[Truth Reveal] Is Snapchat Safe for Kids?

Snapchat has become a widely used social media platform for people of nearly all ages. However, one substantially targeted age group is that of children and young adolescents. Snapchat gives your kids a great place to share photos and messages with friends.

However, as a parent, you might wonder: Is Snapchat safe for kids? From potential privacy concerns to the risk of inappropriate content, understanding the ins and outs of this popular app is crucial. In this article, we’ll explore all the safety features and risks that Snapchat offers. And the way to set parental controls on Snapchat. Let’s dive in!

Is Snapchat Safe for Kids?

Snapchat asks for a birth date during signup, but it only requires users to be 13 or older. There’s no age verification for younger kids, which means they can easily create an account. This lack of control makes Snapchat potentially risky for kids, especially if they use it without adult supervision.

Strangers

Kids can be easily deceived by fake online personas. They may chat with strangers who could manipulate them and gather personal information. Snapchat can be risky for young teens, who might fall victim to these strangers.

Inapproriate Content

Although Snapchat claims it’s safe for teens over 16, younger users can still encounter age-inappropriate content. The "Discovery mode" exposes kids to mature or bizarre material, especially if they sign up with the wrong birth date. Therefore, it's necessary for parents to block inappropriate content on Snapchat.

Erotic Conversations

There have been reports of kids being drawn into inappropriate texting and asked to share explicit images. While Snapchat messages disappear after viewing, they can still be captured by screenshots. This fleeting nature encourages users to engage in risky conversations.

Privacy and Location Explosure

Adding friends on Snapchat is easy, which means kids might connect with people they don’t know in real life. These virtual friends can learn private details about them. Additionally, kids can share snaps on the Snap Map, revealing their names and locations. This means that even non-friends can see where your child is, posing a significant privacy risk.

How to Set Parental Sontrols on Snapchat?

Setting up Snapchat parental controls is crucial for monitoring your child’s activity and ensuring a safe online experience. Below, we'll introduce 2 methods to help.

Method 1: Set Snapchat Parental Controls in Setting

First of all, the first thing you can do is to make sure you set privacy in your kid's Snapchat account. However, it's not like one click and you're ready to go. There are several things that you need to enable in order to set the privacy. Below we've mentioned some most important privacy settings that you can enable in your kid's Snapchat account:

Turn off the "Show on Recommendation" Button

This feature is responsible for showing your profile to other recommended strangers, so you can get more friends on Snapchat. However, you can turn See me in Quick Add off in the Settings, so your kid's profile will not be displayed to any stranger.

Protect Your Kid's Phone Number

Phone number contains lots of information, you should protect your kid's phone number to prevent it from reaching to strangers. Hence, you can do is to turn off Let others find me using my mobile number option.

Hide Your Kid's Location

You must hide your kid's location. For that purpose, all you can do is turn on the Ghost Mode in the Settings, and then no one can see your kid's location and don't recommend your kid's profile to nearby strangers.

Method 2: Set Parental Controls on Snapchat with KidsGuard for Children

As parents, we want to protect our kids completely. To do this, you need a reliable tool that offers full control over their Snapchat activity. After researching extensively, we found an excellent solution: KidsGuard for Children.

This all-in-one parental control app allows you to track every activity on your child’s Snapchat account. You can monitor their actions from any device, all without them knowing. This way, you can keep your kids safe while respecting their privacy.

How to Set Snapchat Parental Controls with KidsGuard for Children

KidsGuard for Children is an easy operate parental control app, you can setup and use it within 5 minutes. Let's see how it work!

Step 1. Sign-up at the official website of KidsGuard for Children with a valid email, and purchase the subscription based on your needs.

Monitor NowView Demo

Step 2. Following the instruction to download and install the app on your kid's phone.

Step 3. After installation, you can login to your account and visit the dashboard. Here, you can track all their activities on Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram.

Should I Let My Kids Have Snapchat?

Texts and snaps are removed once viewed, and for these temporary nature of Snapchat, parents might still be oblivious to what their child is doing. So it is recommended that teens below 16 do not obtain access to it.

But we cannot deny that Snapchat is also a good platform for kids to save their memories and stay in touch with their friends. The ultimate aim of children on Snapchat is to share and broadcast their fun experiences and their life with friends and family. In case of that,Snapchat needs to be monitored and supervised by parents until kids are in a certain age.

The answer is absolutely Yes. There is a range of parental control applications that you can install to monitor your children without letting them know about it. These applications help you monitor their online activity, at all times. Using the parental control application, allows you to check all your kid's Snapchat activities, including reading Snapchat messages, viewing pictures, watching videos, and so on. Moreover, we suggest you only buy premium software for Snapchat monitoring your kid. We know free versions might sound good, but first of all, they are not safe, might sell your data to compensate for the money of your free account, and don't provide complete protection.

More Tips about Snapchat Parental Controls

Snapchat offers its users an array of features that are unique yet user-friendly. However, have you ever wondered that all those features are safe for children and if there are any hidden dangers for our kids? Let's see the features of Snapchat:

Discovery Mode:

Snapchat has a "discovery" mode that covers three different content, including Our Stories, Publisher Stories, and Snap Originals. It allows users to directly view content made by celebrities, news and entertainment outlets, other users, and so on.

Snap Map:

Snap Map shows you where you are on a map in real-time. Your Snapchat friends are the only ones who can see where you are. Furthermore, if your friends' "location mode" is not disabled, Snap Map allows you to scroll through the globe map and spot their whereabouts.

Snapchat Story:

Snaps can be used to create a "story" by themselves. It will be aired to your pals as a series of snaps that will be visible to your viewers for 24 hours before disappearing.

Snapcode:

A "snap code" is a QR code that your friends can scan to add you quickly and easily. This code can be found on the profile screen.

Trophy Case:

Trophy case is a feature that rewards you with a trophy for your achievements and breakthroughs. These could be as simple as sending 50 snaps using different pen colours.

3D World Lenses:

3D world lenses are unlike the lenses that add effects to your face. By enabling the "3D world lenses", it places an augmented reality object in your real time video recording. This AR feature makes your environmental surroundings awesome and cool.

Filter:

A "filter" can be added to your snap when it is captured. You can swipe right or left to add location, weather, or time.

Geofilter:

Geofilter is a term derived from geographical location. These help you specify your location or any public event that you are present at.

Memories:

Memories are the personal storage offered to Snapchat users within the app. Once the snap is clicked, you can save it to your memories which will be transferred to your snapchat cloud.

Bitmoji:

Bitmoji is a feature that you can use to create a digital emoticon that resembles you. This will help with a better flow of interaction as you can jazz up your identification.

Conclusion

If you have a child who uses Snapchat, it could be perilous for him or her unless you secure his or her account. You'll need a more advanced service, such as the KidsGuard for Children parental control app, to keep your children secure. It allows you to remotely monitor all of your children's Snapchat actions in real-time without them knowing!

Monitor NowView Demo