Get to know which hidden apps are harmful to your child

Parents, find hidden apps on kid’s device!Did you know that the calculator app on your kid’s handset might be far from it? To hide a specific content on their phones, children turn to different tricks: Android settings, file sharing, and ghost software. Under the sauce of useful ones, they conceal photos, videos, and other dubious content. How can parents find hidden apps? By knowing the enemy.The Most Used Hidden Phone Applications parents do not know aboutLet’s categorize them for guardians to understand better their functionality and, thus, find hidden apps easily:- Pre-installed apps:They are integrated into a handset from the very beginning. It’s about the Settings app. When opening it, a user taps Applications. Then it’s All Apps. They pick the ones to hide and tap on them. The last step is to tap Disable – those apps won’t be seen on the home screen.- File sharing software like Xender or Shareit:By origin, they are designed to help share different stuff between handsets. However, these applications contain the feature that allows hiding files. Before starting concealing them, it has to be set up. Users need simply to select files, tap on the three-dot or hamburger menu, and pick Hide. To find hidden apps by Xender, a file explorer helps out.- Outside hidden phone apps or “ghost ones”:They contain images, videos, documents. Some even mask others. The apps look like ordinary ones. They do not draw attention. For example, parents wouldn’t want to inspect a calculator. Meanwhile, it has a code set by a user. After opening it, the user accesses hidden files. To find these hidden apps, third-party tracking ones might be useful.- Apps hiders for Android like App Defender, AppLock:These are applications tailored purposefully to hide the content on the phone. Handsets’ owners set passwords, and no one can access files, folders, applications. That way, if parents see an icon that looks like privacy or defense, they might find hidden apps.Nevertheless, it is more critical not to find hidden apps, but get to know why children would use them.Why children use hidden Phone AppsThere are multiple motives why children want to conceal the content on their device. One thing is sure: it is something parents wouldn’t approve. When parents find hidden apps, they should ask themselves why. Let’s regard some of the possible reasons.Reason #1: They don’t want parents to see their social media and blogging activity.This kind of activity is often dictated by peer pressure. What’s popular among teens? Hot bodies, nice clothes, luxury lives, exquisite cuisine. They don’t want to coordinate their posts with parents. They just want to show they are not any less.Reason #2: They don’t want parents to know their crush. Nowadays, teens are used to sexting. They send naked, half-naked photos to their boyfriends or girlfriends to impress them. Some even require to send such images from their romantic partners. Sexting is always nasty. Obviously, hiding is a way out.Reason #3: They don’t want parents to know they binge play games.Children keep it in secret how much time they spend on playing games. The World Health Organization has even recognized a game addiction as a mental illness. So, they hide gaming apps to continue this guilty pleasure and meanwhile not to get punished.Reason #4: They don’t want you to know their struggles.Multiple online activities recruit kids and make them do dangerous activities. Kids have to film them simultaneously. Thus, hidden applications allow them to conceal the shot material and send it safely.Reason #5: They don’t want parents to know their social environment.The “mates issue” is always sore for parents and kids. Children want to pick on their own who to communicate with. Parents wish to control this process. The way kids interact with others might be inappropriate. Thus, hidden apps come in handy.Bottom LineKids are tech-savvy nowadays. Psychologists say that in these digital realities, parents should keep up or be one step ahead. Since the Internet means the world to children, parents should learn to protect them online. The solutions are to know how to find hidden apps on devices, regulate screen time and web experience.Image courtesy of Pexels