A new AI-powered smartphone, Fuse, has been launched to shield children from explicit images while offering robust parental controls.
A new smartphone designed to protect children from online harms has been launched in the UK, automatically blocking nude images from being viewed or taken.
The handset, named Fuse, was developed by Finnish phone company Human Mobile Devices (HMD), makers of Nokia, in partnership with Vodafone and with backing from the UK government. It uses HarmBlock+ AI technology from British firm SafeToNet to detect nudity in real time on the device itself, preventing images from being displayed or captured.
The launch follows rising concerns about children being groomed or pressured into sharing explicit images. An Ofsted report in 2021 found nearly 90% of girls and 50% of boys in schools had been sent unwanted sexual content, while new Vodafone research revealed one in five teenagers aged 11 to 17 had felt pressured to share explicit images.
Beyond blocking pornography, the phone features parental controls including screen time limits, app restrictions, 24-second location tracking, safe-zone alerts, and whitelist-only contacts. No data leaves the device for cloud storage.
Parenting advocate Daisy Greenwell said, “The Fuse looks like a step forward: starting out as a simple brick with location tracking, and growing with a child as they mature. Crucially, its automatic blocking of pornography will protect children from content they don’t seek out, but which is pushed at them.”
The Fuse costs £33 a month with a £30 upfront payment and is available exclusively from Vodafone and Three, with plans to expand to Australia and other markets later this year.