Common Sense Media Review
By Amanda Bindel
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Parent-controlled chat; settings have limitations.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Roo Kids
What's It About?
To register with ROO KIDS, kids or parents enter a username, password, and parent email. They then can invite other users from their contact list or enter a known username to connect with friends. After that, kids can message friends, sending text, drawings, stickers, or pictures. Parents receive notification of friend requests -- sent or received -- and can approve or remove friends. Kids receive push notifications when they have a new message, unless notifications are disabled in settings.
Is It Any Good?
Although Roo Kids has potential as a safe chatting app for kids, the parental controls don't work reliably enough for parents to have full confidence. Parents can set curfew hours restricting when kids can use live chat, but kids can still write messages and use the drawing feature during curfew hours. The banned words features also is faulty, allowing those words if they're followed by punctuation. The alerts when kids send or receive friend requests work well and are probably the most valuable for parents.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about choosing whom to "friend" and what is appropriate to chat about online. Watch our video Perspectives on Chatting together and discuss.
Think about how much you'll monitor kids' texting. Read our Q&A: Should parents read their kids' text messages for different perspectives. Let kids know how you'll be monitoring their activity.
Discuss the permanence of online communication: For example, let kids know that, even if they delete a message they've already sent, it will stay on the receiver's device.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Skills : Communication : friendship building , multiple forms of expression , Tech Skills : social media , using and applying technology
- Pricing structure : Paid (Additional stickers and backgrounds available for in-app purchase)
- Release date : March 4, 2015
- Genre : Social Networking
- Topics : Friendship
- Publisher : Gungroo Software Private Limited
- Version : 2.1.7
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 6.0 or later; Android 2.2 and up
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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