Frequently asked questions

Owly is a parental control app for Android, published in France by Sphère Télécom. It brings together AI-powered website filtering, real-time GPS location, app blocking, screen time limits, safe zones and an SOS button. It is installed on the parent’s phone and on the child’s phone.

Owly is currently available on Android (version 8.0 and above). An iOS version is planned. The app comes in two parts: the Parent app (to monitor and set the rules) and the Child app (installed on your child's phone).

Absolutely. Owly is GDPR compliant. Your data is encrypted, stored on secure servers in France, and never shared with third parties. You can delete your account and all your data at any time from the app.

Yes! Owly is developed by Sphère Télécom, a French telecoms operator based in France. Our servers are hosted in France and we strictly follow European data protection rules.

1. Download Owly from the Google Play Store on your phone (parent) and on your child's phone. 2. Create a parent account on your phone. 3. In the parent app, generate a linking code. 4. On your child's phone, create a child account and enter the code. 5. Grant the permissions needed on your child's phone. That's it! You can now watch over and protect your child.

On your child's phone, Owly needs: location (GPS), access to which apps are open (to detect and block them), usage statistics (for screen time) and, if you turn on web filtering, a local secure connection. Each permission is explained clearly during setup.

No, provided you turn on maximum protection, which is included in the Premium plan. Owly then becomes impossible to remove and impossible to bypass through the phone settings. On every plan, you are told if your child tries to switch a protection off.

Owly instantly detects which app is open on your child's phone. If that app is on your blocked list, a blocking screen appears immediately. You can block apps one by one or by category (social media, games, video and so on).

Yes. Owly keeps working even when the app is not open. Your child's position is updated regularly, and battery use is kept low.

An SOS button is always visible on the child app's home screen. If something goes wrong, your child taps it and you instantly receive a notification with an emergency ringtone and their exact GPS position.

Yes. Filtering relies on a list of more than 630,000 sites sorted into 14 categories (adult content, violence, drugs, gambling and more), and it works directly on your child’s phone: the sites visited do not leave the device in order to be filtered. With the Premium plan, sites that are missing from that list are also analysed by artificial intelligence. You can of course add sites of your own to block or to allow.

When your child opens a site that appears on no list, Owly submits it to artificial intelligence. The AI gives it a category and a minimum age: 0, 6, 10, 13, 16 or 18. If your child is younger than that age, the site is blocked on their phone. The analysis takes a few seconds and its result is kept: the same site is never analysed twice.

No. Only the name of the site is sent for analysis, for example "example.com". Neither the content of the pages, nor your child’s identity, nor their location ever leaves Owly. The result of the analysis is then shared across all families, which limits the number of analyses and speeds up protection for everyone.

It can happen, and it is catered for. Every block is visible in the parent app together with the reason given, and an "Allow" button is enough to lift it. Your decision overrides the AI: it applies immediately and for good. When the analysis is not confident enough, Owly lets the site through rather than blocking it by mistake.

No, it is part of the Premium plan. The lower plans filter sites using lists and categories, which already covers most known content. Artificial intelligence takes over for everything no list knows about yet.

Yes, for the most part. Decisions already taken are kept on your child’s phone and keep applying offline, as does the blocking of searches about a dangerous topic. Only the analysis of a site that is still unknown needs a connection.

The Premium plan adds AI-powered website filtering, automatic blocking of apps that are not recommended for the age of the child, browsing and search history, cutting off the internet remotely, strict end of screen time, the weekly report, maximum protection against uninstallation and priority support. The up-to-date detail, plan by plan, is on the Pricing page.

Owly offers a free plan with the essential features. For the advanced features (web filtering, detailed statistics, unlimited safe zones and more), the Essential and Premium plans are available.

Yes, and without having to explain yourself. From the app settings you stop the renewal in two taps: no minimum term, no penalty. Your subscription simply runs to the end of the period you have already paid for (the end of the month if you pay monthly, the anniversary date if you pay yearly), then it stops and you are no longer charged. The remaining time is not refunded, and you of course keep the free plan afterwards.

The number of children depends on your plan and is shown on the Pricing page. Each child has their own profile with their own rules.