Advice & Resources

Tinder is a dating app that lets you browse pictures of potential matches within a certain mile radius of your location.

What parents need to know: Meeting up (and possibly “hooking up”) is pretty much the goal. Many apps have copied this swiping style, so if you see it in another app, it’s best to take a second look.

Bumble is a location-based social and dating application that facilitates communication between interested users. In heterosexual matches, only female users can make the first contact with matched male users, while in same-sex matches either person can send a message first.

What parents need to know: Content will be visible to other users of the App all around the world instantly.

Advertised as a social networking site where kids can make new friends.

What parents need to know: While the app description says there are two separate areas for teens aged 13 to 17 and people aged 18+, there’s no age verification. Also, the age slider to watch live streams goes from 13 to 25, which implies teens and adults can interact via live streaming.

Advertised as the #1 teen dating site in the US, Australia, UK and Canada.

What parents need to know: There are profiles with no pictures, so it’s impossible to tell the user’s agE. A few profiles had references to marijuana use, and many teens shared their handles for other social media platforms, making more personal information available to

The Skout app and site offer several ways to connect with other users, including “saying hi” via someone’s profile, watching live streams (or going live), chatting with people who have “liked” you back, or using the “Buzz” feature to access a feed of local users (that appears to be a Facebook feed) who are mostly posting selfies.

What parents need to know: In its Safety Tips section, Skout claims to separate teens from adults so they can’t interact, but that no longer seems to be the case. And, like most of the other dating apps here, it’s easy to enter a fake birth date.

A free teen network site and teen chat, social network.

What parents need to know: This teen dating and social networking site offers too many opportunities for unmoderated interaction, including video chat and several (nearly empty) chat rooms. Profiles are visible to anyone who visits the site unless users change their settings to hide them. There are lots of links to chat and dating sites that are geared toward adults.

An app to chat, meet and develop relationships with people nearby.

What parents need to know: Members can earn ‘diamonds’ from this feature (when they host live streams), which they can exchange for Lovoo credits or cash – which may be easy for sexual predators to use to entice children and young people.