A hot potato: HMD Global, the current licensee of the Nokia brand, has released a new phone that is supposedly a world's first: a handset designed for children that uses AI to block the filming, sending, viewing, and saving of nude or sexual images, even within a livestream.
The HMD Fuse works through tight integration with HarmBlock+ AI. Developed by British online safety firm SafeToNet, it is built directly into the device at the OS level, ensuring it cannot be removed, bypassed, tampered with, or disabled by kids.
HarmBlock+ prevents explicit content from all sources. On the web, blacklisted websites known to contain nudity are blocked, while nude imagery on any site is covered. Any adult content that appears in commnication apps and even livestreams will also be blocked.
The tech can also scan locally stored images, videos, and files, deleting anything containing nudity and making the user aware of the deletion via the HarmBlock+ Junior app.
The camera also has a block feature that prevents the creation and capture of nude images.
The feature works by periodically taking very low-resolution, temporary snapshots of whatever is displayed. These are analyzed by the on-device AI, which has been trained on a database of 22 million ethically sourced images. The snapshot is then discarded from memory and the system decides if the screen blocking layer should be activated. While shirtless sports or art may get flagged, accuracy is above 90% in real-world cases.
HarmBlock+ operates locally and offline. According to SafeToNet founder Richard Pursey, there are no loopholes to evade its censoring, and being integrated at the OS level means even VPNs won't help. Pursey described the handset as being "pornography incompatible."
This sort of integration brings obvious privacy concerns, but HMD writes that the Fuse does not share any user data, including photos, videos, or browsing history, outside of the device.
Beyond HarmBlock+, the HMD Fuse comes with location tracking with real-time updates, safe zone alerts, and 24-second tracking intervals. There's also contact whitelisting so users only get messages and calls from approved contacts.
Kids do grow up, which is why the Fuse can start life as a dumb phone, offering only calls, texts, and location tracking, with more features unlocked as the child matures and gains privileges.
Hardware-wise, the handset has a 6.56-inch display, a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. In the UK, it costs £30 upfront ($37) then a £33 monthly subscription cost ($41). In Australia, it's $799 (around US$510), which includes 12 months of HarmBlock+ subscription. After the first year, it's $26.95/month (around US$17). No US availability or pricing has been confirmed yet.
HMD Fuse launches as the world's first "pornography incompatible" phone
