Balancing individual freedom with parental responsibilities

The first time someone is making a purchase, Totes introduces an innovative and short onboarding process where it asks the young person if they usually use their parent or guardian’s payment card. If the answer is yes, it then asks people to pair the app with a companion app that the guardian has to download. This allows for the parent to have an overview and understanding of what their payment card is being used for and if it is being used appropriately. Everything from the language to the subtle animation reinforces the idea of absolute autonomy and transparency for both parties.

Once the companion app is downloaded, the parent has their “parent view” where they can see all their teen’s history and spending. To prevent this from violating privacy, the app groups the purchase history into more generic categories, rather than displaying the exact products that have been purchased.

Totes flags to parents certain items that may be inappropriate for teens and alerts others if they see similar purchases on their accounts.

When the second option is selected and a person chooses to pay with their own card, the sign up process begins. Through a transparent process and simple language, Totes guides people through identity verification.

Also, as a way of verifying a person’s identity, Totes uses public sources such as department of education and electoral register information to make sure that the user is who they say they are, protecting both buyer and seller by building a safe and reliable platform.

As the last step, instead of hiding data use preferences somewhere in a setting menu, Totes places it at the end of the verification process to make sure people can see and amend key usages as well as what alerts, ads or promotion material they receive, before finally signing up.