For accountability partners

Being someone's accountability partner.

Someone you care about has decided certain sites are off-limits for them — starting with gambling — and they have asked you to help them hold that line. As their keyholder, you are the person who authorizes sensitive changes and can be alerted if protection is interfered with. You are support, not surveillance.

Private beta · The keyholder role
The keyholder role

What a keyholder actually does.

GuardianBlock only works because two adults agree to it. The protected adult sets up their own protection; you hold the one part they deliberately chose not to control alone.

  • Authorize sensitive changes

    When they want to loosen what is off-limits or step protection down, that change is routed to you for a yes or no. It is not a switch they can quietly flip in a weak moment.

  • Receive request and tamper alerts

    When they ask for an exception the active policy allows, the specific request and the reason they wrote come to you. If protection is paused, removed, or interfered with, you can be alerted where the device leaves evidence of it.

  • Be the steadier voice

    You are the version of their decision that is still there when the urge arrives. Mostly that means doing nothing — and, once in a while, saying a calm and honest no.

See how the whole model fits together

Accountability, not surveillance

You hold the line — you do not watch them.

GuardianBlock is built so a keyholder gets exactly what they need to help, and nothing that would turn the relationship into monitoring.

  • Whether protection is healthy

    Across their device: protected, offline, or needs attention — so you know the safeguard is actually running.

  • Explicit exception requests

    The specific site they asked to reach and the reason they chose to write — and only when they choose to send it.

  • Accountability alerts

    A heads-up where the device leaves evidence that protection was paused, removed, or interfered with.

  • Custom sites they chose to block

    The no-go sites they added themselves, so you can review a request to remove one.

What you never see

You never see their browsing history, the sites they visit, their searches, their keystrokes, or their screen. There is no activity feed, and there is not meant to be one. If your goal is to monitor someone, GuardianBlock is the wrong tool — and that is on purpose.

Read the plain-English privacy summary

Both of you opt in

Consent runs both ways.

Nobody is enrolled as a keyholder without agreeing to it. The protected adult invites you, and you accept in your own signed-in session after reading what the role does and does not include. Either side can step back — you can decline, and the person who invited you can withdraw the invitation.

How two-sided consent works

Choosing a keyholder

Who makes a good keyholder.

The right person is someone the protected adult trusts to be steady and discreet — and who is willing, once in a while, to be the one who says no.

People often choose a spouse or partner, a parent, a sibling, a close friend, or a sponsor or counsellor.

  • Steady, not punitive

    Someone who can hold a boundary without shaming. GuardianBlock speaks adult to adult, and the right keyholder matches that tone.

  • Reachable

    They will get the occasional request or alert and can respond within a reasonable time.

  • Asked openly

    The strongest version of this is a direct, honest conversation: “I have decided to stop, and I would like you to hold the key.” It is a request between adults, not a trap.

Sensitive actions

The important moments are designed to ask for a second factor.

Authorizing a change or stepping protection down is meant to be deliberate. These actions are designed to require a fresh sign-in and multi-factor authentication, so a sensitive change cannot be pushed through on a borrowed or unattended session.

The boundaries of the role

What being a keyholder is not.

  • You are not a monitor

    You do not get a window into their day. You see protection health and the requests they choose to send you — nothing else.

  • You do not operate their device

    There is no console where you reach across and run their machine. GuardianBlock does not hand a keyholder a way to operate, lock, or wipe someone else's computer.

  • You cannot make removal impossible

    Keyholder approval adds real friction and accountability, not a hard barrier. A local administrator can ultimately remove or bypass installed software — and if that happens, protection health changes and you can be alerted.

Common questions are answered in the FAQ

Asked to hold someone's key?

The best thing you can do next is talk with them. When GuardianBlock opens up, set it up together.

Request early access