Why these 5 apps are dangerous for your teenager

Teenagers are perhaps the biggest targeted user base for social media apps. FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, and even TikTok have been around for a few years now. New social apps are released every month. In a bid to become popular quickly, they lure teens in with attractive, innocent-looking graphics and text, but are actually open to all the evils of unprotected internet. We have rounded up 5 such apps. Be careful about them.  

Yubo (previously called Yellow)  
This is openly called the ‘Tinder for Teens’. The problem begins with age specification. Apparently, it’s for anyone above 13, but there is no way to verify. It begins with simple ‘like’ swipes against profile photos, which slowly get worse. Yubo has allegations of stalking and sexual predators on it. Our advice: be careful.  

Spotafriend  
The description in Google App Store says, ‘Spotafriend is not a teen dating app’. And the site tells us: ‘Meet teens near you with Spotafriend, a Tinder alternative for people ages 13-19’. Teens can open private chats with strangers, there is no age verification, and it has GPS tracking. If these are not bad enough, the website has topics like ‘How to seduce a girl online’. Our advice: stay way.   

Mylol  
Mylol is teeming with sexually explicit photos and videos. Users can pay to become ‘Privileged Members’ with access to features like ‘Know who votes, winks and visits you.’ It’s a top teen dating app. But it’s too full of dangerous adults. Our advice: leave with your friends.  

Meetme  
Meetme was sued in 2014 for ‘lax privacy protections that gives sexual predators a high-tech tool to exploit kids under 18.’ But they are still around and popular. Meetme has a lot of verbal stalkers too, who smooth-talk teenagers and then blackmail them. Our advice: stay away.  

Skout  
Described by its developers openly as a ‘flirting’ app, Skout matches users by preference and proximity. There are points for everything, creating a profile, uploading photos, downloading advertised apps. These points help in expanding locality boundaries. This app has also survived court cases and remains popular. Our advice: don’t use it unless you are rich, foolish and looking for trouble.