What Brickify does, and what it doesn't

Brickify does one job: it decides which apps a phone can open, and when. It doesn't read your child's messages and it doesn't track where they are. That's on purpose. Here's what it does, what it leaves alone, and the tools to use if you want those too.

a phone split down the middle. A brick wall letting three apps through on one side, a greyed-out speech bubble and map pin labelled "not us" on the other.

What Brickify does

You choose the apps. Each profile allows exactly the apps you pick, and nothing else.
It runs on a schedule. Profiles switch by themselves: Brick for school, more open after school, Brick again at bedtime.
It turns any smartphone into a brick phone. Calls and texts only, on a phone you may already own.
Changes need you. Moving to a more open profile early needs your PIN, plus a second factor if you've set one up.
It grows with them. Open one app at a time as trust grows, with no new phone at each stage.
iPhone and Android. The same idea on both, including older phones.

What Brickify doesn't do

Read messages. It can't see what your child says or what's said to them.
See: Mean or worrying messages ↓
Track location. There's no map and no dot.
See: Where are they? ↓
Police what happens inside an allowed app. If WhatsApp is open, Brickify doesn't control who's in their chats.
See: Pictures they shouldn't see ↓
Replace the conversation. It holds the line you've agreed. It doesn't agree it for you.

On iPhone, deleting Brickify removes its restrictions. That's why setup asks you to set a Screen Time passcode, which stops apps being deleted without you. Please don't skip that step.

Where are they?

Location is the one thing your phone already does well, for free.

Option	Cost	Works on	Good to know
Find My, through Family Sharing	Free	iPhone	Your child shares their location with you from their own phone.
Google Family Link	Free	Android	Shows the location of your child's supervised device.
Location-sharing apps such as Life360	Free, with paid tiers	Both	Add extras like arrival alerts and driving reports.

Our view

We left location out of Brickify on purpose. It's useful for a younger child getting about on their own. For an older teenager, we think being trusted to say where they are matters more than a dot on a map. A location app can tell you someone wasn't where they said. It can't make them tell you next time. So turn it on if it helps, and agree when it comes off.

Pictures they shouldn't see

Both iPhone and Android now blur nude images for children, built in and free.

Option	Cost	Works on	Good to know
Communication Safety	Free	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Blurs photos and videos that may contain nudity, and warns your child. On by default for under-18s on current software. Under-13s need your Screen Time passcode to view.
Sensitive content warnings in Google Messages	Free	Android	On by default for supervised children. You control it in Family Link.

Good to know: these cover images, not words, and they work inside the phone's own apps. You aren't sent an alert: the check happens on the phone and nothing is reported to you, Apple or Google.

Mean or worrying messages

Some apps alert you when a message looks like bullying or worse. Here's what that involves in the UK.

Option	Cost	Works on	Good to know
Qustodio (Premium)	Annual subscription	iPhone and Android	Can show texts, and alerts you to worrying WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok messages with a snippet. On iPhone, this needs a computer at home that stays on and on the same Wi-Fi.
Bark	—	Not available in the UK	Often recommended in American articles. It only supports the US, Australia and South Africa.
A "show me" agreement	Free	Any phone	If a message makes them feel bad, they show you, and nobody's in trouble for it.

Our view

If messaging is your biggest worry, the simplest fix is timing: keep the messaging app on a later rung, open at set times you're around for. Pair it with the "show me" agreement. Alert apps can help, but they only flag what they recognise, and children who feel watched tend to move their chats somewhere you can't see.

Seeing everything

Some apps record the screen or copy every message to a parent. We don't recommend them. They turn a trust ladder into surveillance, and older children usually find a way round. If you're at that point, it's probably a conversation for school or a professional, not an app.