App Safety

A guide to different apps and games and how to ensure your child is using them safely.

Oyoty 

  Oyoty is an app that will run on your child's device and act as a personal e-safety assistant to help keep them safe online. 

What is Oyoty?

Oyoty is an intelligent robot spotting risky behavior of your children on social networks. It detects issues that could potentially impact their reputation and safety. Once Oyoty spots such issues, it promptly alerts the child on their smartphone, explaining the nature of the risk, and guiding them to fix the issue. Alternatively, the child may question why a content has been spotted, by marking it for discussion with the parent.

Every week, the parent gets a report, showing the progress made by the child in addressing issues and learning how to be safe. In addition to spotting risks, Oyoty provides preventive advice in the form of videos (and, later, quizzes) that are educational yet fun to watch.

For further information and to download the app visit www.oyoty.com

Yubo app

Schools have issued a warning about social media app Yubo, which allows children aged 13 to 17 to match with potential dates, as well as to join "lives" where they are encouraged to interact with about 100 other teenagers in group video calls. It follows an investigation by The Sunday Times which found the app was exposing children to sexual harassment, racism and bullying, and they may come across content that is not appropriate to them.

WINK

There are limited privacy and safety settings. Users cannot restrict who can contact them and there is no option to make an account private, but they can block and report users. Wink users often include sexual themes and references to alcohol and other drugs.

Fortnite: Battle Royale

A rapidly increasing number of children are playing the game ‘Fortnite’, making its Battle Royale mode “the most played online game in the world.” As with all online gaming, there are a number of risks that need to be considered in order to ensure children and young people are effectively protected. National Online Safety provides regularly updated resources for the whole school community according to the latest trends and have therefore created a guide to educate school staff and parents about Fortnite: Battle Royale. The guide explains what the game is all about and some online safety issues to consider, with the aim to protect children whilst playing the game.
Click here to read the guide>>

 Snapchat and Location Sharing

Snapchat has recently added location sharing to the app.  This gives pinpoint locations of users when switched on, with obvious implications for safety.   We strongly recommend that parents and students take the time to look at how their location is shared in Snapchat and other apps (eg Facebook).

Please see this blogpost for more details about controlling who can see your location settings in snapchat.

http://www.childnet.com/blog/introducing-snap-maps-the-new-location-sharing-feature-in-snapchat?utm_content=buffere2c35&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

We are aware that there are groups of people using social media groups to encourage dangerous behaviour in children (sometimes described as ‘Blue Whale’).

Live Streaming

Sayat.me is app designed to allow users to invite anonymous comments, while it does not allow two way contact, it is open to direct bullying, but only has a PG rating.

Live streaming platforms such as Live.me,  Live.ly, Periscope, Facebook Live and Musical.ly are particularly open to abuse as there is no easy way to control or remove anything that has been streamed.

See http://www.childnet.com/young-people/secondary/hot-topics/livestreaming for more information.

Hotel Hideaway

Hotel Hideaway is advertised as a game full of opportunities to meet new people and make new friends. However, this is a free 3D virtual world app where users can create their own avatar and hotel room and chat with others worldwide in public or private chat rooms. Users should be 17+ but the use of cartoon avatars makes this appealing to younger audiences. The chat function puts young children at risk of being exposed to mature language and grooming behaviour.

Please be mindful of this new online game and help safeguard your child if you believe they may be accessing it.

Parent Guide for Child Internet Safety

https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/the-ultimate-parent-guide-for-child-internet/

Age Ratings

All Apps that allow social interaction have the potential for abuse.   There is a minimum age requirement in the sign-up agreements, and it is important that parents are aware of this, as it indicates the level of protections offered. Typically, if the minimum age is 18, there are no protections offered by the service to prevent inappropriate communication, and no parental controls.  Apps with a minimum age of 13 generally have some way of reporting and or blocking inappropriate content along with some parental controls.

All Apps have a PEGI rating.  This is equivalent to the age rating of a film, set at 12, 16 and 18.  It is illegal to sell rated items to children below the age rating in the UK.

See https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/?order=-popularity for more information about apps that are most commonly used by teenagers.

Click here for more information about apps that are most commonly used by teenagers.