A private clubhouse for the kids you love
Porchlight gives each child their own little corner of the internet, where they play games, write stories, draw, read and chat with the people their family trusts. Nobody else can find them, message them or get in.
The trusted circle
A guardian or the family admin decides who's in each child's circle. There's no search box, no friend requests and no public profile, so strangers have no way to find a child in the first place.
Kids can't add anyone. Each new person is approved by a guardian or the admin.
Choose what each person can do with your child: chat, group chat, games, stories, sharing drawings, voice messages and times of day.
Cousins in two different families can play together once both sets of guardians say yes.
What's inside
Everything lives on the family's own server. Most of it works offline too, so a weak signal doesn't end the fun.
Take turns from anywhere, or play the computer. Chess comes first, with a teacher that reviews each move and shows better options.
A grown-up writes a few sentences, then it's the child's turn, back and forth until "The End." Finished stories become illustrated books on their shelf.
Draw and write with crayons, markers, stickers and typing. Share any page with people in the circle, who can send back a heart or a note.
A built-in e-reader with age-rated books. It remembers their page, reads aloud and lets them adjust the text size.
Private and group chats with people in the circle, protected by automatic safety checks that alert a guardian when something needs a grown-up.
Kid-safe helpers that suggest story ideas, explain a chess move or help with spelling. They're buttons, not a chatbot, and they can't search the internet.
Rated by age
Guardians choose which age groups a child can use, and Porchlight suggests things that fit the child's age.
Ratings are a starting point. A guardian can allow a single game outside a child's age group, or hide one that's inside it.
Safety checks
Porchlight reads messages, shared pages and story turns for warning signs, from anyone in the circle, adults included. Each guardian chooses how strict it is for each child.
| Category | Little (3-7) | Kid (8-10) | Tween (11-13) | Teen (14-17) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuss words | Block | Nudge | Log | Log |
| Insults and bullying | Block | Block | Nudge | Nudge |
| Personal info | Block | Block | Block | Notify |
| Adult topics | Block | Block | Block | Block |
| Sadness and distress | Notify | Notify | Notify | Notify |
| Grooming warning signs | Urgent | Urgent | Urgent | Urgent |
| Meeting in person | Urgent | Urgent | Urgent | Notify |
| Self-harm | Urgent | Urgent | Urgent | Urgent |
Example starting presets. There are 16 categories in all, including hate speech, drugs and vaping, scams, body image and running away. Categories marked with a lock can't go below "Notify."
Our Story
Stories go back and forth like a game of catch. When it's the child's turn, they get a notification. When it's done, it goes on their bookshelf.
Write the opening, or spin the story cards for a character, a place and a problem.
Each turn adds a few sentences and, if they like, a drawing. Little ones can speak their turn or pick a picture.
The finished story gets a cover, pages and a read-aloud button, and can be printed as a keepsake.
One night the moon woke up and found that her glow was gone. The owls couldn't see, and the fireflies were too small to light the whole sky.
So the fireflys had a meeting and they decided to fly all the way up to the moon in a big line!
It was a very long way. Halfway up, the smallest firefly got tired and started to fall...
For grown-ups
Each child's guardians get their own dashboard. When two guardians choose different settings, the stricter one wins.
A message with a phone number was stopped before it was delivered.
Privacy by design
It runs on the family's own server, not a big company's platform. There's nothing to sell and no one to sell it to.
Works where they are
Add it to the home screen from the browser and it opens like any other app.
Games against the computer, the notebook and downloaded books all work without internet, and sync when the signal comes back.
A parent scans a QR code once. Little ones can use a picture password instead of typing.
Questions
They're invited. The family admin creates accounts, and guardians choose who goes in each child's circle. There's no public sign-up page to find.
Yes, if the guardians on both sides allow it. Until then, the two families can't see each other at all.
A guardian or the admin signs that device out from the dashboard, and it immediately loses access.
Guardians can see chats and shared pages, and kids are told that openly. Older kids can keep private diary pages, but the safety checks still run on them, so a serious warning sign still reaches a guardian.
The optional helpers use Claude by Anthropic with strict, locked instructions for children. They can't search the internet, answers are checked before a child sees them, and they stay off unless a guardian turns them on for that child.
Some are built into Porchlight so they follow the circle and safety rules automatically. Others are well-known open-source games, hosted privately on the family's server with chat turned off or passed through the same safety checks.