Common Sense Media Review
By Mieke VanderBorght
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Pinpoint some positive actions with do-good social network.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
ThatHelps
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
To start using THATHELPS, pick up to 16 main interests from options including climate change, health and wellness, or education. Navigate through each main interest by tapping on the sections on the bottom of the screen. Scroll through News to read the latest articles and posts. The Help section lists action and opportunities to get involved with by tapping "join" or "follow." Depending on the action step, kids can then tap complete to collect achievements in their profile, and then post about what they did. Create a new opportunity in the Create section. And the notices and profile sections alert kids to new content and keep tabs on user stats.
Is It Any Good?
It's nice to see a social media platform that has an exclusive focus on positivity and doing good deeds. ThatHelps offers a variety of worthy topics to focus on, with just a slight bent towards environmental causes. The newsfeed highlights lots of feel-good stories that are a nice antidote to an often negative or dramatic focus in news stories. Sometimes the real opportunities for action steps can feel a bit lost in that feed, however. Kids looking for real concrete ways to make an impact may find ideas and opportunities that satisfy them. Or they may be disappointed as they see that a lot of opportunities involve quite small steps, like signing online petitions. The setting in social media can be a great way to encourage positivity in others and an opportunity to surround yourself in a community that values compassion and altruism. Of course, because ThatHelps is a social media platform, parents will want to be clear about guidelines for safe practices in social media settings. That said, at the time of review, the overwhelming bulk of posts seem to be from the ThatHelps team, which suggests that the sharing and social networking aspect hasn't quite taken off -- at least not yet.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the causes included in ThatHelps. Which ones are your kids most passionate about? Why?
Discuss best practices for using social media wisely and safely. What are your expectations about what's okay to share and what shouldn't be shared?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Subjects : Social Studies : citizenship , global awareness
- Skills : Self-Direction : achieving goals , goal-setting , Emotional Development : empathy , Collaboration : cooperation , meeting challenges together , Responsibility & Ethics : honoring the community , respect for others , Tech Skills : social media
- Pricing structure : Free
- Release date : December 21, 2020
- Genre : Lifestyle
- Topics : Activism
- Publisher : Legacy Connect, Inc.
- Version : 5.0
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 12.0 or later; Android 7.0 and up
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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