Five apps parents should be wary of

In an age where most children have access to smart phones and social media, its past time parents got tech savvy. Are you sure that is your child’s friend she or he is texting? Do strangers and predators have access to your child through the apps on their phone, iPod touch or iPad? Unless you are actively monitoring your child’s smartphone and tablet apps, you are not getting a complete picture of who they are talking to.

New apps are being created all the time, so you need to stay abreast with the changes. Here are our top five apps to be wary of:

1. SnapChat. This app allows users to send photos that will disappear after 10 seconds. Once the recipient opens the picture, the timer starts. Then it is gone. From both the sender’s phone and the recipient’s. However, with a simple screen shot the photo can be saved and shared with others. This app enables kids to feel more comfortable “sexting”.

2. Secret Folder and Poof. These apps, and many like them, are easily overlooked. Secret Folder hides pictures, text messages, videos and anything you want on your phone, and disguises itself as a series of apps. The apps then have to be keyed in order to open the hidden content. The Poof App allows users to make Apps disappear on their phone with one touch. Poof is no longer available, but there are similar ones being created constantly.

3. Yik Yak is a free, location-aware, social-networking app that lets users post “anything and everything” anonymously through brief, Twitter-like comments, which are distributed to the geographically nearest 500 people who are also signed in. It is popular because kids can find out secrets, rumors that could have originated from the kids at the desks in front of them. This app has it all: cyberbullying, explicit sexual content, unintended location sharing, and exposure to information about drugs and alcohol.

4. Omegle. A chat site (and app) that puts two strangers together in their choice of a text chat or video chat room. Being anonymous can be very attractive. And there is no registration required. Omegle is filled with people searching for sexual chat.

5. Kik. Boasting 100 million users, Kik is an instant messenger with a built in mobile web browser. The app allows kids to send private messages that their parents can’t see. The identity of the users cannot be verified, which obviously poses the risk of sexual predators chatting with your child. And again, this is an easy tool for sexting. A brief look on the Kik website displays dozens of messages from teens looking for “dirty” chats and asking to trade nude photographs, often via SnapChat.

But do not dismay, there are apps to help you monitor your children’s Internet usage. Apps that enable you to view the exact keys that were typed, time spent online and all computer activity in general. Knowing that you can see everything they do online will help your children ensure they avoid temptations.

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