FamilyKey
For your mum's or dad's iPhone

The family holds the key.

FamilyKey gives your parents' bank apps a calm pause. At night they only open with a code from your phone. Anyone who calls claiming to be the bank runs into a wall where they need it most: haste.

Coming soon to theApp StoreHow it works
  • $0.79, once
  • Set up together
  • Works without internet
  • Nobody reads along
The numbers, without panic

A scammer needs one thing: haste.

A caller who sounds just like the bank. A voice that says it has to happen now, and that you mustn't tell anyone. It happens to smart, careful people. A few honest numbers from the Netherlands.

75%

More than three quarters of victims are still on the phone with the scammer while the money is being moved. That exact moment, when the bank app opens, is where FamilyKey sits.

Source: research by Dutch banks, via Security Management, February 2025

How it works

Calm by day. Your key at night.

Your mum or dad keeps their own bank app. FamilyKey just puts a calm moment in front of it, and at night a lock you hold the key to.

  1. 1Once, together, 5 minutes

    Set it up together on their iPhone.

    Together you pick the bank apps, payment apps and remote-help apps. You link your own iPhone with a QR code. After that your parent sees one big screen with one big button: Call Anna.

  2. 2By day, 7 am to 10 pm

    First a calm minute.

    When your mum opens the bank app, the iPhone says: Take your time. She can call you straight away, or wait one minute with the three bank rules in front of her. Then the bank app is open for ten minutes.

  3. Bank apps 15 min
    3665 9098
    3At night, 10 pm to 7 am

    At night only with your code.

    Then there's no pause, only: I have a code. You make it on your own iPhone, after Face ID. Eight digits, valid once. Read it out and the bank apps are open for fifteen minutes.

Why a scammer gets stuck

A scammer is in a hurry. FamilyKey isn’t.

Almost every trick runs on speed: stay on the line, do it now, tell no one. FamilyKey takes that speed away, in three places.

  • 42

    You're on a call. Hang up first. A bank never asks you to open something right now.

    The pause stops during a call.

    The minute only runs when there's no call and the screen isn't shared. As long as the caller stays on the line, the bank app stays shut. Hanging up is the only way through, and then the haste is gone.

  • Bank apps 15 min
    3665 9098Valid until 2:27 pm

    Face ID. Only you make codes.

    The code only comes from your phone.

    Your iPhones were linked once with a QR code. Only your phone makes codes, and only after your Face ID. A code works once and for fifteen minutes. Overhearing it gets a scammer nothing.

  • Unknown number

    Hi Mum, this is my new number.

    Can you send me that code? It's urgent.

    Not linked. No code.

    ‘Hi Mum’ can’t make one.

    A new number isn't linked to anything, so it can't make a code. And the Call Anna button always calls the number you typed in yourself. Never a number a caller gives.

Together, with consent

Set up together. Nobody watches.

FamilyKey is not an app for spying on someone. You set it up together, at the kitchen table. Your mum or dad reads what will happen and says yes themselves, with their own Face ID on Apple's screen. The bank app stays theirs.

What FamilyKey knows

  • Which apps get a pause. As an iOS code, without names.
  • Whether a call is going on. Never with whom.
  • Whether the screen is shared. Never what's on it.
  • Your name and number, for the Call Anna button.

What FamilyKey never knows

  • Messages and email
  • Balance and bank details
  • Who calls or texts
  • Where your parent is
  • Anything to send to you or us

Switching it off only works together. And Call Anna is always on screen: your parent can always reach you.

The Screen Time passcode

Five more minutes together.

FamilyKey works with Apple's Screen Time. On an adult's iPhone the owner can switch that off, and a scammer can ask your parent to do exactly that. So you put a lock on it: a Screen Time passcode only you know. FamilyKey walks you through the steps.

  1. Choose a Screen Time passcode.On your parent's iPhone: Settings > Screen Time > Lock Screen Time Settings. Type four digits your mum or dad doesn't know. At Recovery, enter your own Apple Account, not your parent's.
  2. Switch the restrictions on.Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions: switch on. Leave everything inside on Allow. Nothing changes for your parent.
  3. Switch Share Across Devices off.Settings > Screen Time > Share Across Devices: switch off. Otherwise another device could switch the restrictions off again.
  4. Test it together.Try to switch FamilyKey off under Screen Time > Apps with Screen Time Access, and under Settings > Apps > FamilyKey. Does the iPhone ask for your Screen Time passcode? Then you're set. FamilyKey asks you too, and keeps the date.

What it gets you: deleting FamilyKey, switching it off or turning off Screen Time only works with you there. What it costs: deleting any app then also needs a code from you.

Were you asked for the Screen Time passcode?
YesNo

Tested on 9 October

Fair is fair

A speed bump, not a vault.

FamilyKey slows things down. It doesn't make anything impossible, and we don't promise that. We'd rather tell you now what it can't do.

  • A wiped iPhone

    If the iPhone is erased or reset, FamilyKey is gone, like everything else. The bank app then has to be activated again too. Set FamilyKey up together again afterwards.

  • iOS 26 has one back door

    On iOS 26, FamilyKey can still be switched off under Settings > Apps > FamilyKey with just Face ID. In the iOS 27 beta the iPhone does ask for your Screen Time passcode there. So update the iPhone. Below iOS 26.4, FamilyKey is a light speed bump.

  • The card at the door

    FamilyKey lives on the iPhone. If someone comes to the door to collect the bank card, FamilyKey can't stop that. In 2023 that was how 46% of reported cases went (Dutch police). Just say it to each other: a bank never collects a card.

  • Other devices

    A bank app on an iPad, a Mac or a computer isn't covered. Neither is a visit to the bank. FamilyKey only guards the iPhone it's on.

  • iPhone only

    Both phones need to be an iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later. No iPhone yourself? Then the PIN on your parent's iPhone works, when you're there.

  • No remote alerts

    FamilyKey sends nothing over the internet, so you won't get an alert when someone tries. If FamilyKey is off, your parent's iPhone says so, in big letters: FamilyKey is off. Call Anna.

Price

Pay once, for the family.

No subscription, no account, no in-app purchases. You pay once and that's that.

  • No subscription
  • No account
  • No in-app purchases
  • No ads

Two iPhones, one family.

Are you and your mum or dad in the same Apple family through Family Sharing? Then one purchase works on both iPhones. Otherwise you buy FamilyKey twice: $1.58 for the two of you.

Brothers and sisters can all be helpers: up to four per iPhone.

Anna, Tom, Miriam and anyone else you trust.
Questions

What families ask.

The setup steps and more answers are on Support.

Question not here?

Email info@abn.company. We answer within a few working days.

Does FamilyKey see what my mum or dad does?

No. FamilyKey reads no messages, sees no balance and no bank details, and doesn't know who is calling. It only checks whether a call is going on or the screen is being shared, so the pause can stand still. Nothing goes to you or to us.

What if my mum really needs to pay during the day?

She taps Open anyway and waits out the calm pause: 30 seconds, 1 minute or 2 minutes, you choose together. Then the bank apps stay open for 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes. You don't have to do anything.

And at night?

From 10:00 pm to 7:00 am the bank apps only open with a code from you. You can change those times. You can also choose Always with a code, by day too.

Which apps get a pause?

You pick them together, one by one: bank apps, payment apps, investing or crypto apps, and remote-help apps. Calls are never blocked, so your parent can always call you.

Does the code work without internet?

Yes. Your phone makes the code, your parent's iPhone checks it by itself. So you can simply read it out over the phone.

Can a scammer overhear a code?

It wouldn't help them. A code works once, only on that one iPhone, and at most fifteen minutes after you make it. A used or old code does nothing.

Can my brother and I both be helpers?

Yes. Up to four helpers per iPhone, each with FamilyKey on their own iPhone. Codes from all of them work. You can make codes for up to eight people.

What if I can't be reached?

By day the calm pause works without you. At night another helper can give a code. And when you or another helper is there in person, the six digit PIN on your parent's iPhone works too.

Is FamilyKey from my bank?

No. FamilyKey is made by A Brand New Company and works with any bank app. It doesn't look inside the bank app and has no contact with your bank.

What does it cost?

$0.79, once. No subscription, no account, no in-app purchases. If you share an Apple family through Family Sharing, one purchase covers both iPhones.

Which iPhones?

Both phones need to be an iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later. The newer your parent's iOS, the stronger the protection: the app shows how strong it is on their version. There's no version for iPad, Mac or Android.

First a pause. Then you pay.

FamilyKey is coming soon to the App Store. $0.79, once, for the whole family.

Coming soon to theApp Store