Child Safety Standards

Last updated: September 8, 2026

Yapply is a private, moderated chat app built for church and youth groups. Because young people use Yapply, child safety is not a feature we added — it is the reason the app exists in the form it does. This page sets out our standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), and how we enforce them.

Zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation

Yapply strictly prohibits child sexual abuse and exploitation of any kind. This includes, without limitation:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — any depiction of a minor in a sexually explicit or sexualised manner, in any format, including images, video, drawings, and text.
• Grooming — building a relationship with a minor to enable sexual abuse or exploitation, including attempts to move a conversation off Yapply for that purpose.
• Sextortion — threatening to expose intimate material to coerce a minor.
• Sexualisation of minors, including sexual commentary about a child.
• Trafficking of minors, and any solicitation, advertisement, or facilitation of the above.
• Sharing, requesting, or linking to CSAM, or directing anyone to it.

These rules apply to every part of Yapply — hub channels, direct messages, voice and video calls, screen sharing, display names, profile pictures, and uploaded files.

What happens when someone violates these standards

We act on violations when we become aware of them. Depending on severity, we will remove the content, remove the account from the community, and permanently ban the account. We do not require a pattern of behaviour before acting on CSAE — a single violation is enough.

Where we obtain actual knowledge of apparent child sexual abuse material, we remove it and report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and we cooperate with law enforcement as required by applicable law.

How to report

In the app: press and hold any message to report or block the person who sent it. Reports go to our moderation team and, where relevant, to the leaders of that community. You do not need to leave the app to make a report.

By email: [email protected]. Please include enough detail for us to find the account or message. Reports concerning a child's safety are prioritised over all other support.

If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. In the United States, you can also report directly to the NCMEC CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678.

How Yapply is built to protect minors

• Communities are invite-only. Hubs are not open to the public — someone must be given a code or link by a leader to join.
• Age is collected and enforced. Every account provides a date of birth. Age determines what an account can do, and accounts without a confirmed age band cannot start new direct conversations.
• Under-13 accounts require verified guardian consent before they can be used, in line with COPPA.
• Messages are automatically screened. Content is checked by automated moderation before it reaches other users, and links are scanned. Flagged content raises an alert to moderators.
• Leaders have moderation tools — removing messages, removing members, and reviewing moderation alerts for their community.
• Blocking and reporting are always available to every user, on every message.
• Accounts can be deleted permanently from Profile → Delete Account.

Legal compliance

Yapply complies with applicable child safety laws in the jurisdictions where it operates, including obligations relating to the reporting of child sexual abuse material. We respond to valid legal process from law enforcement.

Contact

Questions about these standards, or to reach the person responsible for our CSAE prevention practices, email [email protected] with "Child Safety" in the subject line.

These standards apply to the Yapply app and to Yapply as a service. They sit alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.