Gloworm Guard — User Guide

Your family's digital safety platform — VPN security, DNS filtering, slang detection, and parental controls in one place.

Table of Contents

• How It Works
• Getting Started
• Dashboard
• Devices
• Profiles
• Service Blocking
• Schedules
• Allowance
• Kill Switch
• Slang & Alerts
• Reports
• Billing
• Settings
• Plans

🔒 How It Works

Gloworm Guard sits between your family's devices and the internet, inspecting and filtering traffic at two levels:

Architecture: 📱 Device → 🔐 WireGuard VPN (Encrypted tunnel) → 🛡 AdGuard DNS (Content filtering) → 🌐 Internet

Gloworm Guard controls both layers:

• 📋 Profiles: Group rules
• 🚫 Block Lists: 36+ services
• ⏰ Schedules: 7×24 grid
• ⏱ Allowance: Daily time limit
• 🔤 Slang AI: DNS monitoring

🔐 WireGuard VPN Layer

Every device connects through an encrypted VPN tunnel. This ensures all DNS queries are routed through your AdGuard instance — devices can't bypass filtering by switching DNS.

🛡 AdGuard DNS Layer

DNS queries are inspected in real time. Blocked services simply don't resolve — the device gets no response for YouTube, TikTok, gaming sites, or any other blocked category.

🤖 AI Slang Monitoring

DNS queries are scanned for known teen slang terms. When detected, you get an in-app and email alert with the term, severity, and which device made the query.

🚀 Getting Started

After signing up, follow these steps to get your first device protected:

1. Sign up at app.gloworm.org.za. You'll get a 7-day free trial and a unique Family ID (e.g. FAM-A3BX7K).
2. Add a device — go to Devices → Add Device. Give it a name and choose the type (phone, laptop, tablet, etc.). Gloworm will provision a WireGuard peer automatically.
3. Download the WireGuard config — scan the QR code or download the .conf file. Import it into the WireGuard app on the device.
4. Connect the VPN on the device. The status will change to Online within a minute.
5. Set up filtering — visit Service Blocking to choose which apps/services to block, or use Profiles to apply a preset rule set.
6. Optionally set a schedule — use the 7×24 grid to restrict internet to certain hours.
7. Optionally set a daily allowance — cap how many minutes of internet per day the device gets.

Tip: Use the Setup Guide page inside the app for an interactive walkthrough with your specific Family ID and provisioning status.

📊 Dashboard

Your home base. The dashboard gives you an at-a-glance overview of your entire family's network.

• Device Status: See which devices are online, offline, or pending setup. A green dot means the device is connected to the VPN right now.
• Quick Stats: Total queries blocked today, active devices, and whether filtering is running — all at a glance without needing to drill into individual devices.
• Recent Alerts: The latest slang detection alerts surface here so you can act quickly without navigating to the Content Alerts page.

📱 Devices

Every device in your home that you want to protect needs to be added here and connected via WireGuard VPN.

Adding a Device

1. Click Add Device (top right). Enter a name, choose the device type.
2. Gloworm provisions a WireGuard peer and generates a config. You'll see a QR code immediately.
3. Open the WireGuard app on the target device, tap the +, and scan the QR code.
4. Activate the tunnel. The device will appear as Online once connected.

Device Card Badges

• ● Online: Device is connected to the VPN right now.
• ● Offline: VPN is disconnected. Filtering is not active.
• ⏱ 42m left: Daily allowance remaining today.
• ⏸ Paused: Device is in a timed pause.
• 🔒 Kill Switch: Kill switch is active on this device.

Device Controls

Click Controls on any device card to access its individual settings page where you can manage blocking, schedule, allowance, and the timer for that specific device.

Warning: Device limit: Each plan has a maximum number of devices (Starter: 5, Family: 10, Family Pro: 15). The Add Device button will be disabled when you reach the limit — upgrade your plan to add more.

👥 Profiles

Profiles let you define a set of rules once and apply them to multiple devices with a single click. Instead of configuring each child's device separately, create a "Kids" profile and assign all their devices to it.

Creating a Profile

1. Click New Profile. Give it a name (e.g. "Kids", "Teenagers", "Work") and choose a colour.
2. Pick a starting preset — Kids Mode, Work Mode, No Social, etc. You can refine it afterwards.
3. Click Create. The profile appears in the list.

Assigning Devices

On each profile card, click a device chip to assign or unassign it. A device can only belong to one profile at a time. Devices assigned to other profiles appear greyed out.

Profile Controls

• ⚡ Apply: Push the profile's current rules (blocking, schedule, allowance) to all assigned devices at once. Also syncs to AdGuard and WireGuard immediately.
• 🌐 Internet Toggle: The small toggle next to the profile name turns internet on or off for all assigned devices simultaneously. Green = all on, red = all off.
• ⏸ Pause All Devices: Set a timed pause (15m, 30m, 1h, 2h) on all devices in the profile at once. Great for dinner time or study hours.

Editing a Profile

Click the pencil icon to open the edit panel. Three tabs are available:

• Services — toggle which apps/services are blocked. Use quick presets or browse by category. Safe Search and Kill Switch are also here.
• Schedule — drag the 7×24 grid to define allowed hours. Green cells = internet allowed.
• Allowance — enable a daily internet time cap (15 min to 8 hours). Applied to devices when you click Apply.

Tip: After editing a profile, click Save changes to store it, then click Apply on the card to push the new rules to all devices. Saving alone does not update the devices.

🚫 Service Blocking

Choose exactly which apps and websites each device can and cannot access. Over 36 services are available across categories like social media, gaming, adult content, streaming, and messaging.

How to Block a Service

1. Select a device from the device selector at the top.
2. Browse by category or search for a service.
3. Click a service to toggle it blocked (red) or allowed (default).
4. Changes save and sync to AdGuard automatically.

Quick Presets

• Kids Mode: Blocks social media, adult content, gaming, and most streaming. Suitable for young children.
• Work Mode: Blocks social media and entertainment while keeping productivity tools accessible.
• No Social: Blocks all social media platforms only.
• Locked Down: Blocks nearly everything — maximum restriction mode.
• Moderate: Blocks adult content and high-risk categories only.
• Clear: Removes all blocks — unrestricted access.

📅 Schedules

Restrict internet access to specific hours of the day using a visual 7×24 grid. Green cells mean internet is allowed during that hour; grey cells mean it's blocked. The Daily Allowance is also configured here — see the panel on the right side of the page.

Using the Schedule Grid

1. Select a device from the top selector.
2. Enable the schedule toggle.
3. Click and drag on the grid to toggle hours. Click once to flip a single cell; hold and drag to paint multiple cells.
4. Use the presets — Always On, Always Off, School Hours, Bedtime — as starting points.
5. Save the schedule. It syncs to the device immediately.

Tip: School Hours preset: Allows internet Mon–Fri 7am–3pm only — ideal for children who need access for homework but not for gaming during school time.

Tip: Bedtime preset: Blocks internet from 9pm to 7am every day. Combine with an allowance for full daytime control.

⏱ Daily Internet Allowance

Cap how many minutes of internet a device gets per day. When the allowance runs out, the internet is automatically cut. At midnight (South African time), the allowance resets and internet is restored.

How It Works

1. Every 5 minutes, the system checks whether each device is actively connected to the VPN.
2. If connected, 5 minutes are deducted from that device's daily allowance.
3. When 0 minutes remain, internet is cut automatically.
4. At midnight, the allowance resets and internet is restored (subject to schedule rules).

Schedule + Allowance Together

Schedule and allowance are independent controls that layer on top of each other. Internet is only allowed when all of the following pass:

1. Allowance not exhausted — the device still has minutes remaining today.
2. No active pause timer — the device hasn't been manually paused.
3. Schedule allows this hour — if a schedule is enabled, the current hour must be green.

Example: Schedule allows 7am–9pm, allowance is 2 hours — the child can use up to 2 hours anywhere within that window, then internet cuts even if the schedule still says "allowed".

Setting an Allowance

You can set allowances in three places:

• Schedules page — Daily Allowance panel on the right, per device.
• Profile → Allowance tab — define on the profile, then click Apply to push to all assigned devices.
• Profile card → Apply button — applies the profile's allowance setting to all devices at once.

Remaining Time Badge

On the Devices page, each device card shows an allowance badge when enabled:

• ⏱ 90m left (Green)
• ⏱ 22m left (Yellow)
• ⏱ 0m left (Red)

Warning: Note: The tracker polls every 5 minutes, so the counter has up to a 5-minute resolution. A device online for only 2 minutes in a 5-minute window still counts as 5 minutes used.

🔴 Kill Switch

The kill switch blocks all internet traffic if the WireGuard VPN disconnects. This prevents devices from bypassing filtering by simply turning off the VPN — if the tunnel drops, the internet drops too.

Enabling the Kill Switch

Go to the Kill Switch page, select a device, and toggle it on. The setting is pushed to WireGuard immediately. You can also enable it per-device from Device Controls, or set it on a profile and click Apply.

Warning: Important: With the kill switch enabled, if the device's VPN disconnects (e.g. poor signal, battery saving mode), it will have no internet until the VPN reconnects. Make sure the WireGuard app is set to start on demand on the device.

🔤 Slang Detection & Content Alerts

Gloworm Guard monitors DNS queries for teen slang, code words, and concerning terminology. When a match is detected, you receive an in-app notification and an email alert.

Content Alerts Page

View all slang alerts grouped by device. Each alert shows:

• Term Detected: The exact slang word or phrase found in a DNS query.
• Severity: High, Medium, Low — based on risk level of the term.
• Device & Time: Which device made the query and when it was detected.

Slang Guide Page

Browse the full slang dictionary — terms, meanings, categories, and severity levels. The database is expanded weekly via AI research using Claude. Click Research new slang to manually trigger an AI research session that finds and adds the latest teen slang terms to the database.

Tip: How detection works: AdGuard DNS logs all queries. The slang scanner (runs every 15 minutes) compares query substrings against the slang dictionary. A match generates an alert notification linked to the device and tenant.

📈 Reports

Weekly activity reports give you a summary of your family's internet usage and protection stats.

• Queries Blocked: Total DNS queries blocked across all devices for the week, broken down by day.
• Top Blocked Services: Which categories of content were blocked most frequently.
• Slang Alerts: Any slang terms detected during the week, with severity breakdown.
• Device Activity: Per-device online time and query counts for the week.

Reports are generated automatically every Monday morning and can be emailed to you — enable Weekly Report Email in Settings → Notifications.

💳 Billing

Gloworm Guard uses Paystack for secure ZAR billing. All plans include all features — the only difference is the maximum number of devices.

New accounts start on a 7-day free trial (Starter plan, 5 devices). No credit card required to start. Upgrade at any time from the Billing page.

⚙️ Settings

Manage your account details and notification preferences.

• Account Details: Update your family name, email address, and cell number.
• Change Password: Update your login password. Requires your current password.
• Notification Preferences: Choose which email alerts you receive: offline alerts, slang alerts, tamper alerts, weekly reports, monthly digest, trial reminders, login alerts.
• Emergency Whitelist: Domains that are always allowed, even when filtering is active — useful for school portals or work tools.

⭐ Plan Summary

All features are available on every plan. Choose based on how many devices you need to protect.

Starter

• Price: R250/mo
• Devices: Up to 5 devices
• Best for small families or single-parent households.

Family (Popular)

• Price: R400/mo
• Devices: Up to 10 devices
• Covers parents + 2–3 children's phones, tablets and laptops.

Family Pro

• Price: R550/mo
• Devices: Up to 15 devices
• Large families, multiple children, or shared home networks.

Gloworm Guard — Digital safety, simplified. gloworm.co.za | app.gloworm.org.za