Apps that teens utilize

Many law enforcement professionals as well as parents are general unaware of what types of apps that their tweens and teens are utilizing from their smartphones, tablets and computers. Partly to blame is at the speed that the apps come out, mostly its because we just aren't looking for them or possibly because we don't want to know about them. 

Pheed is a relatively new thing that's been attracting more young people to its platform on the web and mobile. Built to offer the best components of all social networks while remaining heavy on the multimedia side of photo and video, more kids have been turning to this one to connect to their friends and express themselves. It's also attracted quite a few hot musicians and artists to use for promoting their own original content, which could be another reason why teens like it so much.

Blendr is billed as a “flirting” app allowing users to send photos/videos to anyone on their “friends” list and rate their “hotness.” Why it’s bad: This app uses GPS and is not authenticated, so predators can find minors or anyone they are looking for. It’s also popular for sexting, and the “hotness” rating allows for bullying.

Whisper is an anonymous social networking app. Users post confessions, either fact or fiction, by super imposing text on a picture. Whisper’s unique selling point is that it is completely anonymous, with users issued a random nickname upon joining. The fact that Whisper has its own gallery of photos and fonts to choose from again helps protect the anonymity of users.

Smart Hide Calculator - "Smart Hide Calculator" is a fully functional calculator app but with a little twist. Once you enter the password(u get to set it on first start of app and can also be changed in future) and press the '=' button then boom you are presented to an interface where you can hide, unhide pictures, videos, documents or files with any file extension placed in a folder on sdcard, and if your device have root you can also hide (freeze) and unhide (un-freeze) apps.

There are so many more apps that are out there as we continue through the remainder of the year. We will highlight, identify and research apps that teens use. Check back often for the updates.