Is Poki Safe? A Poki App Review for Parents

Harmful Content 😲

Poki offers thousands of gaming options, and not all of them are kid-friendly. There’s lots of violent games that involve guns, killing, and gore. There’s a horror gaming section with disturbing graphics, as well as plenty of potentially NSFW games about dating and romantic relationships. When a player clicks on the game they want, they are redirected to an internet browser. From there, kids have the ability to leave the game and browse the web instead. 

An extremely concerning feature are the chat rooms available in some games that allow kids to chat with strangers, but we’ll discuss that more in the predation section.

Ads are another issue. Although Poki claims to monitor them, there’s no guarantee inappropriate ads won’t pop up while your kid is playing.

Predation 🚨

Unfortunately, there’s a high risk of predation on Poki because of the chat feature offered in some games. Your child may start playing a game about memes and find themselves talking with a stranger.

Internet access is also a huge issue. Since Poki uses a browser to access games, kids are given the chance to scour the internet. This can lead them to dangerous messaging sites, like Reddit or Discord.

Privacy 🔒

Kids are not required to share their personal information on the Poki site, but they can if they choose. Also, chat rooms are accessible only to those in them. Some chat rooms have multiple players in them at once, but there’s also the possibility for players to talk to each other one on one.

Parental Controls ✅

Poki offers no monitoring tools for parents, so kids can choose from thousands of games and talk to strangers whenever they want. Poki offers a safer gaming site, called Poki Kids, that doesn’t have a chat feature, but there’s still no way for parents to vet games ahead of time and kids can access the internet browser with the click of a button.

Bark can help you stay in control by letting you:

• Block the Poki app and website completely, if needed.
• Manage when your child can use the Poki app and website throughout the day.

So, should my kid download it?

Probably not. While there are certainly fun, appropriate games on Poki, it’s not worth your child encountering disturbing content or talking to strangers. It’s safer to download specific games than to give your kid access to thousands of games and an internet browser all at once.