about harm only after it has happened, and send your child’s messages to their servers. We think every child deserves better.
Progress · updated 14 October 2026
Where the build is today
Hedgeglow is not released yet. This is an honest list of what already works on a real test phone, and what comes next.
- Reads Roblox chat on the phone itselfAn Android prototype reads the Roblox chat with on-device text recognition, tested live on a real phone at about 0.3 seconds per screen. The prototype has no internet permission, so it cannot send anything anywhere.
- Detection engine with automated testsRules for grooming warning signs, secrecy, moving a child to another app (including disguised spellings like “d!sc0rd”), sharing personal details and age claims that don’t add up. English and Czech, covered by 38 automated tests.
- First app screens builtThe child’s “we paused this chat” screen, parent home, alert detail, the Safe and app setup, built in Jetpack Compose from the designs above.
- Privacy and safety groundworkA written threat model and a draft privacy policy for the app, before any family data exists. Every capture session needs the phone’s own consent screen and shows a notification with a Stop button.
- Next: connect the piecesFeed the chat reader into the detection engine, clean up text recognition errors and show the child’s safety screen when a chat turns risky.
- Next: alerts for parentsA private web app for parents that works on Android and iPhone, with email as a backup. Then testing at home and with a few families before any public release.
How it’s built. Hedgeglow is written by Patrik with the help of Claude Code, an AI coding assistant. Every change is built, installed and tested by hand on a real Android phone. We never automate anything inside Roblox. Detection is tested with made-up chat examples, never with real children’s conversations.
Roadmap
Where we’re heading
Android core
- Grooming and cyberbullying protection
- Roblox, Discord, WhatsApp and more
- The Safe, SOS and emergency release
- Parent alerts and advice in a web app for Android and iPhone
- Tested with families before release
Wider protection
- Windows version
- Safe places, check-ins and “pick me up”
- Blurring explicit images on the device
- Parent alerts in more languages
Voice and partners
- Protection in in-game voice chat
- A version for schools
- Working with platforms and child-safety charities
Who’s behind it
Built by a parent
Hedgeglow is built by Patrik Rittich, a father of four in Bradford, UK. After seeing how often children are targeted on games like Roblox – and how much families are asked to pay for protection – he decided to build the tool every family should have, and give it away.