PlayKids Talk - Kids-Safe Messenger
PlayKids Talk - Kids-Safe Messenger gallery
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that PlayKids Talk - Kids-Safe Messenger is an instant messenger that targets kids in elementary school around ages 6-12. The app gives parents complete control over their child's contacts, profile and account set-up and screens a parent's age. Once parents approve contacts, kids can send instant messages including photos, voice recordings and graphics to one another. Parents can monitor every conversation directly from their device. Note two devices - one for the parent and one for the child -- is ideal if you want to be able to monitor your child's chats in real time, but families can share a device without risk of the child accessing parental settings if they don't have your password.What kids can learn
The bright child-friendly interface, the photo features, and the chance to participate in activity usually reserved for older kids and adults will easily engage kids.
If parents involve kids in discussion around set-up and the differences between this and social media for teens, there's lots of potential to talk about digital citizenship.
There isn't much in the way of support or help for kids within the app, but use is fairly intuitive.
What's it about?
PLAYKIDS TALK - KIDS-SAFE MESSENGER allows kids to send text and photo messages to preapproved contacts. Only an adult can create an account through a multi-step process that verifies age via several factors, including by analyzing a photo of the person setting up the account. Once the app is satisfied that the user is an adult, it's extremely simple to follow prompts and create a parents' account and accounts for multiple children. Only the adult's account can add contacts, but once they have, kids get to use their iOS device and the app to send instant messages that include text, images, and audio. Parents can monitor all communication to ensure that all communication is appropriate and safe.
Is it any good?
The parental controls on this introduction to instant messaging are strong, and kids will like decorating photos and sending emojis, but there are a few potential glitches. During testing, the app performed exactly as advertised with easy set-up for both the master and secondary accounts, but the primary concern parents report is that the age-verification process often fails to recognize adults in submitted photos as old enough and locks them out. Help is available on the PlayKids website, but getting it cleared up can cause a frustrating delay. Also, adding contacts from an address book caused the app to crash. Overall, it's a strong contender in terms of social media starter apps, as it uses push notifications, emojis, photos and other features that will make kids feel like they're using the "real thing," all while allowing them to explore digital communication in an environment that's safe but accurately represents what they'll encounter as they get older and move to less supervised platforms.
Families can talk about...
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Families can talk about the criteria parents use to make their kid's contact lists. If they choose to monitor the conversations, what would cause concern?
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Talk about safety and privacy online. What information should you avoid sharing? When you get to choose your own contacts, how will you decide?
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Talk about appropriate times to send instant messages to friends. Discuss what time is too early or late, what topics are taboo, and generally address respecting people's boundaries.
App details
| Devices: | iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad |
| Price: | Free |
| Pricing structure: | Free |
| Release date: | August 20, 2015 |
| Category: | Social Networking |
| Topics: | Friendship |
| Size: | 93.30 MB |
| Version: | 1.0.5 |
| Minimum software requirements: | Requires iOS 8.0 or later |
