The Most Reliable Parental Control App
FamiSafe lets parents control kids' time spent on Grindr, detect explicit content, and enables parents to block Grindr with one simple tap. Try now to establish a healthy online environment for your kids!
Grindr is a dating app for the LGBTQ community designed for 18+ years old. Still, there have been several cases where teenagers have bypassed the registration process by faking their age to access this app, which has raised many parents’ concerns over whether Grindr is safe to use.
Grindr can be a good place for adults to find friends and love, but it is not safe for teenagers; there are still many teens on Grindr who fall prey to various crimes. That is why we prepared this app safety guide to help parents know how safe is Grindr and whether there are any ways to protect kids.
What is a Grindr App?
Grindr is a Geo-location-based social media application available for LGBTQ plus and a broader community. When a user signs up with the app, a list of suitable profiles will appear depending on the relative distance preference. Then, depending on their personal preferences, users can go through these profiles and contact any of them through private messaging. And it finds out that there is a considerable circulation of texts and photos on this app with no quality control whatsoever.
For those who want to explore more, there is an Explore feature in the app by which one can find people in a specific geographic location. However, this feature is only available to premium subscribers.
Grindr Age Restriction
Grindr imposes certain age restrictions for its users, but the question is, - is it strict enough to deny entry to teenagers? As for the app's guidelines, only people over 18 can sign up. But there have been several instances where young teenagers have registered and used this platform. There is no strict verification process, so your teenage child can easily fake his identity to sign up.
What should Parents Know about Grindr?
Having a teenager at home using the Grindr app is a concern. Signing up on Grindr is a vicious cycle that does not often end on a good note. Apart from the information introduced above, there are other issues related to this app that parents should be careful about.
● It can lead to anxiety and depression
When teenagers log on to Grindr, they cannot establish a genuine connection in their locality or friends group, leading to feelings of loneliness and vulnerability. It is not necessarily that your child will meet someone serious about companionship because such apps have a user base primarily looking for hookups. However, not being able to form a real relationship can leave your kid emotionally hurt.
● It can be addictive
Psychologists accuse dating apps of being addictive because they notice a repetitive pattern in its user. Teenagers will sign up, have meaningless sex and later feel guilty. Like any other dating, even Grindr can become a pattern for your kid, a cycle that is hard to break and can end up leaving your kid depressed.
● Bullying and exploitation
For your teenage child, Grindr may be a way to meet new people looking for the same experience, but you never know who they are getting in contact with. The person that your teenage child has started dating can be a sex offender or a bully. Unfortunately, kids do not know what to do in such a situation and are the prey of such predators.
What can you do if your Kids are Using Grindr?
Kids can be sneaky, and it is not always easy to prevent them from using apps like Grindr, but you can at least make the Grindr app safer. Here are some ways to ensure teens’ safety on Grindr.
● Have a clear conversation
Teenagers are always hesitant to share their personal life with their parents. Even if they are in big trouble, they will try to solve it on their own and hurt themselves. As a parent, you have to constantly work on your relationship with your child.
Instead of enforcing rules, try to reason with them. Develop a bond so that your child can share everything with you. It may sound complicated, but believe us, this is the best way to ensure your kids' safety.
● Educate them about online evils
There are two sides to the Internet, but it is difficult to see the wrong side for a young child who has just entered the world of dating. Your role here is to educate them about everything happening on the Internet, good or bad. Parents do not like to talk to their kids about sexual harassment, abuse, and online predators. But, to ensure the safety of your kids, you need to talk about these things.
Explain the possibility of being hurt while dating online and what they can do to prevent such encounters. For instance, they should not date outside their circle; they should share nudes and other personal data.
● Set age-specific rules
Setting age-specific rules should be a common practice in every household. Suppose one of your kids is 13 years old and another is 17. You have to make a set of rules for each and ensure kids follow them. For instance, teenagers should not be allowed to date online until they are 16. Make it a regulation, and reward them if kids abide by it. Kids can date in their friend circle if they do not meet the age requirement.
● Install a parental control app
Another method parents can try is to use parental control app to monitor what your kids are up to on their phones. And kids will not notice you are monitoring since all the actions are set remotely.
What can Wondershare FamiSafe do?
Wondershare FamiSafe will be the preferred option for parents to set parental control on kids’ devices. FamiSafe is designed to keep parents’ concerns about apps like Grindr in mind. All parents need is to install the app on monitoring and monitored devices. Then the app will help:
- Monitor screen timing.
- Track the app kids have installed and uninstalled recently.
- Monitor who kids are chatting with and what kind of content they are sharing with.
- Track kids’ real-time location and set up a geo-fence.
- Get to know how much time kids spend on a particular app or website.
- Block adult content and abusive messages.
How to Set up Wondershare FamiSafe?
Parents’ device:
Step 1. Depending on your device's system, download the FamiSafe app from either Google Play, App Store, or the official website.
Step 2. Launch the app on your device and sign up using your email address by filling in the information it requires.
Step 3. After registered successfully, you can log in to your account using the same credentials and click on Start.
Step 4. Then, there will be a Pairing Code that you can use to link your kids’ devices.
Kids’ device:
Step 1. Download the FamiSafe Kids. app on kids’ device.
Step 2. Log in with the same account you set up on your device.
Step 3. Now click on Start.
Step 4. Enter the 6-digit pairing code you received on your phone, and click on Start again.
Step 5. After that, follow the instruction to fill in kid's credentials, like kids’ names and ages.
Step 6. Now, you need to grant permission to FamiSafe, and then you can start monitoring your device.
Some of the best things that you can do with the WonderShare FamiSafe app are:
1. Explicit Content Detection
One of the excellent features of Wondershare FamiSafe is to detect explicit or offensive words. So when your kid is on Grindr, the prime concern is if they are sharing profane and explicit content. And to keep the information secret and establish a long-term relationship, many users would choose to add Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.
FamiSafe provides parents with an explicit word library to detect inappropriate content on kids’ phones. And you can add or delete the words as you like. In addition, once your kids send or receive any messages containing inappropriate words on social apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, SMS, etc., you will receive an instant alert and check the message remotely.
2. App Blocker
It would be better for parents who have kids below 18 to block the apps like Grindr completely, which is what App Blocker offers. Not only this, but it also enables you to limit kids’ screen time on the device or specific apps. You can choose App rated 17+ under the Block apps by age rating section to block Grindr.
3. Location Sharing
Suppose your kid plans to take the relationship a step ahead; they may choose to meet each other offline. FamiSafe provides parents with Location Sharing and Geofence features to track where kids are and where they have been.
Conclusion
Grindr may have tried to simplify the life of the LGBTQ community, but given the vast user base, it is having a hard time maintaining the quality of the users. If your teens are on Grindr, this is a matter of concern, and you should be vigilant about it.
Hope this article has provided you with some insight on whether Grindr is safe or not.
Wondershare FamiSafe - The Most Reliable Parental Control App
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Location Tracking & Geo-fencing
App Blocker & Web Filtering
Screen Time Control
Smart Parental Control Setting
Block In-app Purchase