Parents' Guide to Saturn

App iPhone , iPod Touch Free Lifestyle
Saturn: The opening screen of the Saturn app includes its logo.

Common Sense Media Review

Erin Brereton By Erin Brereton , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 14+

Scheduling/social media app for teens has safety issues.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Saturn banner image
  • Saturn: Classes can be added to a schedule by clicking on buttons.
  • Saturn: Personal tasks can be added with deadlines.
  • Saturn: The dashboard outlines upcoming class periods.

Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 6+

Based on 1 parent review

 

 

See all 1 parent review
age 14+

Based on 2 kid reviews

 

 

See all 2 kid reviews

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Personal information is not sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is not shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is not displayed.
  • Unclear whether data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • Unclear whether this product uses a user's information to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Data profiles are created and used for personalised advertisements.
Learn more about our privacy ratings

What's It About?

SATURN was launched for high school students in 2018 by two college sophomores. Teen users identify their school during registration and need to undergo a verification process that involves entering a recognizable school-provided email to get full access. They can then manually add classes from a predetermined list or scan a photo of their schedule to make and share a digital version. They'll see time countdowns and can add tasks, like studying for a test, and post about events. They can also share events and school meetups with classmates who are also on the app. And they're prompted to share their other social media accounts and link them to Saturn. While the email verification process was added in 2023 (five years after the app's initial launch) to help prevent strangers from gaining entry to the app's communication-based aspects by posing as classmates, the app's plans to remove non-students who'd signed up prior to the verification guidelines haven't been addressed. Without being verified, you can't do too much on the app, aside from creating a digital version of your schedule for personal use and incorporating timed tasks. Users do have the option to set their profile to private and hide their schedule from being seen. The app is currently only available on iOS, and the developers are planning to create experiences for non-high school users.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 1 ):
Kids say ( 2 ):

The developers describe this as a time-management app for teens, yet it seems equally social media-based, with privacy and safety concerns. And even with improvements and updates to address these concerns, Saturn's policies and verification guidelines are still too vague to gain trust from parents -- and not enough to keep kids safe. It's billed as a type of simplified high school-specific calendar, but since it provides a fairly easy way to create a shareable digital version of your daily school schedule, Saturn also acts as another form of social media.

The FAQ section of the app's website says that the app's intent is to allow students to share their schedules with their friends and see who's in their classes at the start of the year. While some teens may find that aspect of Saturn useful, it's likely that teens can find easier ways of connecting to discuss their class schedule and communicate with their classmates.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about some of the ways to use calendars to improve productivity and efficiency. How could an app like Saturn potentially help you be more organized? Are there alternative apps that can help with organization and don't have a social media element?

  • What time management aspects does your child feel are most challenging? Discuss some techniques that can be used to prioritize tasks. Check out our Top Time-Management Apps.

  • What concerns might arise from letting other people know your schedule -- even if they're people you know in real life? Why is it important to be careful when giving out personal information, even within an app?

  • As a family, go over the importance of protecting your data and how to keep your kids' data and privacy protected.

App Details

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Saturn: The opening screen of the Saturn app includes its logo.

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