Safety measures
Last updated: September 7, 2026 · Ottawa private beta
Kidzo is a parent coordination app — not a taxi, not a marketplace, not 911. Neighbours share Tuesdays. The adults you approve make the plan and do the driving. This page is the honest list of how we keep that small and private, what a parent can do when something is wrong, and what we refuse to build.
If a child is in danger now, call emergency services. Kidzo does not dispatch, track live location, or replace a phone call. Email hello@kidzo.ca for anything that can wait.
The short version
- Parents drive. Kidzo never drives children.
- Groups are chosen. Nobody joins or sees a circle plan unless you invite or approve them.
- No live map. Pickup and drop-off are a parent’s tap, sent only to that group.
- No parent ratings. No stars, Super Parent, Most liked, or public 💙 score.
- You can go quiet or tell us. Use Don’t show this family to mute their 1:1 alerts and remove them from your suggestions, or Report this person so Kidzo can look. The chat stays open and group chats still ring.
1. Who Kidzo is for
The app is for parents and guardians. Kids do not have accounts. Children’s names, ages, booster notes, and emergency contacts exist only because their own parent typed them.
Ottawa and area, in private beta. Other cities are not available yet.
2. How a family gets near yours
- Invite or approve. A school or class match is a suggestion, not a membership. Both families say hi. Nobody is added automatically.
- New 1:1 chats are gated. A stranger cannot open a fresh private thread unless you already share a real graph — an accepted connection, a live group, a playdate you are both on, or an active neighbour class they posted.
- Guest browse can look at the public catalog. It cannot message parents.
- Home address stays hidden until a family accepts that specific plan.
- Neighbourhood label (for example “Alta Vista”) can be hidden in You → Privacy.
3. What you can do today when something is wrong
| Situation | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Unwanted hello | Decline. There is no public “declined” label. |
| Playdate that does not feel right | Pass (“Can’t this time”). Optional private note to the organizer only. |
| Group that went sour | Leave group. Wednesday’s ride is not cancelled for everyone else unless you change the week. |
| Neighbour class card | Report this post. Kidzo reviews it. The card can be taken down. That reports the listing, not a standing ban on the person. |
| Harassment, fake account, unsafe around kids | Use “Report this person” from the 1:1 chat menu, or email hello@kidzo.ca. We read every report. Reporting does not automatically hide the family. |
| Ride day, you are the driver | The kid ride card can show booster / notes and a tap-to-call for that child’s parent. That is a phone call, not a Kidzo alert. |
4. What we never build
Kidzo is not Facebook Marketplace. We will not put a public star, written review, or quality badge on a parent of children.
Refused, on purpose: Super Parent, Highly rated, Most liked, Trending, “New parent” as a quality mark, reliability %, points, credits, “your turn,” public 💙 totals, “how was your ride?” surveys, live GPS following, and operator-assigned replacement drivers.
Repeat coordination is the quality signal: they still share Tuesdays. Optional Thanks 💙 after drop-off is a moment, not a score. Playdate hearts sum the group, never a family.
5. Badges and labels you actually see
Nothing in Kidzo is a reputation badge. The chrome below is operational — facts about this plan or this moment, not a grade on a person.
| What it looks like | What it means |
|---|---|
| Tab dots (Carpool, Chats, Home bell) | Something needs a look. A presence dot, not a debt count. Playdate tab never blinks. |
| Unread count on a chat row | Messages you have not opened. Not “this parent is popular.” |
| Standing day on a group card (“Tuesdays”) | The day that family chose. Rhythm, not a score. |
| Playdate “answer” chip | You have not answered this invitation yet. |
| Booster seat / No booster | What the parent wrote, shown to the driver on ride day only. |
| Community post · not checked | A neighbour pinned a class. Kidzo has not background-checked them. Catalog City/studio rows are different — those are listings, not neighbour cards. |
| This class looks full | A catalog snapshot hint. Not a parent rating. |
| Connected profile facts | After you are connected: settled pickups driven, families in a shared circle, member since. Strangers see none of this. Still not stars. |
A “Verified parent / Reliable driver / Eco champion / Early adopter” list exists only as unused constants in code. It is not shown anywhere and will not ship as badges.
6. Honesty on neighbour classes
Every neighbour class card carries a ring tag that it is not checked. The detail opens with: Kidzo has not checked the poster’s background. Payment stays between the two of you. Catalog rows from the City or a studio do not wear that banner — you leave Kidzo to register there.
7. Privacy that is also safety
- No always-on tracking. No advertising SDK. No selling data.
- Chat and circle facts stay inside the families on that plan.
- You can delete your account in You → Delete account.
- Full detail: Privacy policy.
8. The people-safety valve
These controls are now part of Kidzo:
- Don’t show this family — they drop out of your hellos and invite pool, and their 1:1 pings go quiet. The thread stays so pickup facts are not lost. You can Show again. They are not notified.
- Report this person — quiet sheet, policy chips, operator queue. Not a public 1★. Not auto-hide.
- Freeze / Unfreeze — admin only, no public label. Stops new hellos, new 1:1s, and new class posts.
You can also email hello@kidzo.ca. We would rather look than wait.
9. Contact
Safety, harassment, a fake account, or anything this page did not answer: hello@kidzo.ca.
Related: Privacy · Terms · Trust on the home page.