How it works, explained
4 min read · Checked August 18, 2026
What happens on a detection
Explicit content gets a gate on your screen, a way out to something better, and one check-in text to your ally. Suggestive content gets a nudge and nothing more. Clean content gets nothing. Here is each, in order, using the real screens.
On this page
At a glance
What each verdict does
Clean
On your screen: Nothing. You keep scrolling.
To your ally: Nothing.
Suggestive
On your screen: A short nudge on your screen, with a way to move on.
To your ally: Nothing. The suggestive tier never reaches your ally.
Explicit
On your screen: A gate goes up: “What are we doing here?” You can proceed, or see something better.
To your ally: One check-in text, with no details.
The gate reads “What are we doing here?” and, for a known site, “This is a known explicit website.” It renders on your screen before any text goes out.
Explicit: gate, redirect, check-in
The gate goes up on your screen.
It reads "What are we doing here?" and, for a known explicit site, "This is a known explicit website." It is a gate, not a wall: you can proceed, or take the way out.
You are offered something better.
"See something better" opens the positive alternative catalog: real content matched to your interests, chosen to be worth the swap. The gate never carries the site you were on.
One check-in text goes to each of your allies.
The gate always renders on your screen first, so you know before anyone else does. The text says it is a good time to check in with you. Nothing else.
The event is recorded on your device as a detection, without content.
You can see your own detection history in the app. Your ally cannot.
The honest line
The text fires on the gate itself, not on whether you proceed. There is a ceiling: at most three check-in texts a day, one per half-hour burst. Over that, the gate still shows and the event is still recorded.
Suggestive: a nudge, and nothing else
The suggestive tier is for content that is sexualized but not explicit. It is deliberately soft. When that kind of content stays on your screen for a moment, a short nudge appears with a "Move on" action that replaces the page with something better. If you ignore it, it retires on its own after a few seconds. On Android, closing the tab dismisses it.
The promise
A suggestive detection never texts your ally and never leaves the device. It is a signal to you, from you.
Clean: nothing at all
Almost everything you look at is clean. The frame is classified, discarded, and forgotten. No event, no record, no text. On Guard is quiet by default because a guard that talks all day gets ignored.
What you see, later
- A detection history in the app: that a gate or a nudge fired, when, and on which device. No screenshots, because none exist.
- The dashboard status: "On guard" while real-time defense is running, and the Permissions card if something needs attention.
- On builds that include it, Settings → Test your guard: a Block test that fires the real chain on a decoy page and sends the TEST text to your own phone, and a Feed test that fires the real nudge on a demo feed. Test runs never count toward your history and never text an ally.
Watch it work The scroll walkthrough of the gate, the redirect, and the text.
Questions
Does On Guard block the page?
It gates it. The gate is a real interruption with a real way out, but you can proceed. The deterrent is that your ally hears about it, not that the page is unreachable.
Does my ally get told when I proceed past the gate?
No. The text fires when the gate goes up. What you do next stays on your device.
Where does "See something better" go?
To the positive alternative catalog: link-outs to content matched to interests you picked, kept clean and fresh. It never carries the site you came from.
Why did I get a nudge but my ally got nothing?
Because it was the suggestive tier. Suggestive detections are on-device nudges only. Only explicit detections send a check-in.
Checked August 18, 2026 against the shipping app. If something here no longer matches what you see, email team@stayonguard.app.
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