For parents
Last updated 15 November 2026
Keyfisher is a puzzle game made to be suitable for all ages. You open puzzle boxes by working out how their pins, dials and catches move, and a kingfisher called Rolo collects a key from each one. There are no adverts, no chat and nothing frightening or violent. This page sets out what a parent or guardian may want to know before a child plays.
What is in the game
- Puzzles only. No violence, no scary scenes, no bad language, and no themes of gambling, alcohol or drugs.
- No adverts and no tracking. Nothing is shown or sold to your child by anyone but us, and the app contains no advertising or analytics software.
- No chat. Players cannot send messages to each other, see each other’s details or be contacted through the app in any way.
- Nothing typed is shown to others. The app has no text boxes, profiles, pictures or comments to share.
- No web browser inside the app. The links to this website’s help, privacy and terms pages open in the phone’s own browser.
Some boxes are harder than others, and the later ones are meant to be a real challenge. A younger child may want help, or a hint, with those.
Purchases
The first boxes of every kind are free. The app offers two things to buy, both sold by Apple through the App Store: a subscription that opens the rest of the boxes, and packs of hints.
- Nothing random is sold. There are no loot boxes, prize draws or surprise rewards: a hint pack is a fixed number of hints at a fixed price.
- Nothing can be bought by accident in play. Buying always goes through Apple’s own confirmation.
- You are in control. With Family Sharing, turn on Ask to Buy and every purchase needs your approval. In Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions you can switch off in-app purchases altogether.
A subscription renews until it is cancelled. How to cancel, and how refunds work, is on the support page and in the terms of use.
Accounts
An account is optional. The whole game plays without one, and then nothing about your child or their game leaves the phone.
Signing in, with Apple or with Google, saves the game so that it can follow the player to another device. We are told only that it is the same player as before: we do not ask for or keep a name, an email address, an age or a photograph. Whether a child can use Sign in with Apple or Google at all is decided by the settings of their Apple or Google account, which you control.
An account can be deleted at any time inside the app: open About and tap Delete account. If you would like us to delete a child’s account for you, email us.
Leaderboards
Each box has a leaderboard of the players who opened it fastest. They are optional and switched off until a signed-in player chooses to join.
A player who joins is shown to others under a made-up name that we choose, such as “Teal Puffin 4821”, never a name they type, together with how long each box took them and in how many moves. Nothing else is shown, and there is no way to contact anyone on a leaderboard. Leaving, in About, removes the player from every board at once.
Microphone, camera and motion
Some boxes are opened with the phone itself: by blowing or calling into the microphone, covering the camera with a hand, tilting the phone or pressing its volume buttons. The app asks permission the first time a box needs the microphone or the camera.
- The microphone is used only to measure how loud a sound is. Nothing is recorded, saved or sent anywhere.
- The camera is used only to measure how bright its view is. No picture is taken or saved.
- You, or your child, can say no. Every such box can also be opened by touch alone.
The full detail is in the privacy policy.
Playing comfortably
A few boxes ask the player to tilt or turn the phone, and some give short vibrations in time with a beat. They are best played sitting down, holding the phone in both hands.
Questions
If anything here is unclear, or you have a concern about a child’s use of Keyfisher, email us and a person will read it.