How Zap protects kids.

1. Zap Kid accounts are created by a parent or guardian, never by a child

• Kids cannot sign up on their own. A Zap Kid account can only be created by a parent or guardian from their own Zap account. There is no self-signup path for children.
• Every guardian is identity-verified. Opening a Zap account requires a government-issued photo ID scan and a matching selfie, checked by our identity partner. There is no other way to create a Zap account.
• Guardians must be adults. The guardian's age is read from their verified ID, and only adults 18 and older can create a Zap Kid.
• One person, one identity. An ID document can back only one Zap account, so one person can't create extra accounts to get around our rules.
• A card on file. A guardian must have a payment method on file before creating a Zap Kid, which adds another layer of accountability.
• Only real adult accounts can create kids. A Zap Kid, a patient account or a school-managed account can never create a Zap Kid. Accounts opened by Zap staff must pass the same ID check before they can create one.
• Realistic ages only. A Zap Kid's birthday must fall between ages 5 and 17. When a Zap Kid turns 18, their account automatically becomes an ordinary adult account.
• A limit per family. A guardian can add up to six Zap Kids.

2. Parents and guardians stay in control

• Everything starts switched off. Every feature a Zap Kid could use (messaging, the kids' feed, the Zap Map, riding with others) is off until a guardian turns it on. That choice is how we obtain a parent's consent for their child, as the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) asks.
• Every change is recorded. Each time a guardian changes a permission, it is logged.
• Guardians see their kid's world. A guardian can view their Zap Kid's friends, see exactly what their kid's feed shows, remove any friend, and receive live updates when their kid is picked up and dropped off.
• Kids under 12 don't sign in at all. Younger children never have their own login. Their guardian books and manages everything for them.
• Kids 12 and older have their own login. A Zap Kid signs in with their own username and a passcode they create themselves. The first sign-in, and any passcode reset, needs a one-time setup code from their guardian that expires after 24 hours. No one can sign in as a Zap Kid with an ID number alone.

3. Adults can't pose as kids

We design against the most serious risk a family app faces: an adult pretending to be a child.

• Only verified adults can create Zap Kids (see section 1), so anyone who creates a Zap Kid is an identified, accountable person.
• One device, one kind of user. The first time Zap or Zap Chat opens on a phone, it asks whether that phone belongs to an adult or a kid. The answer is locked for all of our apps on that phone, and a kid account and an adult account can't be signed in on the same phone.
• Kids can't be searched for. Zap Kids never appear in people search or username search, and strangers cannot look them up.
• Zap IDs aren't passwords. A person's Zap ID is a verification number, like a state ID, used by our support team. It is never a way to sign in, and Zappers never see a rider's Zap ID or birth date.

4. Who a Zap Kid can talk to

• Only their guardian and their friends. A Zap Kid can message their own guardian and other Zap Kids they are connected with. Adults other than their guardian cannot message a Zap Kid.
• Friends are made in person. Two Zap Kids connect by sharing a one-time Friend Code, which lasts 24 hours and works once. Kids can't be found or added by strangers.
• Guardians are told about every new friend. When a Zap Kid connects with another kid, their guardian is notified right away. The notice shows the other child's guardian's name and has one-tap Remove and Block. New friendships are highlighted for 48 hours. Repeated wrong Friend Codes are locked out.
• Group chats are safe by design. A group can only include people who are each allowed to message one another, so an adult can't reach a child through a group.
• Zappers don't chat with kids. The in-trip chat between a rider and their Zapper is turned off for Zap Kids.
• Quiet hours. Guardians can set quiet hours, when a Zap Kid can't post and their notifications stay silent.

5. What Zap Kids can see and share

• A kids-only feed. Zap Kids use the Kids Circuit, a feed made only by and for kids. Kids never see public or adult posts, Reels, Trails, event invites or photos from the Zap Map.
• Only friends and classmates. A kid's posts are seen by their guardian, their friends, and kids at their current school. A guardian picks the school from a verified list of real schools, the school feed opens seven days after a school is set or changed, and every change is recorded and sent to the guardian.
• Posts disappear. Kids' posts expire after seven days.
• No locations in posts. Kids can't attach addresses, places, Trails or invitations to their posts.
• No photo tags. Zap Kids can't be tagged in photos and can't tag others.
• No photos or videos from kids yet. Photo and video sharing is switched off for every conversation that includes a Zap Kid, and for kids' posts. It stays off until our dedicated child-safety image-matching tools are approved and running.
• No reviews, events or public places. Zap Kids don't write public reviews, join public events or drop public pins, and places marked adults-only are hidden from them.

6. Location and the Zap Map

• Location is shared only with people a guardian approved. A Zap Kid's location is visible to their own guardian. Their friends can see it only if both kids' guardians have turned on map sharing.
• Kids' pins are private. Any spot a Zap Kid marks on the map is visible only to people they choose from their approved circle, never to the public.
• No matching with strangers. Zap Kids are never matched with strangers for carpools, shared rides or commute groups.

7. Safe rides and handoffs

• Kids ride with approved people only. A Zap Kid can share a ride only with their guardian, an adult the guardian has approved as a ride companion (for a set time, and revocable at any moment), or other kids who are their Family or Friends. Cousins and siblings count as Family.
• Supervised pickups and drop-offs. Every pickup and drop-off of a Zap Kid is confirmed: the Zapper checks the kid's code, or the guardian confirms by phone, and the guardian gets a live message showing how it was confirmed. Drop-offs can include a photo visible only to the kid's own guardian.
• Unusual handoffs are flagged. Repeated phone-confirmed handoffs are flagged to our team for review.
• Home addresses stay private. When kids share a ride, other riders never see where another child lives.
• Zappers are Zap employees. Zappers are employees of The Zap Company, not independent contractors. Riders see their Zapper by first name and Zapper ID, for example "Your Zapper is Michael · Zapper Z‑4K7Q2M", so any trip can be reported precisely.

8. No marketing, ads or spending aimed at kids

• No marketing to kids, ever. Zap Kids never receive promotions, passes, referral pitches, special offers or "we miss you" messages. Our servers block them.
• Kids don't pay or split costs. Zap Kids never pay for anything, never split costs, and never receive requests for money. Their Wallet is read-only.
• Kids don't give or receive paid favors. Kids can't receive "Zap Send" rides from other adults, and can't take part in carpool matching, Zig-Zag trips or friend-of-a-friend pools.

9. Reporting, blocking and how we respond

• Report and block from anywhere. Every message, post, comment, Moment, Reel, photo, place and person can be reported, and anyone can be blocked. A block works both ways, ends any connection, and the blocked person isn't told.
• Reported posts come down immediately. A reported kids' post is hidden right away while a person on our team reviews it.
• Community Guidelines first. Everyone must agree to our Community Guidelines before they can post, message or comment, and we have zero tolerance for abuse.
• Guardians are told. A guardian is notified when their Zap Kid reports or blocks someone.
• Evidence is preserved. When a report involves a Zap Kid, the whole conversation is preserved in protected storage that no user can delete or edit, for at least one year. The child's guardian can read that conversation, and we can provide it to law enforcement.
• Warning signs are flagged. Messages involving a Zap Kid that try to move the conversation to another app, or that contain sexual content, are flagged for our safety team.
• Private messages stay private, with one exception. Zap staff can open a private conversation only for a safety concern, a legal requirement or a guardian's request. Every access is recorded in a permanent log.

10. Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)

• Zero tolerance. Child sexual abuse material and any sexualization of minors are strictly prohibited on Zap.
• Every upload is scanned. Photos and videos are scanned before anyone else can see them. Content matching known abuse material is blocked, and suspected material is held for review.
• We report to the authorities. Apparent CSAM is reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), as U.S. law requires. Offending accounts are removed, and the evidence is preserved for law enforcement.

11. Privacy and data

• We collect only what's needed. We collect only the information a Zap Kid's account needs to work, and a guardian controls it.
• Guardians can delete accounts. A guardian can delete a Zap Kid's account, and any user can delete their own account from inside the app.
• No end-to-end encryption on kids' conversations. We intentionally do not end-to-end encrypt conversations that include a Zap Kid, so abuse can be detected, investigated and reported.

12. Meeting the law and app store rules

We design Zap to meet:

• COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act): parental consent before a child's account or features are used, parental control over and access to the child's information, and deletion on request.
• U.S. federal reporting law (18 U.S.C. § 2258A): reporting apparent child sexual abuse material to NCMEC and preserving related evidence.
• Apple App Store Review Guidelines: a way to filter objectionable content, report it and block abusive users in every place people can post (Guideline 1.2), and account deletion inside the app (Guideline 5.1.1).
• Google Play policies: the User Generated Content and Child Safety Standards policies, including these published standards, in-app reporting, action against CSAM, compliance with child safety laws, and a designated child safety contact (below).

13. Where we go beyond the rules

The law and the app stores set a minimum. We choose to go further:

14. Contact our child safety team

If you believe a child is in danger, call 911 first.

To report a child safety concern on Zap, use Report anywhere in the app, or contact our child safety team at thezapcompany@zapco.xyz. Reports involving a child are reviewed first.

Law enforcement requests: thezapcompany@zapco.xyz

Last updated: September 29, 2026