Messaging Apps That Are Safe for Kids

Our children are growing up in the digital age, surrounded by technology in all its wonder and all its danger. While there are plenty of good reasons to embrace technology, it represents a significant risk for children, who can easily get lured by online predators.

Apps like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and Instagram were not designed with kids in mind. In other blogs, we’ve provided lists of apps that aren’t safe for kids to use, due to their lack of privacy and protection from harmful content. Fortunately, there are several kid-friendly and safe texting apps that combine accountability and parental monitoring to give your children the online connection they want in a parent-approved package.

Here are a few ideas for kid-safe messaging apps…

Messenger Kids

Messenger Kids delivers the Messenger experience to your children in a safe, parent-controlled environment. Parents create their kids’ accounts, control their contact lists, and review content through the customizable parent dashboard. Kids can also block and report users themselves, which instantly notifies the parents. There are no in-app purchases or ads to worry about, and users have all the features, stickers, GIFs, emojis, and creative tools they need to express themselves uniquely.

Kinzoo (6+)

Kinzoo promises a superior experience over Messenger Kids, and as a COPPA-certified app, you can be confident of its commitment to safety. Kinzoo offers a complete range of messaging functionality, including voice, text, video, images, emojis, and pretty much everything they need to communicate creatively. The video chat features a time-limited setting to encourage more meaningful connections. This app is a great online experience that fosters safety for children ages six and up.

Blinx (8+)

The Blinx app calls itself “kindergarten for social media.” Its mission is to give children a controlled environment to learn the joys of online social interaction without the fear of internet dangers. Only your selected “in-crowd” can send messages or share photos, videos, and voice memos, and your kid can send their own instantly with a single click. Data privacy is assured because messages are only stored on your in-crowd’s devices. If the message isn’t downloaded, it’s deleted from Blinx’s servers for good.

JusTalk Kids

JusTalk Kids is a video chat and texting app with parental controls that gives your children all the fun features they’ll love in a safe environment. One nice bonus is that since it works over Wi-Fi, you don’t need a phone number to get the most out of it; in other words, you can repurpose an older phone that’s not locked to a number or provider. Your kid will enjoy doodles, stickers, games, group chats and calls, and easy connections to family members who have a JusTalk account. JusTalk Kids is a paid app, either by subscription or a one-time fee, but there are plenty of cool features to justify the expense, and they do offer a three-day trial, so you can test it out first.

If your children are clamoring for an online social connection, there are plenty of safe, controllable, and fun ways to provide creative outlets for them. Just make sure to look for kid-safe messaging apps that prioritize privacy and give you the level of control and oversight you feel comfortable with. It’s crucial to your kids’ safety to monitor their online activity and watch out for cyberbullying, no matter what app or platform they’re using. That’s why Guardian’s network security and parental controls are key to a healthy online connection. Check out Kosciusko Connect’s Guardian features when you call 574-269-0327.

When you’re ready to launch new kid-safe messaging apps for your family, be sure you have great internet from Kosciusko Connect to support them!

Further reading:

How to Stay Safe Online

How to Share Memories Online (While Still Keeping Your Kids Safe)

Apps Parents Should Know Their Kids Are Using