Squiggle is built around one idea: a kid should be able to use it alone — quietly, in a corner of the couch — without you having to look over their shoulder.
No social, no chat, no strangers
Squiggle has no accounts, no friends list, no chat, no comments, no community feed, no DMs, no public profiles. Your child cannot communicate with anyone — kid or adult — through the app. There is no inbox, no inviting friends, no joining shared rooms.
The only "audience" for your child’s drawings is your family.
No user-generated content
Everything that appears inside Squiggle — the starter words, the library drawings, the scenes, the mascot — is hand-curated by us. There is no inbox of stranger submissions, no random art feed, no content pulled from social platforms or the wider web.
Each library drawing is reviewed by a human before it ships. We err on the side of warm, gentle, age-appropriate imagery — animals, fruit, vehicles, faces, weather. No violence, no scary content, no political imagery, no commercial logos.
No ads, no third-party SDKs
Squiggle contains zero advertising. We don’t use Facebook SDK, Google Analytics, AppsFlyer, Mixpanel, Branch, or any other third-party tracking, attribution, or advertising SDK.
Nothing inside the app routes data to a third party. The only network calls Squiggle makes are to our own library server (to fetch curated drawings) and to Apple (to validate the Family subscription).
No surprise purchases
The Family plan is the only paid thing in Squiggle, and you can only subscribe through Apple’s standard App Store purchase flow. Your child cannot accidentally buy anything; iOS requires Face ID, Touch ID, or your Apple password to confirm any purchase.
The subscribe button itself is in a parent-only area, hidden behind a simple math problem.
Parental controls
The parent area inside Squiggle is gated behind a small math problem only adults can solve in a hurry. From there you can:
- Set or change your child’s age (3–6)
- Adjust the daily screen-time limit (see Screen time)
- Clear the album or delete individual drawings
- Manage your Family subscription
Lock the iPad to Squiggle (Guided Access)
If you want a stronger guarantee that your child can’t wander out of Squiggle — into Settings, the App Store, YouTube, anywhere else — turn on Apple’s built-in Guided Access. It locks the iPad to whichever app is open until you triple-click the side button and enter your passcode.
It’s what most of us on the Squiggle team use with our own kids. It’s free, baked into iPadOS, and takes about a minute to set up. Apple has a clear walkthrough here: Use Guided Access on iPad.
Once it’s on, you can also use Guided Access to:
- Disable specific areas of the screen by circling them with your finger.
- Lock the volume buttons and the sleep/wake button.
- Disable the keyboard or motion sensors.
- Set a session time limit (more on that in Screen time).
COPPA, GDPR-K, and similar regulations
Squiggle is designed for children ages 3 to 6 and is built to comply with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the EU’s GDPR provisions for children, the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code, and similar children’s privacy regulations worldwide.
See the Privacy Policy for the full details on what we collect (almost nothing) and what stays on the iPad (everything).
Reporting a concern
If you find something in Squiggle that doesn’t feel right for your kid — a library drawing that surprised you, a UX flow that felt off, a copy line that seemed insensitive — please email hi@squigglepad.com and we’ll investigate quickly.
We treat every report from a parent as a priority.