What is Friendly WiFi?
Independent assurance for safer public WiFi
Friendly WiFi is the UK Government-initiated certification standard for public WiFi. It provides independent assurance that an organisation's public WiFi has appropriate filtering in place to help prevent access to harmful and illegal online content.
We don't provide WiFi, filtering software or IT services. We independently verify that the filtering already protecting your public WiFi meets the Friendly WiFi standard.
Once certified, organisations can display the recognised Friendly WiFi Approved symbol, giving customers, visitors, families, employees and other users a clear indication that the WiFi they are connecting to has been independently checked and certified.
Friendly WiFi in simple terms
You provide the WiFi
There is normally no need to change your WiFi provider, equipment or network. Friendly WiFi works alongside your existing infrastructure and filtering.
We independently verify
We check that your public WiFi filtering meets the requirements of the Friendly WiFi certification standard.
You become certified
Once approved, you can display the Friendly WiFi symbol and demonstrate that your public WiFi has been independently verified.
Why does Friendly WiFi exist
Millions of people connect to Public WiFi every day in places such as shops, cafés, hotels, schools, hospitals, leisure centres, stadiums, transport networks, workplaces and public spaces.
Most users have no way of knowing what safeguards are operating behind a WiFi network when they connect to it.
Friendly WiFi was created to provide a simple and recognisable answer.
The Friendly WiFi symbol tells users that the organisation providing the WiFi has taken steps to help create a safer online environment and that its filtering has been independently checked against the Friendly WiFi standard.
“We already filter our public WiFi, so why do we need Friendly WiFi?”
This is one of the most common questions we are asked.
Having filtering in place is important — but Friendly WiFi provides something different: independent assurance.
An organisation may already use a reputable filtering provider, firewall or security platform, but customers and visitors cannot see what is happening behind the network. They don't know what is being filtered, whether the appropriate categories are enabled or whether the filtering has been independently checked.
Friendly WiFi independently verifies that the filtering protecting your public WiFi meets the requirements of the Friendly WiFi standard.
Think of it simply:
Filtering provides the protection
Friendly WiFi provides the independent assurance
Certification also allows your organisation to display the recognised Friendly WiFi Approved symbol, turning something that is normally invisible to the public into a visible commitment to safer connectivity.
And because Friendly WiFi is an independent certification body — not a WiFi provider, filtering company or technology supplier — our role is to verify, not to sell you a particular technical solution.
What does the Friendly WiFi symbol mean?
When you see the Friendly WiFi symbol at a venue, location or on a public WiFi service, it means that the organisation's WiFi filtering has been independently checked against the Friendly WiFi certification standard.
For organisations, displaying the symbol provides a simple way of communicating:
“Our public WiFi has been independently certified.”
It gives users visible reassurance without expecting them to understand firewalls, filtering platforms, blocklists or other technical terminology.