San Francisco, CA, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BestInterest, a co-parent communication app that uses AI and behavioral science, today announced that its Message Shield® feature has filtered more than 66,000 hostile messages between co-parents to date. The milestone comes as separated and divorced parents enter the back-to-school season, when exchanges about pickup swaps, permission slips, activity fees, and sick-day calls increase. Message Shield intercepts personal attacks and irrelevant venting before a co-parent sees them while surfacing practical details such as pickup times and doctor’s notes. BestInterest is available on iPhone, Android, and the web, with secure messaging, journaling, expense tracking, AI coaching, and optional message-filtering features for high-conflict situations.
Renée (Nelson) Lee knows that stretch well. A former television news anchor and mother, she spent years navigating high-conflict communication firsthand. “There are parents out there trying to do their jobs while managing a co-parenting relationship that takes everything out of them,” she said. “I knew there had to be another way to communicate directly, one that didn’t come with so much emotional and financial cost.”
That other way now exists. Lee is the spokesperson for the community around BestInterest, an app built by Sol Kennedy, a former Google product manager who founded the company after living through his own high-conflict co-parenting years.
“Back-to-school gives co-parents hundreds of small chances to either build trust or accidentally light a fuse,” Kennedy said. “Technology’s job is to protect people, not just connect them. A calmer exchange between two parents adds up to a more stable home for the child in the middle of it.”
At the center of the app is Message Shield®, a feature that works in reverse from most AI messaging tools. Rather than coaching the sender to write a softer message, Message Shield intercepts hostility on the way in — filtering out personal attacks and irrelevant venting before a co-parent ever sees them, and surfacing what actually matters: the pickup time, the doctor’s note. The original message is saved, so the recipient can read it later, with a therapist or attorney, or never. To date, it has filtered more than 66,000 hostile messages between co-parents.
BestInterest is available on iPhone, Android, and the web. The core app is completely free, including secure messaging, journaling, expense tracking, and advanced AI coaching. Features like the incoming message filter or outgoing message review add peace of mind for parents in high-conflict situations and are available for a low-cost subscription.
About BestInterest
BestInterest is rethinking co-parent communication through AI and behavioral science, building tools for co-parents and for the attorneys, mediators, and therapists who support them.
For media
BestInterest parents who use the app during the back-to-school season are available to share their experience. Sol Kennedy (Founder) and Renée Lee (Spokesperson, BestInterest Community) are also available for interviews; contact us to arrange.
Media Contact: Renée (Nelson) Lee
Spokesperson, BestInterest Community
480-268-5819
Press Inquiries
Renée (Nelson) Lee
renee [at] bestinterest.app
480-268-5819
https://bestinterest.app
2261 Market Street Ste 10018
San Francisco, CA 94114
