Lifestyle, Social Media
Is the Whisper App Safe? A Whisper App Review for Parents
Recommended Age
17 and up
Overview
The Whisper app is a social media platform that lets people post anonymous questions or confessions overlaid over photos, either from your camera roll or suggested by the app. Other users can then respond with their own “whispers.” It’s not all just random collections of people, though — you can sort by distance, join a group (like anime fans), or even add a school to see posts from fellow students.
Harmful Content 😲
Whisper prides itself on their Golden Rule of “Don’t Be Mean, Don’t Be Gross, and Don’t Break the Law.” However, the app is full of inappropriate content — especially sexual discussions, questions, and confessions. After creating a fake account and posting a photo of a cat, a member of the Bark team’s inbox was quickly flooded with requests from users asking to be their “sugar daddy.”
On top of sexual content, kids may not fully understand how dangerous posting secrets can be, especially in a small community or in a school group. This can lead to bullying when kids start sharing “anonymous” secrets in the open, regardless of whether they’re true or not.
Predation 🚨
In addition to posting your own whisper, you can also reply to another’s and even direct message (DM) them. This private chat feature is dangerous because it can lead to grooming and the jump to communicating on another platform, like Snapchat or text message.
Positive Value 💙
Secrets are best left between friends or in private journals. The potential for danger is too high on this app and outweighs any positive value it may have.
Privacy 🔒
Whisper automatically generates a random username for you when you join the app, but you have the option of editing it to create your own. Keep in mind that if your child connects their Whisper account to their school or a group of friends, the potential for bullying and hurt feelings is very high. Like most anonymous apps, things don’t always stay anonymous for long.
Parental Controls ✅
There’s one option you can toggle on to help make Whisper a little safer for your child. From the settings page of the app, you can create a PIN code that has to be entered before you can see your whispers.
Bark also provides help for Whisper. We’re here to help you keep your kid safe by allowing you to:
- Block Whisper entirely, if needed.
- Manage when your child can use Whisper throughout the day
So, should my kid download it?
Probably not. The potential for inappropriate content, online predators, and bullying among classmates is too high on the Whisper app.
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