They Could be Hiding Something From You - The Cyber Safety Tech Mum

How to Check for Hidden Apps on your Child's Device

We don’t like to think that our kids would purposely go behind our backs and find a way to install an app that we have said is off-limits. Kids often want to be like adults and they like to have things that their friends have. Kids are also very resourceful. If they try hard enough, they can acquire an email address and lie about their age to create social media accounts that have an age limit older than they are. That is a topic for another post! The point is that not only do some children find a way install social media apps, they also find a way to hide them on their devices.

I mentioned recently that I have a number of tools in my internet safety toolkit. These tools appear on a checklist that I use on regular basis. They help me to ensure continued internet safety in our home. I have introduced you to checking the internet history on your devices and today I am going to show you another tool on my checklist. How to check your kids devices for hidden apps .

These are really simple steps for checking your child's device for hidden apps.

1 To start off with, flick through the screens on the device and have a look at what apps are installed. Make sure that you go into the folders as well.

2 I am not going to bore you with the specifics of how they might have hidden it (and it does differ depending on the type of device) but it is always worth restarting the phone. When the phone starts up again, any app that was ‘hidden’ will pop back onto screens and into folders so do another search after the restart.

3 Not only can the apps be ‘hidden’ but they can be installed and used and then put in the trash can. If the app is searched for on the phone, then it cannot be found. But you can see if it has in fact been installed before.

4 Go to the App Store or Google Play and search for the app (eg. Snapchat)

5 If the app has been installed before then what you will notice is that instead of being asked to Install, you are asked to Open (or possibly Update). This means that the app has previously been installed. If it says Get, then the app has never been installed.

Related Posts:

A Beginner’s Guide to Digital Parenting

A Parent’s Guide to Instagram for Tweens & Teens

I have put these steps into a PDF for you to download on the FREE INTERNET SAFETY TOOLKIT page. If you missed my post on checking the internet history then you can also find the steps in PDF there.

I have web filters configured so that my children are unable to download social media whilst they are using their devices in our home. If you are interested in setting them up in your home, then please click here to select a service that suits you.