Parents' Guide to Spotafriend - Teen Meeting App to Make New Friends

This is yet another creepy teen hookup app masked as a way to make new friends, and it's not safe for teens. Though the publishers -- who also created MyLOL -- do a better job than some apps of keeping the sexy profile pictures to a minimum, the confidence-crushing focus remains rating other members according to hotness. Though it carries a 17+ rating in the app store, it's described and designed to be used by kids as young as 13. Profile parameters restrict birth years from 1998 to 2004, but there's no true way to verify users' ages which is proven by the adults who have easily created accounts. Other potential issues include messaging any other user and forwarding a member's profile to other people via platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Gmail. Though there's a risk that a teen will agree to meet a stranger offline, the more likely and still dangerous outcomes are that young teens run into lots of age-inappropriate stuff, get the message that meeting people means swiping based on appearance, feel pressured to be sexual, and feel insecure about their appearance when they're rejected. Though apps like Spotafriend - Teen Meeting App to Make New Friends claim to help teens make friends (disregarding the vast differences between kids age 13 and age 19) but what they're really interested in is profiting from teens' insecurities without truly considering their safety.