Left school — and built an app that rewards children for learning
Two young entrepreneurs who decided to abandon formal education present a surprising solution to parental struggles, connecting the thing children want most with the activity parents are trying to encourage.
Most parental control apps are designed primarily to limit children's use of devices and signal to them when it is time to stop. Macow, a new Israeli app, seeks to deal precisely with the moment after the allotted time has ended, by connecting learning to the possibility of receiving additional screen time.
Behind the venture are two young entrepreneurs. Maayan Malet, 18, serves as the company's CEO, and Ron, 16, leads the technological field and has been programming since the age of eight. Both left the formal education system and chose to focus on learning through building real products.
The idea behind Macow was born out of an attempt to deal with one of the well-known points of friction in many families, the struggle over screen time. Instead of settling for blocking, the app offers the child a short interactive learning task. After completing it, one can receive additional screen time, in accordance with the settings set by the parent and with their approval.
"We wanted to understand why children can stay on the phone for hours without anyone convincing them, but adults have to chase them so they study for twenty minutes," explains Ron.
According to him, the goal was to take the motivation that already exists in children and connect it to the activity that parents want to encourage.
As part of the usage, the parent defines in advance the usage time limits for the device and the selected apps. When the time ends, the child can move on to a short learning task. Completing the task may grant them a screen time bonus that the parent approved in advance. Alongside the learning mechanism, Macow also includes tools for parents, including screen time management, information about device usage, content filtering, and location capabilities.
According to the founders, the connection between limitation and incentive is one of the key differences between Macow and existing parental control and learning solutions. While parental control tools usually focus on limiting usage, and learning apps operate separately, Macow tries to connect the two worlds within a single mechanism. The child learns, completes a task, and receives the possibility of additional usage time, while the parent continues to set the boundaries.
The app is already available for download on the App Store and Google Play, but the company is still in the early stages. The founders do not claim at this stage proven educational results or improvement in grades. From their point of view, the main test is behavioral, and whether a clear mechanism can reduce the daily struggle around the device and give the child a sense of independence within the boundaries set by the parent.
Now the two plan to expand operations to the American market and examine how the model works among different families.
"We want learning to feel like a way to gain independence, not like another punishment, and for screen time to be less of a source of daily fighting in the family," says Malet.
The principle that leads the venture remains the same: the parent sets the boundaries, and the child receives a clear way to act within them.
