Downloads

Download it, check it, then test it.

This is the public download page. No invite, no sign-in, no secret link. The files below are the ones we run ourselves. Whether a given build carries a code signature, and on macOS an Apple notarization, is printed on its own card below, and the signing fingerprints those states refer to, with the command that prints the same value back to you, are further down the page. If what your own computer reports does not match what the card says, do not run the file, and tell us.

Go to the downloads Verify a download first

Two things to know before you plug anything in

Setting up an Android tablet usually erases it. Android hands its protected management role only to a device with no accounts signed in, so a tablet already in use has to be factory reset first — photos, apps, messages, downloads, all of it. There is no version of this that skips the reset, and it is not something to discover halfway through. A brand-new tablet straight out of the box is the one exception: run setup before you sign into anything and no reset is needed. Back up what matters now. The reset question, answered in full.

Use only spare Android test devices. These builds make real supervision changes on the connected tablet or phone: they take over its home screen and filter what resolves on it. The Windows PC or Mac running setup is a host only. Do not use the only child device in the house or anything whose data you cannot afford to lose.

What this can supervise, and what it cannot

Read this before you download. A supervised device is your child's. A parent device is the one you check in from, and it can be anything with a browser.

DeviceRoleHow it is set up
Android tablet or phone Supervised The setup app below, over a USB cable, after a factory reset. The child's app travels inside the installer — there is nothing for the tablet to download and nothing to find in a store.
Windows PC Setup host only Runs the setup app and connects to the compatible Android child device over USB. The PC itself is not protected.
Mac Setup host only Runs the same Android setup flow over USB. The Mac itself is not protected.
A child's iPhone or iPad Not supported There is no ParentProof for a child's iPhone or iPad and there is not going to be one. Apple grants no app the protected management role this depends on, so the restrictions could not reliably hold. If the device you need to supervise is an iPhone or iPad, ParentProof is not the product for it.
Your own phone or computer Parent The dashboard runs in any browser on any phone, tablet or computer. Sign in and you have the whole parent side.

The setup app

Choose the download for the Windows PC or Mac you will use to prepare a compatible Android child device over USB. The setup app does not lock down the computer it runs on. Version, size, checksum and signing state below describe the exact file the button hands you.

Loading download details…

There is no separate app to install on the child's tablet. The setup app carries the child app inside it and installs it across the cable during setup. Sideloading that app by hand does not grant it the management role, so none of the supervision holds — it is not a shortcut, it is a broken install.

Verify what you downloaded

This is security software that asks for administrator rights on your computer and total control of a tablet. You should not take our word for what is in the file. Everything below is a fingerprint of the signing identity — the part that does not change from build to build — paired with the command that prints it back to you. The per-file checksum is on the download card above, live from the manifest.

Windows

The Authenticode signature on a signed build is issued through Microsoft's Azure Trusted Signing service and countersigned with an RFC 3161 timestamp. Whether the exact file you are downloading carries one is stated on its card above, not asserted here.

Publisher Windows will show you
Eric MacDougall
Certificate chain it must lead back to
Microsoft ID Verified Code Signing PCA 2021, under Microsoft Identity Verification Root Certificate Authority 2020
Timestamp authority
Microsoft Public RSA Timestamping CA 2020

In PowerShell, in the folder you downloaded to:

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 ParentProof-Secure-Setup-Windows-*.exe

Get-AuthenticodeSignature ParentProof-Secure-Setup-Windows-*.exe |
  Format-List Status, StatusMessage, SignerCertificate

Expect Status to be Valid and the certificate subject to name Eric MacDougall. The hash must equal the one on the card above. Windows shows the same publisher in the User Account Control prompt, and under Properties, Digital Signatures. The issuer line will read Microsoft ID Verified CS … with a code that changes between builds — that part varying is normal.

Check the publisher name and the chain above, not a thumbprint. A fresh certificate is minted for every signing operation and the issuing intermediate rotates, so both change legitimately between builds. The publisher name and the chain do not.

macOS

A signed disk image carries an Apple Developer ID identity, is submitted to Apple's notary service, and has the resulting ticket stapled to it so the check still works with no network.

Signing identity
Developer ID Application: Eric MacDougall (2GS4QBP9ZR)
Apple team identifier
2GS4QBP9ZR

In Terminal:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/ParentProof-Secure-Setup-Mac-*.dmg

spctl -a -t open --context context:primary-signature -v \
  ~/Downloads/ParentProof-Secure-Setup-Mac-*.dmg

xcrun stapler validate ~/Downloads/ParentProof-Secure-Setup-Mac-*.dmg

Expect accepted with source=Notarized Developer ID, and The validate action worked! from the stapler. The hash must equal the one on the card above. Whether the exact file you are downloading was signed and notarized is stated on that card, not asserted here.

The child's Android app

You do not download this one — the setup app installs it across the cable — but it is the piece with the most power on the tablet, so its signing identity is published too. Android enforces this itself: once the app is installed, the tablet's own package manager refuses any update that is not signed by the same certificate, which is what stops a look-alike replacing it later.

Signer certificate SHA-256
cf8b546628e8df553898eb255273d3be67cd0477a48ea719df5b74ad131556c6
Certificate subject
CN=Eric MacDougall, O=Eric MacDougall, L=Langford, ST=BC, C=CA

With Android build-tools on your path, against the installed file:

apksigner verify --print-certs the-file-you-are-checking.apk

Expect the digest above under Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest.

If something does not match, stop. A hash that disagrees usually means an interrupted download, and fetching it again settles it. A publisher that disagrees has no innocent explanation — do not run the file, and tell us what you saw.

What setup actually looks like

About fifteen minutes for a tablet, most of it Android's own reset. Read it through before you start, because step two is the irreversible one.

  1. Factory reset the tablet

    Back up anything on it first. During Android's setup wizard afterwards, do not sign into any account and skip every account step — not just the Google one. Any single signed-in account, Samsung or Microsoft or the carrier's included, is enough to make Android refuse supervision, and you would be resetting a second time.

  2. Install the setup app on your own computer

    Your Windows PC or Mac, not the tablet. Verify it first if you want to; the commands are above.

  3. Plug the tablet in

    With a cable that carries data — a charge-only cable looks identical and will not work. Switch on USB debugging when the setup app asks, and accept the prompt that appears on the tablet.

  4. Let the setup app provision it

    The setup app checks the tablet, installs the child app and takes the management role. It does not ask for your ParentProof password or choose a child.

  5. Finish on the child device

    Connect Wi-Fi, sign in directly or scan its QR code, then create or choose the child and rules. Verification and two-step sign-in preserve the pending device identity, so success pairs that same device automatically.

One protected-device path

Run the setup app on your Windows PC or Mac and use it to prepare a child's compatible Android tablet or phone over USB. The Android device is the protected device; the computer is only the setup host.

The one thing worth watching closely

The dashboard distinguishes Pending… from Applied ✓, and the difference is the whole point: Applied means the device came back and confirmed the change, Pending means we asked and have not heard yet. A dashboard claiming a rule is in force when the tablet never received it is the most damaging bug this product can have.

A device that is switched off, in a drawer, or off the network holds at Pending… until it reconnects and confirms. If one ever reads Applied ✓ while it is powered down, tell us.

If something goes wrong

Use the report button rather than email — it reaches us with the state of the machine attached.

  • Setup app: Send to ParentProof in the bottom bar.
  • Dashboard: the Something not working? card.
  • The child's app reports its own crashes without you doing anything.

Say what you were trying to do in your own words. Leaving the technical box ticked lets us find the cause without asking you to make it happen again.

What setup doesSupported devicesSupport