Frequently asked questions

Reconnect Parenting is a structured coaching app for parents who are worried about their child's relationship with screens — gaming, social media, YouTube, or general device use.

It guides you through a 12-week programme built on evidence-based frameworks (Motivational Interviewing, Stages of Change, and Collaborative Problem Solving) that help you change the dynamic at home without turning every screen conversation into a war.

The app is entirely for you, the parent. Your child never downloads it or uses it. There is no surveillance, no device management, and no monitoring. The whole idea is that lasting change comes from shifting the relationship — not from adding more rules.

Parental control apps (Bark, Qustodio, Circle, etc.) monitor what your child does and let you set hard limits on their devices. They're useful tools — but they don't change behaviour, they manage it. The moment the controls go away (or your child figures out a workaround), the problem returns.

Reconnect Parenting takes a different approach. Instead of policing your child's device, we help you build the skills, conversations, and agreements that give your child genuine internal motivation to manage their own screen use. It's slower, but the results actually stick.

Many families use both: parental controls for immediate guardrails, and Reconnect Parenting for the longer-term relationship work.

No. Reconnect Parenting is a parent-only tool. Your child never downloads it, never creates an account, and is never tracked or monitored through it.

This is intentional. Research on behaviour change consistently shows that coerced participation — being forced to use an app someone else chose for you — undermines motivation. The programme works by changing what you do and say as a parent, which creates the conditions for your child to change.

Yes. The Game Lookup library is completely free with no account required — just go to reconnectparenting.app/game-lookup and search for any game.

When you create a free account, the first two weeks of the coaching programme are also included at no cost, giving you a real feel for how it works before you commit to anything.

There are two paid plans:

Core — $14.99/month (or $99/year, saving 45%). Includes the full 12-week programme, all frameworks, conversation scripts, the family agreement builder, emotion check-ins, screen time log, and game library.

Plus — $24.99/month (or $149/year, saving 50%). Everything in Core, plus the AI Coach for unlimited personalised guidance at any time.

Both paid plans include a 7-day free trial. See the full breakdown on the Pricing page.

Yes, absolutely. Cancel from inside the app or by emailing hello@reconnectparenting.app. No questions asked, no hoops to jump through.

If you cancel during your 7-day free trial, you won't be charged anything.

If you're not satisfied within the first 30 days of a paid subscription, email us at hello@reconnectparenting.app and we'll sort it out. We'd rather refund you than leave you feeling like you wasted money.

Yes. Invite your partner via a code or link. Both parents see the same children, boundary plans, screen time logs, and progress. Journals are visible but only you can write in yours. AI Coach conversations are completely private.

Yes. Both households can see the same data and coordinate through in-app messaging. Different households can have different rules — the app helps you focus on what you can control in your home.

That's OK. The programme works for a single parent too. Research shows that one consistent household is enough to make a meaningful difference.

Yes. We take privacy seriously. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and we never sell or share your personal information with third parties. You can read the full details in our Privacy Policy.

Because the app is parent-only, there is no data about your child stored in our systems — only what you choose to enter about your own observations and experiences.

The 12-week programme is a structured coaching journey that takes you from wherever you are right now — probably feeling stuck, reactive, or exhausted by the same arguments — to a place where you have a genuine plan, real tools, and a calmer relationship with your child around screens.

Each week has a theme, guided reading, a reflection exercise, and an action to take. Weeks are grouped into three phases: understanding what's actually going on (weeks 1–4), building new conversations and agreements (weeks 5–8), and sustaining the change long-term (weeks 9–12).

You set the pace. There's no penalty for taking a week at your own speed, and you can revisit any week at any time.

The Stages of Change (also called the Transtheoretical Model) is a well-established framework from addiction research. It describes the predictable stages people move through when changing a behaviour: Pre-contemplation (not yet seeing a problem), Contemplation (starting to wonder), Preparation, Action, and Maintenance.

The reason this matters for parenting is that most parents approach screen time as if their child is already in the Action stage — ready and willing to change. But if your child is in Pre-contemplation, lectures and rules don't land. They just create conflict.

The programme teaches you to identify which stage your child is in, and to use the right approach for that stage — which is dramatically more effective than a one-size-fits-all strategy.

This is one of the most common situations parents come to us with, and the programme addresses it directly. A child who says "I don't have a problem" is almost certainly in the Pre-contemplation or early Contemplation stage — and that requires a completely different approach than confrontation or rule-setting.

The Motivational Interviewing techniques taught in the programme are specifically designed for this situation. They help you hold conversations that gently build your child's own awareness of the problem without triggering defensiveness. It's slower than demanding change, but it's the only approach that actually works long-term.

This is addressed in the programme. Co-parent misalignment — one parent more worried than the other, or one more permissive — is one of the most common obstacles families face.

The programme includes guidance on how to get a sceptical partner curious rather than defensive, how to find shared values even when you disagree on specifics, and how to create a family approach that doesn't depend on perfect alignment. You can make significant progress even if you're the only parent working through the material.

Yes, though with some adjustments. With an adult child the dynamic shifts — you can't set rules or limits on their devices, and attempts to do so will damage the relationship. The programme's emphasis on Motivational Interviewing and collaborative conversation becomes even more important.

Parents of adult children who live at home (or who the parent is financially supporting) do have some natural leverage points, and the programme covers how to use those ethically and effectively. The frameworks work across all ages; the application just looks different.

You keep access to all the programme content and tools for as long as your subscription is active. Many parents revisit specific weeks when new situations arise — a new game, a new platform, a regression in behaviour, or a new child going through the same patterns.

The AI Coach (on Plus) remains available for ongoing support after the programme ends. And the Game Lookup library continues to be updated as new games are released.

Yes. The programme draws on three well-established, evidence-based frameworks:

Motivational Interviewing (MI) — developed by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick, with decades of research showing it's more effective than confrontation at building readiness to change.

Stages of Change (Transtheoretical Model) — developed by Prochaska and DiClemente, widely used in addiction medicine, health psychology, and behaviour change research.

Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) — developed by Dr Ross Greene, with strong evidence for reducing conflict and improving outcomes in families with behavioural challenges.

We're not a medical or clinical service. The app is a coaching tool, not therapy. But the frameworks we use have real scientific backing — they're not opinion or guesswork.

The AI Coach is a conversational assistant available on the Plus plan. It's trained on the same frameworks and content as the 12-week programme — Motivational Interviewing, Stages of Change, Collaborative Problem Solving — so it gives advice that's grounded in the same approach, not generic internet wisdom.

You can use it at any time of day or night: before a difficult conversation, in the middle of a crisis, or just to think something through. Ask it anything from "give me a script for tonight's conversation" to "why does my son shut down every time I bring up gaming?"

No. The AI Coach is a coaching tool, not a clinical service. It won't diagnose, treat, or provide mental health support for you or your child.

If you or your child are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition — depression, anxiety, addiction, or anything that's significantly affecting daily functioning — please speak to a qualified healthcare professional. The AI Coach can help you think through parenting conversations; it can't replace a therapist.

That said, for the specific challenge of screen time — understanding your child, finding the right words, staying calm in difficult moments — it's genuinely useful.

Almost anything related to your situation as a parent dealing with screen time. Some examples of things parents actually ask:

"My daughter screamed at me when I turned off the WiFi last night. How do I repair that and do it differently next time?"

"Write me a script for a calm conversation about setting a new games limit with my 14-year-old who hates being told what to do."

"My son says gaming is the only place he has friends. How seriously should I take that?"

"What stage of change do you think my kid is in based on what I've described?"

"My partner thinks I'm overreacting. How do I talk to them about this without it becoming a fight?"

Yes. Your conversations with the AI Coach are private to your account. We do not share conversation content with third parties. See our Privacy Policy for full details on how data is stored and used.

The AI Coach has access to the information you've entered in the app — your child's age, what platforms or games they use, where you are in the programme, and notes from your check-ins. The more context you give it in conversation, the more personalised its responses become.

It doesn't have a complete picture of your situation from the start — it works best as a back-and-forth conversation where you provide context as you go.

Game Lookup is a searchable library of games — currently 50+ and growing — with parent-focused information for each one. For every game you'll find: age ratings (ESRB, PEGI, ACB), an addiction risk assessment, what the game actually is (in plain language), what concerns parents most often raise, and what's actually worth knowing.

It's designed for parents who've heard their child talk about a game and have no idea what it is. No gaming knowledge required.

Yes, completely free. No account required. Go to reconnectparenting.app/game-lookup and search for any game in the library. No sign-up, no paywall, no credit card.

Our addiction risk scores are based on a structured assessment of game design features known to drive compulsive play. These include: variable reward schedules (loot boxes, random drops), social pressure mechanics (online multiplayer, team obligations, fear of missing out), infinite progression systems (no natural endpoint), monetisation loops, and notification / re-engagement systems.

A high risk score doesn't mean a game is bad or that your child will become addicted. It means the game is deliberately engineered to maximise engagement — and that extra awareness and boundaries are especially warranted.

ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) is the rating system used in the US and Canada. Common ratings: E (Everyone), E10+ (Everyone 10 and older), T (Teen, 13+), M (Mature, 17+), AO (Adults Only, 18+).

PEGI (Pan European Game Information) is used across Europe. Age labels: 3, 7, 12, 16, 18 — indicating the minimum recommended age.

ACB (Australian Classification Board) is used in Australia. Labels include G (General), PG (Parental Guidance), M (Mature, recommended 15+), MA15+ (strong content, under 15 not recommended), R18+ (restricted to adults).

These ratings reflect content (violence, language, themes) — not addictiveness or time-sink potential. A game rated E can still be highly engineered for compulsive play.

The current library covers 50+ of the most commonly played and most frequently asked-about games. We add new games regularly, prioritising the titles parents ask about most.

If a game you're looking for isn't in the library yet, email us at hello@reconnectparenting.app and we'll prioritise adding it. Plus subscribers get priority game requests.