Child Safety Standards

Effective date: 12 November 2026

Dearest is a private app for couples. Two adults pair their accounts and share notes, photos, doodles, moods and answers with each other. This page sets out our standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), how to report a concern, and what we do when we receive one. These standards apply to everyone who uses Dearest, on every platform.

1. Zero tolerance for CSAE

We do not tolerate child sexual abuse and exploitation of any kind. Using Dearest to create, upload, share, store or request any of the following is prohibited:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM): any image, video, drawing, text or other content that sexualises or depicts the sexual abuse of a person under 18, whether real, edited or computer-generated.
• Grooming: contacting, befriending or manipulating a minor in order to sexually abuse or exploit them, online or offline.
• Sexualising minors in any way, including sexual comments about a child or content that presents children in a sexual context.
• Sextortion: threatening to share intimate images of a minor, or coercing a minor into producing them.
• Trafficking a minor for sexual purposes, or advertising or soliciting a minor for sexual purposes.
• Linking to, promoting or arranging any of the above.

2. Who Dearest is for

Dearest is made for adult couples. You must be 18 or older to use it, and it is not directed at children. The App asks for your date of birth when you first open it and does not let anyone under 18 continue, and it also respects the age signals Google Play and Apple provide. There are no public profiles, no search for other users and no way to message strangers. An account only ever shares content with the one person it is paired with, and pairing needs a code from one person and the other’s acceptance.

3. How to report a concern

• In the app: use Report on a comment or a disappearing note or photo, or open Settings → Help and support to contact us. A report keeps that content safe from deletion while we review it.
• By email: write to safety@dearestlove.app with the subject “Child safety report”. Please describe what you saw and when. Do not attach or forward any image you believe shows a child being abused; describe it instead.

Anyone can report, whether or not they use Dearest. We read every child safety report and treat it as our highest priority.

If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local police or emergency services first. You can also report CSAM directly to the NCMEC CyberTipline, the Internet Watch Foundation, or in India the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.

4. What we do when we find or are told about CSAE

• We remove the content from our servers.
• We disable the accounts involved and stop them from pairing again.
• We report child sexual abuse material and exploitation to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and to the relevant law enforcement authorities, as the law requires.
• We preserve the information the law requires us to keep for an investigation, and share it with law enforcement only under a lawful request.

5. Complying with the law

We comply with the child safety laws that apply to us, including the obligation to report child sexual abuse material. We cooperate with law enforcement and child protection organisations investigating CSAE.

6. Child safety point of contact

Our designated contact for child safety matters, including questions about these standards and requests from law enforcement, Google Play or Apple, is safety@dearestlove.app.

7. Changes to these standards

We will update this page if our standards or processes change. The effective date at the top shows when it last changed.