# Grooming

> An adult building a child's trust, step by step, in order to abuse or exploit them.

- Page: https://navenapp.com/glossary/grooming
- Last updated: 2026-10-15
- Published by: Naven, a free messaging app that runs in a web browser (https://navenapp.com/about)

Online grooming is when somebody, usually an adult, builds a relationship with a child in order to abuse or exploit them. It rarely starts with anything that looks harmful. It starts with attention: compliments, shared interests, gifts or game currency, and the sense of being understood.

The pattern that follows is consistent enough to recognise: moving the conversation somewhere more private, asking the child to keep it secret, testing boundaries with jokes or questions about their body or relationships, and, later, asking for pictures or to meet.

What helps: children who know that an adult asking them to keep a secret is a warning sign, who can block and report without asking permission, and who know that telling a parent will not get them into trouble.

## Where Naven stands

Under-13 and teen accounts are screened for patterns associated with grooming, on top of the categories every account is screened for, and the rule-based layer that runs on every message includes known grooming phrasing. Sexual solicitation, or anything sexual involving a minor, suspends an account on the first instance. Naven publishes no member directory, so a stranger cannot browse their way to a child. None of this is a guarantee: the screen is automated, and it misses things.

See also [Sextortion](https://navenapp.com/glossary/sextortion), [Parental controls](https://navenapp.com/glossary/parental-controls), [Pre-send screening](https://navenapp.com/glossary/pre-send-screening) and [Member directory](https://navenapp.com/glossary/member-directory).

![Naven on a phone, explaining why a message was not sent: it gave away where somebody lives](https://navenapp.com/shots/phone-screening.webp)  
What it looks like in Naven: a screenshot of the app.

## Naven, in brief

- **Price:** Free. No ads, no paid tier
- **Phone number:** Never asked for
- **To install:** Nothing. It runs in a browser
- **End-to-end encrypted:** No. Messages are screened before they send
- **Works on:** Phones, tablets, laptops, Chromebooks

### What it will not do

- Screen calls. Only messages are screened
- Catch everything. The screen misses things, and is weaker outside English
- Promise security. Naven promises none; the terms say so plainly

**Naven is a free messenger that runs in your browser.** No phone number, nothing to install, and no new password.