Imagine trying to replicate the motion of the wax in a lava lamp by using modeling clay. It’s very difficult to make modeling clay move at all, let alone have it mimic motion. Holding someone accountable can feel a lot like that. With people jumping around between work computers and home computers, smartphones, and tablets, it can feel a little intimidating to try to figure out when and why a person may have stumbled online.
That’s why 2016 will be the most ambitious year yet for Covenant Eyes. We’re breaking new ground in research and technology, all to provide better service to our users.
Better Education
Battling pornography, whether as a parent, as an individual who is struggling, or as a leader equipping others, is challenging. This is why Covenant Eyes invests so much in providing you educational articles, blog posts, e-books and videos. In 2015, we released an updated version of Porn and Your Husband, and two new e-books, More than Single: Finding Purpose Beyond Porn, and Fight Porn in Your Church.
Better Reporting
Covenant Eyes uses proprietary techniques to classify website visit types such as “visited” or “secondary.” However, sometimes we don’t know how to classify something. Through improved techniques, we found a way to classify more websites than ever before, making your reports cleaner and easier to understand.
If you are a Covenant Eyes Accountability Partner, you are interested in the sites your partner visits, but you likely want to know what led them to that site, what they did there and what happened afterwards. We’re almost ready to add Incident Reports to the Accountability Report to show you what happened before Highly Mature content was accessed. Was the user searching for inappropriate content, or did they stumble on it accidentally? This information should help create better accountability conversations about intention as well as help identify common triggers that can be avoided in the future.
One of the biggest criticisms we’ve received for our accountability app for iPhone is that we don’t provide any accountability or filtering for the Safari browser. We’ve been working on a new, patent-pending way to expand our service to provide better coverage across your entire device, including Safari.
Better Service
Covenant Eyes just opened a second location here in Owosso, MI. More than 100 people attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, including media, local elected officials and leaders, and Covenant Eyes staff members. The location will house nearly 40 customer service representatives to provide you with shorter wait times and even more personalized service. We plan to use this site to work through some of the kinks in operating multiple locations so we can open offices across the country and possibly internationally.
Lastly, we have heard countless requests for improved reporting of photos and videos. Using a new process built off state-of-the-art technology, we are thrilled to announce that we have developed a new, patent-pending image recognition software. Short-term, this means better reporting of inappropriate images…and it has some long-term implications for video as well.
Want to see this in action? There is a demo that shows some of the capabilities of this new system in the video above. The moment of the kiss is flagged as possibly inappropriate (represented by the dip downward). Compare that to the analysis of a pornographic video, where the line stays at the bottom of the graph (“pornographic content”) until the very end, which is presumably when the clothing goes back on. Remember, this isn’t necessarily how it will appear on your Accountability Report…but it’s exciting, and we wanted you to share our excitement.
We are still researching this technology, and are in the process of deciding how to report it and integrate it into our software and apps, but we’re getting close. Look for an announcement with more details this summer.
We’re excited to offer you these exciting updates, and we’ve got even more planned. Leave us a comment to tell us what features you’re most excited about or what you’d like us to pursue.
thanks covenant eyes for working on this new update. It’s been more than 2 weeks since the October 19, 2017 replies and I was wondering if Apple was getting close to approving this app.
Approved!
Chris
Hi, according to your above comments Chris it has been over two weeks at this point. Are ya’ll still awaiting approval from Apple? I think it would be helpful to create another statement or newsletter on the status of the project as we are all eagerly awaiting this new app. Please read this in an inquisitive tone and not a frustrated one. Thank you!
Hi, Bob – the app has been released! Thank you for your patience.
Chris
Hi, we are at 2 weeks? Is there a status update on the app?
Hi, Al – the new iOS app is released in the App Store.
I just want to apologize for harsh tone in the last comment. As a therapist specializing in addictions and who works with many men in the church, my frustrations just boiled over. So often we encourage an addict to avoid or run from their places of temptation, but that advice is simply impractical in this area of compulsion. The only option, then, is to at least provide accountability. I pray you are able to complete your mission and am confident your work will bless many. Please forgive my frustrations. Godspeed!
So, did you not like my last comment? All I asked was for an update? I’ve paid for your service for the last two years on the promise that you would develop iphone accountability. So, one would think I was at least entitled to an update. Wouldn’t you? If not, what am I paying for? Plenty of other accountability software options; plenty cheaper options too…
Hi, Joel – again, I was out and fell behind on comments. I responded to your previous post with as much as I know right now. I apologize for the delay.
Chris
Any news? I’m now at a point where I’m exploring other companies who are doing something similar but I REALLY don’t want to leave CE…
Hi, Scott – I’ll cut and paste the response I’ve given to a handful of people today – “to be honest, I’ve run out of “it’s almost here” statements because of all of the technical issues we just keep running into. iOS is a conspiracy wrapped in an enigma (insert other statements of complexity). I’m not trying to make light of it. We made promises that we clearly haven’t fulfilled, which really bothers us internally, so for that I apologize. Are we close? As of Monday this week (my last update), the answer is “yes.” I was told 2 weeks, depending on our final approval for the app from Apple. That’s as open and honest as I can be. Once released, it will provide domain level visibility across the device (e.g., if I use the Twitter app, it will show that I accessed “twitter.com” for the initial “call” to Twitter from my phone, but the rest of the communication is secured, but, it’s at least a conversation starter between accountability partner and member). It will also rate anything that’s clicked on through Safari. The key there is “clicked on.” Not “searched for” items, which can still be problematic for image searches. All of these features and limitations will be explained in a blog post I wrote that is scheduled for release once we are Apple-approved. I hope that helps!”
Chris
Been two months since the last reply, seven months since the update at the top of this post, and almost two years since the iOS accountability was promised. ANY update? Does it even look promising at this point? Would love some transparency. Thanks!
Hi, Joel – I’m sorry that it took me a while to accept this. Here’s my response to multiple people today: “to be honest, I’ve run out of “it’s almost here” statements because of all of the technical issues we just keep running into. iOS is a conspiracy wrapped in an enigma (insert other statements of complexity). I’m not trying to make light of it. We made promises that we clearly haven’t fulfilled, which really bothers us internally, so for that I apologize. Are we close? As of Monday this week (my last update), the answer is “yes.” I was told 2 weeks, depending on our final approval for the app from Apple. That’s as open and honest as I can be. Once released, it will provide domain level visibility across the device (e.g., if I use the Twitter app, it will show that I accessed “twitter.com” for the initial “call” to Twitter from my phone, but the rest of the communication is secured, but, it’s at least a conversation starter between accountability partner and member). It will also rate anything that’s clicked on through Safari. The key there is “clicked on.” Not “searched for” items, which can still be problematic for image searches. All of these features and limitations will be explained in a blog post I wrote that is scheduled for release once we are Apple-approved. I hope that helps!”
Chris
Seriously, at this point I think most of us would rather have a buggy full iPhone accountability than this. The current method has SO many loopholes it’s pretty much not worth having at all. Is there any way to know more or get in on this sooner? Thanks.
Hi, Beau – it’s not ideal, I know. We can do better and we truly are trying. We released an enhanced version of our iPhone browser 2 weeks ago and it did not receive great reviews. We are now releasing a fix for those bugs in the hope that things improve greatly. That’s an honest answer. If we can get those bugs remedied, there’s hope.
Chris
Thanks Chris, could you explain the full device accountability in more detail? I’m starting to worry that hopes are up for something that won’t actually solve the problem of the glaring loopholes and limitations with iOS. Thanks!
Hi, Beau – to be honest, I’ve run out of “it’s almost here” statements because of all of the technical issues we just keep running into. iOS is a conspiracy wrapped in an enigma (insert other statements of complexity). I’m not trying to make light of it. We made promises that we clearly haven’t fulfilled, which really bothers us internally, so for that I apologize. Are we close? As of Monday this week (my last update), the answer is “yes.” I was told 2 weeks, depending on our final approval for the app from Apple. That’s as open and honest as I can be. Once released, it will provide domain level visibility across the device (e.g., if I use the Twitter app, it will show that I accessed “twitter.com” for the initial “call” to Twitter from my phone, but the rest of the communication is secured, but, it’s at least a conversation starter between accountability partner and member). It will also rate anything that’s clicked on through Safari. The key there is “clicked on.” Not “searched for” items, which can still be problematic for image searches. All of these features and limitations will be explained in a blog post I wrote that is scheduled for release once we are Apple-approved. I hope that helps!
Chris