As a parent, it can be challenging to keep up with the latest apps that your children want to download. Even the tech-savvy ones can struggle to stay on top of trends and evolving social media platforms, not to mention the sudden rise of new viral apps that can quickly gain popularity. It’s important to note that not all free apps are safe, and your kids may not be aware of this fact. What’s more, it can be hard to identify which apps pose a real threat to your child’s well-being.

To ease your worries, we have compiled a list of the most risky apps for kids today.

1. Among Us

Purpose: Among Us is an exciting online multiplayer game that involves social deduction. Set in a thrilling space-themed environment, players take on unique roles and must work together to uncover the imposters hiding among them. This highly engaging game requires a minimum of four and a maximum of ten players to start a game. Players must rely on their analytical and strategic thinking skills to figure out who the imposters are and work collaboratively to eliminate them. With its addictive gameplay and engaging storyline, Among Us is quickly becoming one of the most popular online multiplayer games of all time.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: During the year 2020, the highly popular game was unfortunately hacked. The hacker behind the attack sent messages to players that included inappropriate promotions for his YouTube channel and server. These promotions contained highly offensive content such as racist language, gore, pornography, and extremist political views. The hacker also managed to send disturbing messages directly within the game. Due to incidents like these, many parents are understandably concerned about their children playing online multiplayer games with strangers. It’s important to remember that you never know who you might encounter online and what kind of content they might share throughout the game.

2. Look

Purpose: Look is a popular video messaging app that allows users to send and receive free video messages. In addition to video messaging, the app also offers text messaging, emojis, and gifs to enhance the user experience. The platform’s unique features include the ability to draw on videos and apply a range of fun and creative filters, allowing users to express their personality and creativity in their messages.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: While Look offers a range of engaging and interactive features, it’s important to be aware of the potential risks associated with the platform. With no content filters or age verification process, strangers can easily message children using the app. Additionally, the absence of content moderation means that kids can come across inappropriate content while using Look. Reports of cyberbullying activity have also surfaced, highlighting the need for parents to monitor their child’s use of the app closely. Furthermore, users have reported difficulties in deleting their accounts, which can be a cause for concern if a user decides to discontinue their use of the platform.

3. Banuba

Purpose: Banuba is a highly innovative and entertaining app that offers a wide range of exciting features. One of the standout features of the app is its ability to allow users to transform their faces using a face changer tool. The app also offers a range of live filters, funny effects, and masks that can be applied to photos, videos, and selfies.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: Banuba is a feature-packed app that offers users the convenience of auto-renew subscription options for a week, month, or year. While this feature adds to the app’s functionality, it’s important to note that it can also result in unexpected charges for younger users who may not be fully aware of the cost implications. Additionally, users may encounter a number of ads that pop up throughout the app experience. For parents, this can be a cause for concern as it may lead to inadvertent clicks and further charges. It’s also important to remember that, as with any augmented reality app, there may be concerns around how pictures and videos are represented and utilized out of context.

4. TikTok

Purpose: TikTok is a wildly popular app that allows users to create and share short videos with friends and followers. The app has gained a huge following, particularly among younger users who enjoy expressing themselves creatively through video. With TikTok, users can create short music videos ranging from 3 to 15 seconds, as well as looping videos that can range from 3 to 60 seconds in length. One of the app’s standout features is its ability to add special effects and filters to videos, making it easy to enhance and customize your content.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: While TikTok is an incredibly popular app, there are some concerns that parents should be aware of before allowing their children to use it. Firstly, while the app does require users to be at least 13 years old to sign up, there is no real way to verify a user’s age. This means that anyone can download the app, including younger children who may not be ready for some of the content on the platform. What’s more, many parents have expressed concern about the amount of inappropriate language and content on the app, which can be unsuitable for younger viewers. Lastly, it’s important to note that by default, all TikTok accounts are set to public, meaning that strangers can easily contact and interact with your children.

5. Zoomerang

Purpose: Zoomerang is rapidly gaining popularity as one of the most widely used apps today. It is a user-friendly video creator that enables you to capture short videos, use filters, and add unique effects and background music. Sharing these videos on various social media platforms is a breeze. This app is highly regarded for assisting people in creating videos for Instagram and Tik Tok effortlessly. Zoomerang is recognized for its simplified tutorials that allow almost anyone to create and edit videos, even young children with access to a child-friendly iPhone or any mobile device.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: It’s important to be aware of the potential privacy issues that may arise when using Zoomerang. One such concern is the location tracking feature that can be utilized by online predators to locate your child when they’re using the app. While the app is rated E for Everyone, it’s important to remember that sharing videos of oneself online comes with some degree of risk. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for individuals to screenshot portions of a video and manipulate them to take brief moments out of context. This type of activity can lead to instances of cyberbullying, which is a serious problem that affects many young people today.

6. YouTube

Purpose: YouTube is an incredibly versatile platform that allows users to upload, share, and discover a wide range of videos. One of the standout features of the platform is its robust privacy settings, which give users the ability to control who can see and access their content. This makes it an excellent option for individuals and organizations looking to share their videos with a specific audience. Additionally, YouTube has become a valuable resource for both educational videos and entertainment, with a wide range of content creators producing high-quality content on a variety of topics.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: While YouTube is a widely popular platform, there are some concerning issues that parents should be aware of before allowing their children to use it. One major issue is that inappropriate content can often be mixed in with all-ages and children’s content, making it difficult for parents to monitor and filter what their children are viewing. Additionally, comments on videos can often be extremely inappropriate and even hurtful, creating a negative and potentially dangerous environment for young viewers. Another major concern on the platform is the prevalence of pedophiles, which has become a growing problem in recent years.

7. IMVU

Purpose: IMVU is an immersive virtual world game that allows users to interact with one another through the use of avatars. Similar to other popular simulation games like The Sims, players can create their own unique avatars and explore the game’s virtual world. What sets IMVU apart, however, is its emphasis on instant messaging and social interaction. The app’s name, which stands for “Instant Messaging Virtual Universe,” reflects this focus on communication and community.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: While IMVU can be an enjoyable and engaging virtual world game, there are also some concerning issues that users should be aware of. One of the most pressing concerns is the presence of nudity and sexual content, which can be found in the 18+ areas of the game. Additionally, sexual talk and behaviors can occur in the regular areas of the game as well, creating an environment that can be inappropriate for younger users. The Chat Now feature, which pairs users with other users randomly, can also lead to inappropriate pairings and interactions. Furthermore, all profiles on the platform are public, which can lead to bullying and harassment from other users. There is also the risk of predators attempting to solicit personal information, such as phone numbers and pictures, from other users.

8. Houseparty

Purpose: Houseparty is a popular video chatting app that has gained significant traction in recent years. The app allows friends to communicate with each other through live video and texts in chat groups, making it a great way to stay in touch and hang out with others. With the COVID-19 pandemic that forced many people to stay at home and practice physical distancing, Houseparty became an especially valuable tool for tweens, teens, and adults alike.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: One of the most pressing concerns is the lack of screening for inappropriate content, which can be easily accessed through live video chats. Additionally, users can share links through chat, potentially exposing children to harmful or inappropriate material. The ability to take screenshots can also pose a risk, as private conversations can be easily captured and shared without consent. Another issue is the potential for strangers to join chat groups, particularly through friends of friends, which can create an unsafe and unpredictable environment for younger users.

9. Tellonym

Purpose: The anonymous messaging app in question is a highly popular platform that has gained significant traction among middle and high school students. The app bills itself as “the most honest place on the internet,” and allows users to ask and answer questions anonymously.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: Unfortunately, this particular app has become known for its frequent occurrences of cyberbullying, violent threats, and even sexual content. This can create a hostile and unsafe environment for users, particularly younger children and teenagers. Additionally, the app offers unmonitored access to the internet, which can lead to further exposure to inappropriate content and potential online predators. It’s important to note that while the app has varying age restrictions ranging from 12 to 16, it is generally considered inappropriate for anyone younger than their late teens.

10. Tinder

Purpose: Tinder is a popular dating app that’s widely used by young adults, college students, and even some teens and tweens. The app’s developers describe it as a “fun way to connect with new and interesting people around you.”

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: Tinder is an app that is rated for ages 17 and up, but its privacy policy technically allows teens as young as 13 to register. The app is connected to Facebook, which is also open to users aged 13 and up, and it pulls in photos from Facebook to use on Tinder profiles. The app is designed to help people find others in their geographic location and allows users to view each other’s photos and start instant messaging once both people have “liked” one another. While this can be a fun and engaging way for adults to connect with others in their area, it can also be incredibly dangerous for younger users. The geo-location features and anonymous nature of the app put kids at risk for catfishing, sexual harassment, stalking, and other harmful behaviors.

11. Kik Messenger

Purpose: Kik is an intuitive mobile application that allows users to engage in high-speed text conversations with friends, creating a more immersive, “face-to-face feel” experience compared to traditional texting. This is facilitated by the app’s innovative use of profile pictures, which appear in small bubbles alongside the corresponding text messages.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: Although the Kik app is rated for users aged 17 and above, there is no age verification process in place, allowing anyone to download and use it. While the app’s unique feature of connecting users with others via their usernames rather than phone numbers can be convenient, it raises concerns about the appropriateness of teens texting with strangers. The reviews for Kik on both the App Store and Google Play store reveal that the app is frequently used for sexting with strangers, which is a worrying trend. Kik has also been linked with cases of cyberbullying, as was the case with Rebecca Sedwick, a Florida bullying victim who tragically took her own life. According to reports, Sedwick had used Kik and Voxer to receive abusive messages, which her mother was unaware of. It is, therefore, not surprising that Kik has featured on some parents’ “worst apps” lists.

12. Snapchat

Purpose: Snapchat is a unique app that enables users to send self-destructing photos and videos to their friends. Rated for users aged 12 and above, the app’s filters and special effects add a fun and creative touch to the shared content. Users can apply a wide range of filters, from simple color adjustments to more complex facial recognition effects that can add everything from bunny ears to rainbow vomit to selfies.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: Despite Snapchat’s promise of self-destructing photos and videos, some young users are using the app to send racy pictures and messages, believing that the content cannot be saved or circulated. However, research shows that Snapchat content does not entirely vanish from the device and can be captured using screenshot functions. As a result, so-called “disappearing photo” apps like Snapchat may encourage kids to send more explicit content than they would through traditional messaging platforms. While recent studies indicate that sexting is not as common as some parents may fear, the rise of these apps has led to concerns about their potential impact on young people’s behavior online.

13. Tumblr

Purpose: Despite its 17+ rating, many children and young teenagers are active users of this photo-sharing app, which also offers video-sharing and chat functionalities.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: According to Common Sense Media, Tumblr may not be suitable for younger users due to the ease with which they can access pornographic, violent, and inappropriate content on the platform. Furthermore, setting up privacy settings on Tumblr can be a time-consuming and confusing process, leaving user content vulnerable to being viewed by anyone. Mental health experts have also expressed concern about the potential impact of Tumblr on young people’s mental health. Specifically, the platform can encourage the glorification of self-harm and eating disorders, which can be particularly damaging to young people.

14. Ask.fm

Purpose: This innovative application provides a platform for individuals to engage in a dynamic question-and-answer format, where they can connect with their friends, peers, and anonymous users from around the world.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: This app has garnered popularity among users aged 13 and above, particularly in Europe, and is gradually gaining traction in the United States. However, there have been several reported cases of cyberbullying on the platform that have had dire consequences, including the tragic suicide of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick in Florida. In response to similar incidents in British schools, administrators have issued letters calling for students to refrain from using Ask.fm due to the site’s lack of monitoring and regulation. Although the platform has since introduced a reporting button for users to report abuse, concerned parents believe that this measure is insufficient.

15. Instagram

Purpose: As one of the most widely used photo-sharing apps globally, this platform’s ownership by Facebook means that many users may be familiar with it. The app’s creative filters and collage features allow users to enhance their photos and share them seamlessly across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Why Should Parents Should Be Concerned: Although rated for users aged 13 and above, this popular photo-sharing app is not immune to the presence of mature or inappropriate content and comments. While the app does offer a flagging system to report inappropriate content for review, users may still encounter negative interactions with anonymous users or so-called “trolls.” The app’s privacy settings allow users to block their location or specific followers, but many users may not take advantage of these features, leaving themselves vulnerable to unwanted attention or harassment.

Next Steps for Parents

1. One way to do this is by having regular conversations with your child about the apps and platforms they’re using. Ask your child which apps they have downloaded, how they work, and whether they have had any negative experiences while using them. Encouraging open and honest communication with your child can help identify potential risks, such as cyberbullying or unwanted contact from strangers.
2. Another way to keep your child safe online is by using apps and products designed to help monitor their online behavior. Parental control apps, for example, can be installed on your child’s devices to help you track their internet activity, block inappropriate content, and set limits on their screen time.