Two childhood friends who grew up on social media built the app that protects children on it

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 23, 2026

Two childhood friends who grew up on social media built the app that protects children on it

As Germany debates banning social media for children, Helmit launches a mobile app that makes it safe instead

MUNICH, June 23, 2026 — Leonardo Benini and Alexander Wolters have known each other since kindergarten. They went to the same school, the same university, and spent their teenage years on the same social platforms. One of them was cyberbullied. Both decided to do something about it.

Today, their company Helmit launches its mobile app, bringing real-time protection from cyberbullying, cybergrooming, and dangerous content of any kind to every parent directly from their phone.

The timing is not accidental. Germany's political establishment is debating a ban on social media for children under 14. The CDU voted for it. Chancellor Merz endorsed it. The SPD backed it. Germany's Ethics Council came out against it.

"The ban creates a false sense of safety," said Leonardo, 23. "Most platforms where digital violence actually happens are not part of it: WhatsApp, Discord, online games. Children will simply move there. The violence continues, in spaces that are even less moderated and harder to monitor. Parents will think the problem is solved. It is not."

Leonardo and Alexander are products of the same digital generation the debate is about. They grew up with Instagram, WhatsApp, and Discord. They know how these platforms work, how children actually use them, and what parents miss. Both are EWOR Fellows and Sigma Squared Fellows, two of Europe's most selective programs for exceptional founders. Leonardo studied pure mathematics at TU Munich and the University of Toronto, where he graduated at the top of his class. He was coding by age 12 and reached over 100 million views on Instagram with a company he built in high school. Alexander studied electrical engineering at TU Munich and the National University of Singapore, graduating top of his class, before moving to ETH Zurich to focus on privacy-preserving machine learning. He previously worked at Boston Consulting Group. The combination is not accidental: the product required both.

Helmit works across messenger apps, social media, and online platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Discord, Signal, and YouTube, detecting threats before they escalate. Not after harm has occurred. Before. Parents cannot browse their child's messages. When Helmit detects a threat, it alerts them and shows only the content that triggered it. Nothing more. Everything runs on-device. No data leaves the family's control.

The mobile app removes the last barrier to adoption. Until now, Helmit required installation on a desktop or laptop. Most parents either don't have one at home or won't go through the setup. The mobile app changes that. Same protection, no friction.

The cases are real. Since launching, Helmit has already uncovered numerous incidents of digital violence across its user base. Parents regularly share what Helmit caught: grooming attempts, coordinated bullying, explicit content sent to children by adults. For many of them, it was the first time they understood what their child had been experiencing.

Helmit already serves over 1,000 families across Germany and Europe, holds a 4.8-star rating, and is SOC 2 certified and GDPR compliant. It is available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. The mobile app is free to try for 14 days.

About Helmit

Helmit is a child safety platform for messenger apps and social media. It detects cyberbullying, cybergrooming, and dangerous content of any kind in real time and alerts parents before harm happens, without giving parents open access to private messages. Helmit runs on-device, covers WhatsApp, Instagram, Discord, Signal, YouTube and more, and is available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. Founded in Munich in 2025 by Leonardo Benini and Alexander Wolters. SOC 2 certified. GDPR compliant. www.helmit.org