Policy centre: the 12 policies

Each policy in plain English. The Privacy Notice and Terms of Service have their own full pages.

Safeguarding Policy

The tools you have to protect yourself and your children

• BothWays can't respond to emergencies or contact the police for you. If you or a child are in danger, call 999.
• Safety mode, quick exit, pausing contact, reporting and evidence packs are free for everyone.
• Reported messages are never deleted. They're marked as reported in your exports, and an evidence pack gives you them in one PDF for the police or a court.
• We never tell the other parent when you use a safety feature.

AI Use Policy

What our tone suggestions do, and don't do

• AI only suggests calmer wording. It never changes or blocks a message by itself.
• The same rules apply to both parents.
• Your messages are never used to train AI models.
• You can switch suggestions off in Settings.

Acceptable Use Policy

The rules everyone agrees to

• No threats, harassment, abuse, hate or sharing private images.
• Urgent is only for a child's health or safety.
• No fake accounts or false information.
• Breaking the rules can limit your account, but the record is always kept.

Data Retention Policy

How long we keep things

• Your account data is kept while your account is open.
• Personal details are deleted as soon as you close your account, and from backups within 30 days.
• Shared messages stay in your co-parent's sealed record.
• Security logs, such as a record of every action BothWays support takes, are kept for 12 months and then deleted automatically.

Security Overview

How your data is protected

• UK data centres, encryption in transit and at rest.
• Your private journal is end-to-end encrypted.
• No routine access by us. Every access is logged and shown to you.
• Every server change is reviewed and tested before it goes live. When an independent security test has been done, we'll say so here.

Court Requests Policy

What happens if a court or the police ask

• We only release data when a valid court order or legal duty requires it.
• We tell you about a request unless the law stops us.
• We release only what the order covers, nothing more.
• Sharing children case papers is limited by FPR 12.73 and PD 12G.

Online Safety Statement

Our duties under the Online Safety Act 2023

• We assess the risk of illegal content and harm, and review it every year.
• Anyone can report content, and we read the reports.
• Reported content stays in the sealed record as evidence, marked as reported. We can limit or close accounts that break our rules.
• You can appeal any decision we make about your account through Support in the app.

Children's Data Notice

How we handle information about your children

• Children never have their own accounts.
• We collect only what both homes need, such as school and health details.
• We follow the ICO Children's Code and never use children's data for marketing.
• Either parent can see and correct the children's details.

Cookie Policy

Our website and web app

• Our website uses no cookies at all, and the app has no tracking.
• No advertising or tracking cookies, ever.
• If we ever add analytics, it will be off until you agree.

Accessibility Statement

Making BothWays work for everyone

• We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA.
• Works with VoiceOver, TalkBack and larger text sizes.
• Tell us about any barrier through Support in the app.

Complaints Procedure

If something goes wrong

• Tell us through Support in the app. We aim to reply within 2 working days and to resolve it within 14.
• If you're still unhappy, we look at it again from the start.
• For data concerns you can also contact the ICO at ico.org.uk.

Transparency Report

Published every year

• How many court and police requests we received.
• How many reports we reviewed and what we did.
• Uptime, security incidents and every time we accessed data.
• The first report is published within 12 months of launch.