Please contact us. Use another account. Sign in to complete account merge. Sign in. Your password has been changed. Change password. You did it! Resend Email Verification. With your Rogers Media profile? You may have created a profile with another Rogers Media brand that can be used to log into this site.

Forgot your password? So sorry to see you go! Unsubscribe failed. Kik is known for its features preserving users' anonymity, such as allowing users to register without providing a telephone number. Hot or Not is a game where you upload your best pictures and get rated by other users in your area. The app also lets you see how "hot" your friends are and browse through a list of the "hottest" people nearby.

Burnbook is an anonymous gossip app that lets users post rumours about people through audio, messages, texts and photos. Named after the "burn book" in teen movie Mean Girls, users can download the app for free, search for school "communities" within 10 miles, and share text, photo, and audio messages with other community members.

Requard said she was concerned about it because it "allows users to compare kids against each other and rate them on a scale. Requard describes Whisper as an "anonymous app where the creators promote sharing secrets and meeting new people". The service allows users to post and share private photo and video messages completely anonymously. The posts, known as "whispers", consist of text superimposed over an image - which can be uploaded or selected from an in-app search engine. Probably the best-known app on the list, Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social networking service that is owned by Facebook.

Requard's concern is that users can have more than one account. Kids also like to text using Instagram because messages are deleted once a user deleted once a user leaves a conversation.

These are the 10 smartphone apps that parents need to know if their kids are using

She also says that kids are more likely to use this app to message each other, as it is easy to delete private message. Keep up-to-date with news for parents by following our Flipboard magazine below. By Millicent Cooke.

Helen Whitehouse. Parents are being urged to check over their children's phones for these apps Image: Getty Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Mimi Wheeler

Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice. There's also nothing keeping friends of friends joining groups where they may only know one person. Purpose: Tinder's developers describe the app as "the fun way to connect with new and interesting people around you. Tinder helps people find others in their geographic location and allows users to view each others' photos and start instant messaging once both people have "liked" one another.

The geo-location features and anonymous nature of the app put kids at risk for catfishing , sexual harassment, stalking, and worse. Learn more scary facts about the Tinder app.

Purpose: This app allows users to interact in a question-and-answer format — with friends, peers, and anonymous users alike. Some kids have used the app for hurtful cyberbullying that has been linked to suicides , including the death of year-old Rebecca Sedwick of Florida. British schools have sent home letters calling for students to stop using ask. In response to the uproar in the U. Check out Webwise's Ask. Purpose: Kik is a mobile app that people can use to text with friends at high speed and with more of a "face-to-face feel" than regular texting users' profile pictures appear in a little bubble next to their text, and they can quickly text photos, sketches, or even pre-designed greeting cards to individuals or groups.

Like some other instant messenger apps, Kik allows your teen to connect with others using just a username rather than texting from her phone number. But it begs the question: Should teens be texting with people beyond their phone contacts?

Reviews in the App Store and Google Play store reveal that many people use Kik to meet strangers for sexting. The app also been connected with cyberbullying. Rebecca Sedwick, the Florida bullying victim who killed herself, reportedly used Kik and Voxer in addition to ask. It's no surprise Kik has landed on some parents' "worst apps" lists. Check out bewebsmart. Purpose: This walkie-talkie PTT push-to-talk app allows users to quickly exchange short voice messages. They can have chats going on with multiple people at a time and just have to tap the play button to hear any messages they receive.

Although it largely has an adult following, including some people who use it for their job, it's becoming popular among teens who enjoy its hybrid style of texting and talking. Why Parents Should Worry: Hurtful messages from cyberbullies can be even more biting when they're spoken and can be played repeatedly. Purpose: Snapchat is an app that allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after they're received.

15 apps all parents should know about

The filters and special effects allow users to alter pictures. Why Parents Should Worry: Some kids are using the app to send racy pics because they believe the images can't be saved and circulated. But it turns out that Snapchat pics don't completely disappear from a device , and users can take a screenshot before an image vanishes in the app. And while recent studies revealed that "sexting" sending sexual messages and images, usually via text message is not as popular as parents had feared, "disappearing photo" apps like Snapchat might embolden kids to send more explicit photos and texts than they would have before through traditional texting.

Check out connectsafely. Purpose: Vsco is a photo creation app that gives users the tools to shoot, edit and post images to a profile, kind of like Instagram. Why Parents Should Worry: You should know that you have to manually turn on privacy settings and limit location sharing. There are also in-app purchases for more serious photo editing tools that could cost you some serious money if your kid decides to download them.

Why Parents Should Worry: Whisper lets users set up anonymous accounts to make their messages or confessions overlap an image or graphic similar to e-postcards , which other users can then "like," share, or comment on.

While it allows for creative expression, it can also take overly personal content viral. The app also shows a user's location. Although the app is geared toward older teens and adults, younger children are finding their way to it. A year-old girl in Washington was reportedly raped by a year-old man who met her on Whisper. It can also be used for sharing videos and chatting.

Why Parents Should Worry: Common Sense Media says Tumblr is "too raunchy for tykes" because users can easily access pornographic, violent, and inappropriate content. Common Sense also notes that users need to jump through hoops to set up privacy settings — and until then, all of a user's photo and content is public for all to see. Mental health experts say that Tumblr can be damaging to adolescents' mental health because it tends to glorify self-harm and eating disorders.

Purpose: This hugely popular photo-sharing site is owned by Facebook, so you may be more familiar with it than with other photo-sharing apps.