A guide to apps and games for kids
Facts and recommendations on the apps kids most often ask for.
My general advice: consider what the app gives your child. If it offers something creative, something social or something to learn, it deserves a proper look. If it seems worthless, it can go straight on the no list. Share that filter with your kids too, so they can start judging for themselves before they ask. And whether you land on yes or no, agree on how the app is to be used. “Messages, but not the feed” is our Snapchat agreement, for example.
And always: turn on parental controls, so your child has to ask before new apps are downloaded (ideally all the way to 15+), and keep a door that stays open, so you know what happens on the screens.
A feed of short videos, run by an algorithm that learns astonishingly fast exactly what keeps you watching.
Messages and photos that disappear, plus a map that can show where you are.
Photos, stories and reels, with comparison as the quiet side effect.
The messaging app where the class groups live and the after-school drama plays out.
The world's biggest video library, with a recommendation engine that never says stop.
A pinboard for inspiration, with a messaging feature many parents don't know exists.
Millions of mini games made by the users themselves, with chat, its own currency and constant pressure to spend.
Digital Lego, calm at its core, right up until multiplayer and chat arrive.
A shooter in cartoon clothing, where the friend group meets up and the shop never closes.
A free-to-play war game with realistic violence, open voice chat and an 18 rating.
Football with rocket cars, no violence and short matches, from the same company as Fortnite.
The football game that used to be FIFA: PEGI 3 on the box, card packs for real money inside.
Fast cartoon team battles on the phone, with a shop that never takes a break.
The puzzle game topping the download charts: perfectly harmless content, paid for with an ad after nearly every round.
Hard as nails and honest with it: a pay-once platformer where the only way forward is practice.
Grand Theft Auto: an open criminal world, an 18 rating and a casino of its own online.
A tactical shooter and esports heavyweight, with a skin market that's half stock exchange, half casino.
Live gaming TV with an open chat: everything happens live, and nothing is approved in advance.
Chat rooms built for gamers: in practice, the teenagers' clubhouse with no adults in it.
Then you do the assessment yourself. It takes ten minutes. Five questions:
- What does the app give your child? Something creative, something social or something to learn? If it seems worthless, the assessment stops there: straight on the no list.
- What is the app's own age limit? (It's in the terms; search “app name terms age”.)
- Does it have messages, a comment section or a friend list? Then it's a social medium, whatever it looks like.
- Is it free? Then find out why. In all likelihood your child is the product, and their attention is what's sold to advertisers. Or it's a very limited version that nags about buying the full one.
- What does Common Sense Media say about it?
The whole mindset lives in the article Kids and social media, a parent's guide.
