HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE WHEN USING APPS

For as long as is possible, limit your child’s app use to family tablets where you can play with them and ask what they’re doing online.

If your child asks to download an app, explore it together first. Set up security features as part of the installation and show them how to block and report.

Older children may have reasons for downloading apps you won’t have thought of, so hang fire before you issue an outright ban.

Talk to your child about the importance of blocking and reporting so communities can help curate their own platforms.

Work on the principle that you are helping your child to have a good online experience, rather than looking over their shoulder to catch them out. messages can be viewed on other devices, like computers.

Your teen’s reasons for migrating to the platform may include the fact that a lot of their mates are on there. It’s also possible to make large social groups in Telegram which means it’s increasingly used for online political activism.

Age: this gives a 16+ age rating for users but anyone who has access to a mobile phone can sign up.

THE APP THAT KEEPS SECRETS: CALCULATOR#

This is just one of many ‘vault’ apps, designed to look like an ordinary calculator on your child’s phone. But while it can be used this way, by tapping in a numbered code, it’s possible to open up a secret storage area for things such as passwords – and also for photos, videos and documents that can’t be seen anywhere else on the device. Age: this has a 17+ rating in the App Store but anyone with a phone can sign up.

THE PHOTO LIBRARY GAME THAT COULD SHARE PRIVATE DETAILS: PHOTO ROULETTE

As we document more of our lives on camera phones, Photo Roulette has turned this into a game you can play with your friends. It asks you to approve 100 photos from your camera roll to share at random with up to ten contacts after you share a game access code with them. When the app flashes up a picture, players have a few seconds to guess who in the group the picture belongs to. Whoever has the most correct guesses out of 15 rounds wins.

The danger here is that your child could accidentally share pictures that aren’t meant for public consumption, whether it’s a screenshot of bank details or a password list.

Age rating: this app is recommended for users age 12 years and over.

Tanith Carey is author of What’s My Teen Thinking? published by Dorling Kindersley, price €23.80