Features
Every feature, called out.
We build slowly, on purpose. Every feature in Shoal is here because we thought a family would need it. Here's what's in the app today.
The walled garden
Multiple families, one account
Belong to as many families as your life requires. Switch between them with a tap.
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Children without an email address
Children don't need an email or a password to use Shoal. A family admin adds them to the family, and they appear in the picker on every family device.
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Family devices
A family admin signs in on a shared phone or tablet, marks it as a family device, and the children in the family can use it to chat.
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Admin oversight, by design
Family admins can see children's conversations because the cryptography is built that way — not because of a back door.
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Cross-Family Conversations
Two children can chat across families — when both sets of family admins say yes.
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Shaped for each child
Skins
One app, shaped to fit each child — a voice-and-video interface for pre-readers, a fuller one for confident readers, and the standard app for teens and grown-ups. Everyone stays in the same conversations.
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Time limits and schedules
Set the hours when chat is available — different rules for weekdays, weekends, and school holidays — so screen time has a clear beginning and end.
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Optional moderation
Block links, block or flag specific words — set per child, off by default. A second layer alongside admin oversight, only when you want it.
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Everyday messaging
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Message statuses you can trust
Queued, sent, received, read. Every message tells you exactly where it is — whether you're online, your recipient is online, or you're both on different trains.
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Voice notes
Record a message, send it like any other. Transcription is optional and happens on your device — our servers never see decrypted audio or text.
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Voice and video calls
One-to-one voice and video calls, inside the same walls as everything else — your child can only call the people you've already approved.
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Works when the internet doesn't
Read your last conversations, write new messages, send them when you're back online. Shoal stays useful through tube journeys, school Wi-Fi blackspots, and that bit of the kitchen where the signal dies.
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Install on any device
Shoal is a Progressive Web App. Install it, get push notifications, work offline. No store required.
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Real-time push notifications
Get notified when it matters. Without any of your messages passing through a third-party push service in plaintext.
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Private & yours
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Strong encryption, explained honestly
Messages are encrypted on the sending device and decrypted on the recipients'. Almost everything else we store is encrypted at rest. We're upfront about the one architectural caveat that's worth knowing.
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Magic-link sign in
No passwords. No "what was my password" tickets. No password reuse risk.
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Sessions you can revoke from anywhere
See every signed-in device on your account. If a phone is lost, stolen, or just sold, lock it out — open connections close the moment you revoke, offline ones can't reconnect.
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Leave or delete, on your terms
Leave a family. Delete a family. Delete your whole account. Each one is a few taps, an email confirmation, and — where it matters — a clear warning about anything that can't be undone.
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