This policy describes Parenting Path’s formal commitments to domestic violence survivors. It is not standard legal boilerplate. It is a policy statement written to be read and relied upon by two audiences: survivors who need to understand what protections they have, and attorneys, advocates, courts, and judges who need to verify those commitments formally.
This policy is read alongside our Privacy Policy. Where the Privacy Policy describes how we handle all user data, this policy addresses the specific safety design decisions we have made for users in DV situations. In any conflict between the two documents on a safety matter, this policy governs.
Who This Policy Is For
Approximately 23.5% of divorces in the United States involve domestic violence. That means a significant proportion of co-parenting families are situations where one parent poses a real physical risk to the other.
Standard co-parenting apps were not designed with this reality in mind. Their default behaviours — always-on location features, photo metadata containing GPS coordinates, app names visible on the home screen, notifications revealing message content — can actively endanger survivors.
This policy describes Parenting Path’s commitments to domestic violence survivors, the specific protections we have built, the limitations of those protections, and where to get help we cannot provide.
Our Core Commitments
The following commitments are formal policy. They are not marketing claims. They are commitments we make in writing and intend to be held to.
Your co-parent will never know Safety Mode is on.
The most important safety commitment in this entire policy: activating DV Safety Mode changes nothing visible to your co-parent. They see the same shared calendar, the same messages, the same expense records. Nothing in the shared interface changes. No notification is sent to them. The app functions identically for them.
This design requirement — co-parent invisibility of all protective features — guides every decision we make about Safety Mode.
GPS and location data are stripped from every photo, on every plan, always.
Every photo uploaded through any part of Parenting Path — including messages, expense receipts, court order scans, and profile photos — has all EXIF metadata stripped before storage. This includes GPS coordinates, device model, camera settings, and timestamps.
This is not a Safety Mode feature. It applies to every user on every plan, from day one, without any action on your part. You see a confirmation note after every image upload: “Location data removed.”
There are no exceptions to this rule. It is enforced at the server level before any photo is stored. No photo with GPS metadata is ever stored on our systems.
Location sharing is only available during defined exchange windows, never at other times.
We do not offer always-on location sharing. In Safety Mode, location sharing is disabled by default and requires explicit opt-in per exchange event. When enabled, it is visible to the co-parent only during the defined exchange window — 30 minutes before and after the scheduled exchange. Location history from that window is deleted from our servers immediately when the window closes. No permanent location record is created.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline’s Safety Net Project has documented that always-on location features in co-parenting apps conflict with safety planning for DV survivors. We designed our location feature in direct response to those findings.
The safety journal is encrypted on your device and inaccessible to us.
Your safety journal is encrypted on your device using AES-256-GCM encryption. The encryption keys are stored in your device’s secure hardware enclave. We receive only encrypted ciphertext. We cannot read your journal content. We cannot provide your journal content to law enforcement or in response to a subpoena because we do not hold it.
This is not a policy choice we could reverse — it is a technical architectural decision.
Safety features are permanently free on every plan.
The following safety features are available on the Free plan and will never be paywalled:
- Emergency Quick-Exit gesture
- EXIF metadata stripping on all photos
- Covert app display (decoy home screen icon)
- Notification privacy (generic content)
- App switcher blur
- DV Safety Mode activation
This is a permanent commitment. It will survive pricing changes, feature updates, and any future ownership changes to the company. We commit to it in writing in this policy.
The commitment that core safety features are permanently free cannot be reversed by a policy update. See Section 10 for the full statement.
Safety Mode — What It Does
DV Safety Mode is a full-system operational mode activated from Settings → Safety. When active, the following protections apply:
What Safety Mode Does Not Do
We are committed to honest disclosure about the limitations of our safety features.
Safety Mode does not prevent all monitoring. If your co-parent has installed spyware or a stalkerware app on a device you share with them, or if they have access to your iCloud account or Google account, they may be able to monitor your activity outside of Parenting Path. Safety Mode protects what happens inside the app. It does not protect against device-level monitoring tools.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline’s Technology Safety Project has resources on device security and stalkerware at techsafety.org.
Safety Mode does not prevent physical observation. If someone is physically watching your screen while you use the app, our notification privacy and app switcher protections reduce what they can see. But a person physically present can see what you are doing in the app. The Emergency Quick-Exit is designed for exactly this scenario.
DV advocate access through the portal is in development. Attorney and advocate access to your safety data (safety event log, message records, compliance violations) through the professional portal is in active development. In the interim, you can share your records by generating a court report and sharing a time-limited link with your advocate or attorney.
Safety Mode cannot verify the other party’s intentions. We cannot determine whether messages sent to you are part of a pattern of coercive control, regardless of their tone scores. Our AI tone analysis identifies language patterns — it is not a threat assessment tool.
Safety features do not replace a safety plan. Technology safety features are one component of a broader safety plan. We strongly encourage working with a DV advocate or organisation to develop a full safety plan. The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 can connect you with local advocates.
Account and Data Safety
5.1 Accounts can be deleted.
Unlike some co-parenting apps, Parenting Path accounts can be deleted. Account deletion is available from Settings → Danger Zone. After deletion, your account is immediately closed and you are logged out. Some data is retained for the periods described in our Privacy Policy (primarily because messages and permanent records may be needed by the other parent in ongoing proceedings).
5.2 Session management.
You can see every active login session and terminate any session remotely from Settings → Security → Active Sessions. New logins from unrecognised devices trigger an immediate alert to all other devices.
5.3 We do not require your personal email to be shared with your co-parent.
Your email address is used for login and account notifications. It is never shown to your co-parent in the shared interface. If you use a separate email address for safety reasons, you can configure a different notification address in your account settings.
5.4 Email notifications in Safety Mode use anonymous branding.
When DV Safety Mode is active, all emails from Parenting Path use the sender name “Documents” rather than “Parenting Path,” and use generic subject lines that do not identify the app by name. This applies to all email types, including billing emails.
Court Orders and Safety
If your court order includes provisions about which co-parenting app you must use, follow that order. If you need to use Parenting Path specifically for safety reasons, speak with your attorney about requesting a court order modification.
If your court order requires you to use a co-parenting app but does not name a specific product, Parenting Path satisfies that requirement with integrity-verified records, attorney portal access, and court-standard formatted reports.
If you are in a jurisdiction where the court is considering which co-parenting platform to recommend, we welcome communication from family court administrators or DV advocates to discuss our safety features. Contact partnerships@parentingpath.net.
Subsidy Program
We recognise that co-parenting apps ordered by courts are an added financial burden for families already under financial strain from the divorce process.
Domestic violence organisation codes
Registered DV organisations and shelters can obtain organisation codes that provide their clients with full Pro plan access at no cost. If you are working with a DV organisation, ask your advocate whether they have a Parenting Path code.
Court subsidy program
Courts can work with us to fund subscriptions directly for families in their jurisdiction. Court administrators should contact partnerships@parentingpath.net.
Financial hardship waivers
If you cannot afford the Standard or Pro plan and are in a DV situation, contact support@parentingpath.net. We will assess your situation and, where possible, apply a subsidy.
Core safety features remain free regardless of your plan. No safety feature described in Sections 2 and 3 requires a paid subscription.
Reporting Concerns
If you believe someone has used Parenting Path to stalk, harass, or endanger you, please:
- Contact us at safety@parentingpath.net. We treat safety reports with the highest priority and will respond within 24 hours on business days.
- Contact law enforcement. We will cooperate fully with law enforcement investigations in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable law.
- Contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. Their Technology Safety specialists can advise on technical safety steps alongside legal and advocacy support.
If you are a DV advocate, attorney, or law enforcement officer with safety concerns about a specific use of Parenting Path, contact safety@parentingpath.net. We have an expedited review process for safety-related requests.
Resources
The following organisations can provide support, advocacy, legal information, and technology safety guidance.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233Text START to 88788
Available 24/7, free, confidential
Technology Safety Project
National Network to End Domestic Violence
Device security and stalkerware resources
Policy Updates
This policy will be updated when we add, change, or remove safety features. We will notify users of material changes via in-app notification and email with at least 30 days notice.
Changes that reduce safety protections (for example, changing the EXIF stripping commitment) require at least 90 days notice and will be communicated directly to users who have DV Safety Mode enabled.
The commitment in Section 2.5 — that core safety features are permanently free — is unconditional. It cannot be reversed by a policy update.
Contact
For safety concerns, policy questions, court administrator enquiries, or financial hardship requests: