For parents

Is Grid Gang safe for my children?

We built it so the safe way is the only way. Here’s exactly what happens when your family plays — in plain words, no small print.

The short version

  • Cameras start off. Nobody’s camera comes on without them tapping it.
  • A cartoon, any time. One tap swaps your face for a cartoon character. No questions.
  • An adult lets everyone in. Knowing the code isn’t enough — the host says yes or no.
  • Nothing is recorded. No video, no voice, no photos. Ever.
  • No accounts. No emails, no passwords, no ages, no real names needed.
  • Names are checked by a filter, then by the adult.
  • Filters are drawn on your own phone. Our game server never sees anyone’s face.
  • We never ask children to share or post anything.

📷 Cameras start off — and a cartoon is always one tap away

Every player starts as a cartoon character — a dino, a robot, a unicorn, a cartoon of themselves. Their camera only comes on if they tap the camera button, and the phone asks for permission first. It starts off again every time they open the game, even after a reload.

The cartoon button is on every phone, all the time. Tap it and your face is replaced by your cartoon straight away. Nobody is told why, and nobody can stop you. A child never has to show their face to play — the game is exactly as much fun as a cartoon (and the cartoon still copies your expressions).

The host can also switch everyone to cartoons in one tap. In classrooms, cameras aren’t allowed at all unless the teacher switches them on — and even then each pupil still chooses.

👑 An adult lets everyone in

The person who starts the game (the host — you, or the teacher) holds all the controls on their own phone or laptop. When someone types the room code, they land in a waiting room and the host sees: “Tilly wants to join — Let in · Rename · No”. Nobody plays, and nobody’s name reaches the TV, until the host says yes.

So a stranger who guesses or is sent a code still can’t get in. Room codes are random (and can’t be found by trying them in order — we block that), and the host can remove anyone, rename anyone, mute everyone or switch everyone to cartoons at any time.

If the host’s phone dies, nobody takes over — handing the controls to a 9-year-old would be worse than no controls. The round finishes by itself, and anyone new waits in the waiting room until the host is back.

🔒 Nothing recorded, nothing kept

We never store any video, voice or picture — not for a second, not on any server, not “for safety”, not “to improve the service”. Faces travel live to the TV and to family playing from other houses, and are gone the moment they arrive.

The game itself (names, scores, who is wearing which silly filter) lives only inside that one game’s room. The room disappears five minutes after everyone leaves, and after four hours at the most. After that there is nothing left — we couldn’t tell you who played even if we wanted to.

At the end of a game the TV holds everyone’s faces on screen for ten seconds — the “family photo” moment. That’s for you to take a photo of the TV with your own phone if you want one. The game saves nothing.

What we do keep is a handful of anonymous totals — “words found this week”, “games played” — so we know if the game is working and what it costs to run. They never include names, room codes, faces or anything that could point to a person.

🙅 No accounts, no emails, no ages

There is nothing to sign up for. You type a room code and a name, and you’re playing. We never ask for an email address, a password, a date of birth, a phone number, a location or a real name. There are no adverts and no tracking cookies, and nothing to buy.

🏷️ Names are checked twice

A player’s name is the one bit of writing other children see, so it gets two checks:

  1. A filter on our server (where nobody can get round it) catches rude words — including sneaky spellings and “prank” names like Ben Dover — plus phone numbers, web links and ages. It just says “Try a different name.”
  2. The adult approves every name in the waiting room, and can rename anyone with one tap (to something like “Purple Penguin”) at any time.

In classrooms pupils don’t type names at all — they tap their own name from the teacher’s class list. There is no text chat anywhere in the game.

🥸 Filters are drawn on your own phone

When someone puts a moustache on Dad, Dad’s own phone draws it. The phone works out where his nose and mouth are in each frame, draws the moustache, and only then sends the finished, filtered picture to the TV.

📺 What the TV shows — and what it doesn’t

The TV shows

  • The word puzzle and the team’s score
  • A handful of players’ faces or cartoons (6 at a time, up to 10), with their filters
  • Names of players the host has let in
  • Fun moments: “Tilly put Dad in a swamp!”
  • The room code and a QR code, while people join

The TV never shows

  • Anyone waiting to be let in
  • Anyone’s word level (each child’s level is private)
  • A face from a camera nobody switched on
  • Messages or typed text from players — there is no chat

The TV is a display only — nobody can tap it, and it doesn’t draw on anyone’s face. Phones in the room show the puzzle and a small preview of your own face, not everyone else’s.

👵 Playing from another house

Family who aren’t in the room — Gran on her sofa, a big sister at university — get a link from the host. They go through the same waiting room and the host lets them in. Because they have no TV to look at, their screen shows the faces too.

🔁 Face swap — only if both say yes

Face swap is the one feature where your face appears on someone else’s phone, so it has the strictest rules: both people must agree (“Tilly wants to swap faces with you — OK?”), it’s always both ways, it lasts 60 seconds, and nothing is ever saved. It’s for family games only — it is off in classrooms and can’t be switched on there.

📣 We never ask children to share

After a game, only the host (the adult) sees the “share your score” card — a few lines of text and emoji with the team’s score, never a face or a picture. The host reads it before deciding whether to send it anywhere. Players’ phones never ask anyone to post, invite friends or follow us. There are no adverts and no links to social media for children.

🚩 Report a problem

During a game

The host can sort most things in a second from the 👑 Host tab: remove a player, rename them, mute everyone, or switch everyone to cartoons.

Tell us

Use Report a problem in the host’s 👑 Host tab — pick what went wrong (a rude name, a wrong word meaning, something broke, unfair play, something else) and add a short note if you like. It sends us no names, no room code and nothing about who you are. Or email us: hugh.mackenzie247@gmail.com. A real person reads every report.

Complaints and reports

Anyone — a host, a parent, a player — can complain about another player, about something they saw, or about how we run Grid Gang, by email to hugh.mackenzie247@gmail.com (or by the host’s Report a problem button). We aim to reply to every complaint within 7 days and tell you what we’ve done. Reports of rude names that got past our filter are looked at first, and we add them to the filter so they can’t be used again. The full process is in our terms.

If a child may be at risk

Call 999 if anyone is in danger right now. You can also report to CEOP (the police’s child protection team), or talk to your school’s safeguarding lead. Because we never record anything, we can’t provide videos or pictures as evidence — so write down what happened, when, and the names shown, while you remember.

More detail

The full legal version is our privacy policy. Teachers: see Grid Gang in the classroom for the classroom settings and a sheet for your school’s IT team.