Parent reviews for TikTok - Real Short Videos
Common Sense says
Sing, lip-synch, and share videos; watch for iffy content.
age 15+
Based on our expert review
Parents say
age 14+
Based on 213 reviews
Kids say
age 12+
Based on 386 reviews
**Warning....this app contains Adult Video Content!**
I allowed my daughter to put this on her iPod, not putting nearly as much time into looking it over as I should have. I thought it was just an innocent app where you can lip-synch and make music videos. She does not have access to the Internet on her iPod, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. About a week later I took a look at what she had done, and there were some music videos that had inappropriate language in them. After watching a lot of other videos that were on there by others, the majority of them were inappropriate and had suggestive language and dancing. On top of that, I realized that even without Internet access, anybody in the community could view her videos, and she could view their's. There is a setting to set it up that only her friends could view her videos, but it still really bothered me.
So now comes the really bad part… After I started exploring the app, I realize that at the bottom of the video people could put hashtags. I clicked on a hash tag, which took me to another video with a different suggestive sounding hashtag at the bottom that I clicked on, which then took me to videos that were Adult content. I am not going to get any more descriptive than this, since children have access to these reviews....but trust me, it's there, and it's bad. I can only pray that my daughter didn't get that far into it to see it!!
So now comes the really bad part… After I started exploring the app, I realize that at the bottom of the video people could put hashtags. I clicked on a hash tag, which took me to another video with a different suggestive sounding hashtag at the bottom that I clicked on, which then took me to videos that were Adult content. I am not going to get any more descriptive than this, since children have access to these reviews....but trust me, it's there, and it's bad. I can only pray that my daughter didn't get that far into it to see it!!
This title contains:
Sexy stuff
Language
This review...
Many of the reviews on here are outdated
I've read a lot of negative reviews on here regarding pronography so I decided to take a closer look (my 12 yr old daughter has had the app for a few weeks). I couldn't find any of the things mentioned on here with regards to easily accessing porn. One reviewer said you only needed to type in adult, masturb or fuc and porn will come up. That is not correct. It may have been the case in the past but it isn't now. In fact despite spending an hour looking for porn I have not seen any.
I decided to write this review as an update for parents looking at these other reviews and thinking they need to immediately run off and delete the app. Yes there are songs with bad language and yes if you don't set your account to private strangers will see your videos but don't believe what you read about the easily accessible porn. If it's there I haven't been able to find it.
I decided to write this review as an update for parents looking at these other reviews and thinking they need to immediately run off and delete the app. Yes there are songs with bad language and yes if you don't set your account to private strangers will see your videos but don't believe what you read about the easily accessible porn. If it's there I haven't been able to find it.
This review...
Caution! Very fun but not for Tweens!
This app is so easy to use and allows the creative juices to really flow. It seemed potentially much more desirable than having the kids stare at the TV for their downtime entertainment. My kids had worked together and used our pets, stuffed animals and even we parents got in on making some pretty hilarious music videos. The BIG problem is that a lot of the available music and sound bites contain all the very adult language and innuendo you hear on the radio. So when left to her own devices, I found my 10 year old lip syncing to suggestive lyrics she didn't even understand. And dancing and gesturing the way a rock diva does- not the way I want her spending her free time. What's worse is that the rating system becomes addictive (see the reviews by the kids) She and her friends kept pushing the envelope to see how many "likes" they could get. What originally was supposed to be a private account became public for the thrill of getting the approval of strangers. Definitely started off sweet and innocent, then due to these unsavory lyrics, went down a bad path when I wasn't watching. Family decision was made to delete the app tonight amid lots of tears and even I was sad to see our cute videos go. Wish there was a version of this app for kids with say, Radio Disney pop songs and sound bites only.
This title contains:
Ease of Play
Sexy stuff
Language
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Musical.ly Rating With An Actual Concern.
I have read parental reviews regarding this app. I am appalled over the minor concerns voiced while the actual red flags are left to the wind.
I cannot flip a commercial radio station in the car without hearing every single song offered in this app. Therefore, the "explicit suggestive material" is a moot point because our children hear it and see it every day. And if a parent is so strict that they can prevent their child from listening to even the radio, it does not matter because we even hear the garbage in tv commercials.
The songs are not the problem. Any minor's expression of these songs are not the problem. And those parents who focus on these issues as problems will only experience a life of secrecy and rebellion with their children through their childhood.
THE REAL PROBLEM AND ACTUAL RED FLAG are the hidden pedophiles. My 9 year old daughter received a message from "chester0000" with a sexual exploitive. Because I am a mother who does not focus on controlling my children, my daughter IMMEDIATELY came to me and showed me. This user "chester0000" had 1 video with at least 5 minor boys expressing violent acts with an undertone of inappropriate sexuality.
Now, there is an option to block the user and to report the user's abuse. However, we are only given 140 characters to explain the abuse. Congress is finally creating a Bill of Rights for sexual assault survivors. How can a parent explain what the abuse is with only 140 letters?!!! Well, I did my best and I posted on my daughter's main page that it is supervised by me. This may or may not deter other pedophiles, but at least I taught my daughter the true meaning of appropriate and inappropriate.
I am posting this review in hopes that parents will prioritize their concerns so when mothers like me turn to sources like this for answers, red flags are are discussed and appropriate initiative is taken.
I cannot flip a commercial radio station in the car without hearing every single song offered in this app. Therefore, the "explicit suggestive material" is a moot point because our children hear it and see it every day. And if a parent is so strict that they can prevent their child from listening to even the radio, it does not matter because we even hear the garbage in tv commercials.
The songs are not the problem. Any minor's expression of these songs are not the problem. And those parents who focus on these issues as problems will only experience a life of secrecy and rebellion with their children through their childhood.
THE REAL PROBLEM AND ACTUAL RED FLAG are the hidden pedophiles. My 9 year old daughter received a message from "chester0000" with a sexual exploitive. Because I am a mother who does not focus on controlling my children, my daughter IMMEDIATELY came to me and showed me. This user "chester0000" had 1 video with at least 5 minor boys expressing violent acts with an undertone of inappropriate sexuality.
Now, there is an option to block the user and to report the user's abuse. However, we are only given 140 characters to explain the abuse. Congress is finally creating a Bill of Rights for sexual assault survivors. How can a parent explain what the abuse is with only 140 letters?!!! Well, I did my best and I posted on my daughter's main page that it is supervised by me. This may or may not deter other pedophiles, but at least I taught my daughter the true meaning of appropriate and inappropriate.
I am posting this review in hopes that parents will prioritize their concerns so when mothers like me turn to sources like this for answers, red flags are are discussed and appropriate initiative is taken.
This title contains:
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Mature eyes only!
My 11 year old son downloaded this app and within 2 days we made a decision to delete it. I think a kid version would be a great way for kids to be creative and sing and dance to, let's say, Disney or Kidzbop songs, but THIS version is anything goes! What we have here is unlimited access to explicit lyric songs, and tweens copying all the highly suggestive dance moves that accompany these unedited videos. Pair all this with hashtag "ratings" below each video that lead to even more explicit material, and your tween could really see some eye popping material!! I can see why this app is immensely popular amongst the tween set, because it's an easy way for them to start communicating/sharing with members of the opposite sex, but it's too hard to monitor-
What's more, you can't filter the content that other kiddos are uploading- lots of bored girls and boys locked in their rooms bumping and grinding and trying all this "latest" moves to sexually charged songs. Some of these kids didn't even know what they were lip syncing- I saw a sweet girl from my son's class lip syncing about "lighting a reefer."
There are privacy settings available, but the default setting is open to ALL.
Too much too soon.
What's more, you can't filter the content that other kiddos are uploading- lots of bored girls and boys locked in their rooms bumping and grinding and trying all this "latest" moves to sexually charged songs. Some of these kids didn't even know what they were lip syncing- I saw a sweet girl from my son's class lip syncing about "lighting a reefer."
There are privacy settings available, but the default setting is open to ALL.
Too much too soon.
This title contains:
Ease of Play
Sexy stuff
Language
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Tik Tok is completely okay!
It’s completely fine!!
This title contains:
Ease of Play
This review...
Parents beware!!!
Ok my two girls aged 7 and 9 have been using this app for a few weeks along w all of their friends at cheer. I told them that they r not allowed to publish anything! And they said they weren't. This is the only social site they have ever used and my husband and I stay away from any social media. I have had talks w them about Internet safety and "bad people" hide behind their screen names. Well I just went thru my 7 years olds iPod and there were people who liked her videos! I asked her who they were and she had no idea who they were. I went into the settings part and there was an option to turn off your location!!!! Meaning all along people can figure out where she was when making her video!!!! I read several comments here and immediately made both of them delete the app. I am going to share this site w the other moms at cheer so they can be aware of what this app is all about!!! Thanks to everyone who posted comments!!!
This title contains:
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Great app!
Personally I think this is a great fun easy to use app for kids and teens. My 12 year old daughter has it and loves. Yes there are many songs with inappropriate lyrics but if your child is mature and knows what to watch out for they should be fine. Also you can make your account private. My daughter has a private account so only her friends can see her videos. Overall I would say just check your child's profile every now and then to check on the songs they are lip syncing to and listening to.
This title contains:
Ease of Play
Language
This review...
18 Y/O PERSPECTIVE OF TIK TOK (ADULT CONTENT BEWARE)
Hello, if you are a parent and you are reading this review, please take in a lot of consideration if you allow or see Tik Tok on your child's mobile device. Tik Tok is a social media platform where children, teens, and even adults can interact with each other through messaging and sharing videos, which makes the app have a lot of safety concerns. Tik Tok boasts that the user has to be 13 or older to make videos, but I have seen plenty of children under 13 which use it and Tik Tok does not revoke their accounts. There has been a spike of creeps and pedophiles on the app which I have heard accounts of them 'grooming' children w/o their parents knowledge. Also, there is too much sexually suggestive content for a young teen to see on this app. The adult content I mentioned in the title is that there has been news of a 17 y/o minor who flashed on their live video also causing an uproar because they also said a racial slur multiple times because of " peer pressure". Overall, Tik Tok's community is toxic and is not safe for children, as many people follow users just to make fun of them and their videos (while sharing them on Instagram and calling them flops) which is essentially cyber bullying.
This title contains:
Language
Consumerism
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Dangerous
My 12 year old has been using about a week and showed me some cool sports related videos he made...something prompted me tonight to look a, little closer. Found that others could view and request to follow (didn't even know it was a social app). TEN "people" messaged him asking for him to "follow"... Obvious attempts to lure him to who knows what. These were professionals, without a doubt. Beware!
This review...
Hard to Protect Kids
While this is really fun for the kids and you can have a "private" account, there is a Search Icon on the home page which opens them up to any and all adult videos. In addition, when they open the App, adult videos come up unprompted. This is not an App that parents can fully supervise. Very disappointing.
This review...
Be cautious of targeting
My 12 year old daughter loves this app but it fostered an unhealthy desire to 'get likes'. I never saw and objectionable content in the app. She was able to follow friends from school but also had the control to switch her account to public so she could get more likes. This lead to more exposure to people we didn't know and she was targeted by a stranger to share her contact information. I won't get into the details but she was victimized and it resulted in a police investigation. Please be ware of the potential vulnerability if your kids are using this app. It provides a perfect platform for trolling.
This title contains:
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Mature content. Not appropriate for kids!
My daughter was using this app on her phone. At first it seemed harmless, like a fun app for her and her friends to play on. Looking further into it, I read reviews about mature content, so I explored the app further. There is a lot of explicit language and sexually suggestive material. Definitely not something I want my daughter exposing herself to on a regualr basis. On top of that it is extremely easy to get to pornographic material through the hashtags. I understand you can report this, but if my daughter has already seen it, it's too late and reporting after the fact does no good. Also, we found out that you can't delete the account! They don't have that feature yet. The best you can do is make everything private and delete the app. The best thing to do is not even get it in the first place!
This title contains:
Ease of Play
Sexy stuff
Language
Consumerism
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Musical.ly Out The Mom Way: A Guide to all the Basics and how you can Control your Kids; Part 1; The Basics
Musical.y is a very confusing app. I would know because when my 11 year old boy wanted to dowload it, I thought it would be easy to control and use. But boy I was wrong. So, today, I am going to be talking about the basics of musical.y.
First of all, you can get the app on your Classic Apple Devices, (iPhone, IPad,IPod) and whatever other brand that has access to the Internet and the Google Play Store. But you can't dowload it like you normally do. There's a special website that has a link to the real IPhone version because if you search it up on the App Store, several versions will come up that look alike. You can get that website from people you know that have musical.ly. (My son found this website from one of his friends.) Once you get to the website, just link on the correct link (Apple Store OR Google Play Store) and it'll be dowloading afterward. (This app takes up almost a gigabyte) Once you fully dowloaded the app, click on it and there it will give a small slideshow of photos, These photos don't give you much details about musical.ly but they do let you get a picture on who he might be following or what his musical.ly might look and sound like. Once you get to the end of this, click the sign up button if it's your first time or sign in button if already have an account created. (For this tutorial, let's just pretend we pressed the sign up button) Once you press that button, it will take you to a page that wants you create a Muser Name and a password. A "Muser Name" is like a Username and how everyone else sees your name. You have to be really creative with this.
First of all, you can get the app on your Classic Apple Devices, (iPhone, IPad,IPod) and whatever other brand that has access to the Internet and the Google Play Store. But you can't dowload it like you normally do. There's a special website that has a link to the real IPhone version because if you search it up on the App Store, several versions will come up that look alike. You can get that website from people you know that have musical.ly. (My son found this website from one of his friends.) Once you get to the website, just link on the correct link (Apple Store OR Google Play Store) and it'll be dowloading afterward. (This app takes up almost a gigabyte) Once you fully dowloaded the app, click on it and there it will give a small slideshow of photos, These photos don't give you much details about musical.ly but they do let you get a picture on who he might be following or what his musical.ly might look and sound like. Once you get to the end of this, click the sign up button if it's your first time or sign in button if already have an account created. (For this tutorial, let's just pretend we pressed the sign up button) Once you press that button, it will take you to a page that wants you create a Muser Name and a password. A "Muser Name" is like a Username and how everyone else sees your name. You have to be really creative with this.
This review...
This review...
I Like The Idea But...
This app was a genious idea. The app does not review over musical.ly's sounds so there are MANY MANY MANY SEXUAL SONGS. There is also no way to avoid the bad songs. The features are neat, and this is a great social media platform but there are many 5-8 graders who are singing about sexual things and dont realize.
Also, when you join you are immediately public. No big deal right? BIG DEAL. As I had my account public I would get follows for accounts with nude profile pictures, or usernames. There is NO WAY to get the user to unfollow you unless you block them. GO PRIVATE.
LOTS OF SEX
LOTS OF SWEARING
LOTS OF DRINKING, DRUGS, AND SMOKING.
Also, when you join you are immediately public. No big deal right? BIG DEAL. As I had my account public I would get follows for accounts with nude profile pictures, or usernames. There is NO WAY to get the user to unfollow you unless you block them. GO PRIVATE.
LOTS OF SEX
LOTS OF SWEARING
LOTS OF DRINKING, DRUGS, AND SMOKING.
This title contains:
Ease of Play
Sexy stuff
Language
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
This review...
INNNNNAAAAPPPPRRRROOOOPPPRRRIIIAAATTTEEE
PEOPLE TAKE OFF THERE SHIRTS AND DO INAPROPRATE STUFF!!!!! SMOKING DRUGS AND CURSING ARE ALSO IN THIS APP!! 100% DO NOT RECOMEND
This title contains:
Violence & scariness
Sexy stuff
Language
Consumerism
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Disturbing
My granddaughter had this app on her phone to watch her friends post videos. That was fine until she looked at her profile and saw she had fans. She clicked on her fan to see what it was and got the shock of her life. She was crying and said it was do nasty. I can only imagine what she saw because I went on there and basically saw porn and child porn. This app does not need to be for kids of any age. I know now that there is a private button you can use but it's too late. Do not let your child download tbis app! Disgusting!
This title contains:
Sexy stuff
Language
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
Privacy & Safety
This review...
Warning this app is dangerous
So i am a single mother and my son really likes to use Tik Tok and just minutes ago my son came to me and said "Mommy what is that man doing?" And showed me his screen where a man, i kid you not was fucking a dog, it was so disgusting that i had to take my son's phone immediately and i just told him to go to his room as i don't know how to explain this to my child. I thought Tik Tok was a safe place where i didn't need to worry about this kinds of things!!! I will be deleting Tik Tok from my son's phone and will tell my friends to also do so. this is so disgusting, How can they allow this in there?!
This title contains:
Violence & scariness
Sexy stuff
Language