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Red-flag apps

If your child has one of these apps on their phone, delete it. They are built for adults, and they are where offenders look for children.

No app is fully safeguarded. An offender can reach a child through almost any app on a phone, tablet, computer or gaming device, so treat every app as hostile until you have checked it yourself. Leaving them unchecked is like leaving the front door open.

Anonymous apps

Anonymous apps invite cyber-bullying and let offenders pose as other "kids".

Ask.fm
Users ask questions and receive anonymous answers. Red flag: cyber-bullying.
Yik Yak
Anonymous posts that other members "upvote". Red flag: cyber-bullying.
Whisper
Encourages sharing anonymous secrets and meeting new people on the app. Red flags: cyber-bullying and contact from offenders.
After School
Encourages high-school students to post anonymous secrets about people at their school. Red flag: cyber-bullying.
Burn Book
Rumours about other people, posted as audio, text and photos. Red flag: cyber-bullying.
Sarahah
An anonymous direct-messaging app. Red flags: cyber-bullying and contact from offenders.

Social meet-up and networking apps

These may look like harmless ways to make friends, but they are full of adults who approach children. None of them protects children from offenders.

MeetMe
Friend and message requests, livestreaming, video chat, and sending and receiving pictures and video.
Kik
Messaging, chat and livestreaming with anyone, on any device.
Moco
"Meet new people, chat, play games and hang out with people nearby who are online now," with livestreams and payouts.
Snapchat
Disappearing messages, images and video, with location and targeting features.
TikTok
Short video, private messages, live broadcasts. Red flags: contact from offenders and manipulative technology.
WhatsApp
Messaging and video calls with images and video.
Saturn
A class-schedule app that shows which students share your classes, with no student verification, so anyone can see a student's whereabouts, photo, schedule, team roster and teachers, plus direct messages and friend requests.
Roblox
A game platform where users build and play each other's games, with open chat.
Omegle
A web chat service that randomly paired strangers for anonymous one-to-one chats from 2009 until it closed in 2023. Copycats remain.

Dating apps

There is no reason for a child to have a dating app, especially those rated for ages 18 and over: Yubo (formerly Yellow), Down, Tinder, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, Bumble, OkCupid and Badoo. Each is a place adults go to meet strangers, and each is rated for adults.

Rate-me apps

Any "rate me" app targets a child's self-confidence and gives offenders a way in. Wishbone asks users to vote daily between two things; Hot or Not has users upload photos of themselves to be rated by strangers.

Hide and vault apps

These apps let a child hide pictures and other activity from you. Calculator-style apps hide photos, videos and documents behind a working calculator. Locker keeps other apps in a locked folder. Vaulty and Audio Manager store photos and videos in secret folders, and some even photograph anyone who enters the wrong passcode.

What to do

  • Check devices regularly and remove any app above, or any app you do not recognise.
  • Turn on the monitoring and controls described in parental control apps.
  • Keep the conversation open. The rules in internet safety work best when children understand why.