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Hand your family a phone, with a guard built in.

KindChat is an encrypted messenger from Berlin that checks your messages for scams, bullying and grooming and holds back on your phone what it recognises, before it reaches your family. Hosted in Germany. Texts, images, videos and (from version 1.1.14) documents are checked on the phone before they are sent and when they arrive.

José Díaz is the father of school-age children. He had no idea how much gets passed around in class chats that is not for children, pictures and videos included. Hate, insults and bullying happen there every day. And the child reads a message like that at half past ten at night, alone.

He did not want to control his children. They should keep their privacy. But a message like that should not arrive in the first place.

That is how KindChat began, a messenger from Berlin. KindChat checks texts, images, videos and (from version 1.1.14) documents on the device before they are sent and when they arrive. When the app recognises an insult or a threat, it holds it back and shows the sender the rule they broke. When it recognises unwanted pictures or pornography, it blocks them before they reach the recipient. Nobody joins a group without an invitation. Messages and media are end-to-end encrypted, and calls are when both people have KindChat 1.1.14 or newer; with an older version a call stays encrypted, without key confirmation. Not end-to-end: our server reads messages to KindChat Support, a report hands over the reported message, and display names, group names, group pictures and reactions are not yet end-to-end encrypted.

The check runs on the child's phone before anything goes out, and again on the phone that receives the message. The servers are in Germany. Checking, reporting, blocking and crisis help are free for everyone.

  • Checked on your phone. Texts, images, videos and (from version 1.1.14) documents are checked before they are sent and when they arrive, first on the device; if the phone is unsure, cannot yet judge the language on its own, or lacks the memory for it, it gets a second opinion from our own server in Germany, with the messages before it and without the account ID. The recipient's phone checks again.
  • End-to-end encrypted on the way. With the Signal Protocol, including post-quantum key exchange (Kyber-1024 PQXDH).
  • From Berlin, hosted in Germany at Hetzner. Messages and media between users sit on the servers only in encrypted form; we hold no key to them. Stored in readable form: what someone writes to Support or reports; pseudonymised text versions, only with consent (“Help improve moderation”); data such as the phone number, display name, status, group name, group description and welcome message, and emoji reactions. No tracking.
  • Every held message names the rule that applied. The sender sees it and can change the message. No silent censorship.
  • Nobody gets in without your yes. There is no number search, no public directory and no address book upload.
  • On your own from 16, in India from 18. Under 16 it is only possible in the European Economic Area, the US and Canada, and only with a parent code inside an adult's Care Circle. What counts is the country of the phone number.
"I want to offer my children a safe place to communicate. A place where I have a clear conscience too, where I do not feel the need to control, and where my child gets to keep their privacy."

José Díaz, founder of KindChat (translated from German; original wording available on request)

José Díaz is currently presenting KindChat to parents, schools and child-protection organisations. Parents' councils and schools from several German states have invited him. The meetings are under way, and new ones are being added all the time.

At the same time the EU is still negotiating the permanent CSA Regulation, known in the debate as "chat control". It has not been adopted. What was adopted in July 2026 is only the temporary Regulation (EU) 2026/1881. It allows providers to scan voluntarily until April 2028 and expressly excludes end-to-end encrypted communication.

For José Díaz, child protection and encryption are not a contradiction. KindChat holds back the harmful messages it recognises before they reach anyone, and needs no master key to do it. A block alone triggers no report. KindChat passes a reported suspicion of child sexual abuse material on to the authorities once a person has reviewed it and judged it well founded.

In the press

presse@kindchat.app

José Díaz is available for calls and interviews. Just tell us when it suits you.

José Díaz, founder

sonrisa ventures GmbH
Kleiststraße 35
10787 Berlin, Germany

App screenshots (iPhone)

Four images per language, 1284 × 2778 pixels, PNG.

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KindChat is a Berlin messenger for iPhone and Android. The app checks texts, images, videos and (from version 1.1.14) documents on the device before they are sent and when they arrive, and holds back what it recognises as an insult, a threat, a scam or an unwanted picture. Messages and media are end-to-end encrypted (Signal Protocol), and calls are when both people have KindChat 1.1.14 or newer; not end-to-end are Support chats, reported messages, display names, group names, group pictures and reactions. Hosted in Germany, no tracking. Nobody joins a group without an invitation. Checking, reporting, blocking and crisis help are free for everyone. A product of sonrisa ventures GmbH, Berlin.