The StayHipp App Guide: Updated April 9, 2019
The Brief:
According to a study by Common Sense Media, American teenagers spend an average of 4 hours a day on mobile devices. Here's StayHipp's up-to-date guide on some of the most popular apps millennials and Gen Z-ers are spending their time on.
While you may have heard of Facebook, Spotify, and Venmo, less widely known apps like Tellonym, Zepeto, and Monkey are growing in popularity, especially among young people. New apps such as these provide unique experiences for content creation and online engagement. With the opportunites these apps create come significant risks as well. Internet safety and privacy practices for parents, children, and teenagers can help ensure a safer app experience.
Here’s StayHipp’s detailed guide to apps used for social media, dating, anonymous messaging and feedback, forums, live streaming, live chats, avatars, entertainment, and education.
New For April 2019
Here’s a list of our new guides for apps that are popular in April 2019. These include social media, messaging, dating, and quiz apps.
- Video and text chat app geared toward teens.
- Features public group live streams and chats.
- Swipe-based elements resemble dating apps.
- Messaging app with advanced cryptology for added security.
- With the “Secret Chat” feature, users can send “self-destructing” messages that will automatically disappear from both participating devices.
- A live trivia game where players have the opportunity to win real money.
- 18+ for suggestive content and references.
- A video-making app that allows users to incorporate songs, movie bites, and commercial jingles into their videos.
- Focuses mainly on video dance challenges.
- Anonymous messaging app.
- Has a reputation for being a sexting app.
- Swipe and location-based dating app.
- Geared towards heterosexual adults.
- Generally used more for hookups than serious dating.
- Group text and video chat app.
- Users can stream content while simultaneously chatting with friends.
- Opportunities to communicate with friends and strangers.
Anonymous Messaging, Feedback, And Forum Apps
Anonymous messaging apps promise to let people know what their peers “really think about them” and to use brutal honesty to have intimate conversations and grow as people. These apps often attract teenage users who are looking for an outlet to communicate through anonymous interactions. Unfortunately, these apps consistently foster toxic environments as some people take advantage of their anonymity to cyberbully others or engage in illicit activities.
- Shareable links can be given to friends and strangers.
- Encourages anonymous “honesty.”
- Issues with harassment and bullying.
- Anonymous messaging app said to encourage “honest” feedback.
- Significant issues with harassment and bullying.
- Sarahah, Yik Yak, Ask.FM, Whisper, Secret, and Formspring.
- Anonymity can encourage harassment and bullying.
- Apps like these continue to be shut down, but more keep coming.
- 330 million monthly users.
- 1.2 million separate forums – subreddits – dedicated to a variety of topics.
- Semi-anonymous: usernames are pseudonyms.
- Social networking app with over 2.5 million specific “communities.”
- Users spend an average of 70 minutes a day on the platform.
- Geared towards a teen audience.
- Over 13o million users.
- Chats geared towards gamers discussing strategy, fandom, and lore.
- Other chats dedicated to topics including fandoms, anime, memes, and more.
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New Forms Of Entertainment
A variety of apps combine entertainment with aspects of social media, blurring lines between what is virtual, fictional, and real-life.
- Allows people to answer user-created polls.
- Poll categories include celebrities, humor, music, fashion, and pop culture.
- Stories can be read as fictional text message exchanges.
- Genres include romance, drama, celebrities, SciFi, fantasy, comedy, horror, and mystery.
- Readers must sign up for a paid subscription to view most stories.
Live Streaming & Live Chat
Starting with early iterations Chatroulette and Omegle, random video chat apps have always been about voyeurism, and exhibitionism. While some users may be drawn to the potential in meeting a new person online, they can easily meet someone who is there for questionable reasons. Some of these apps are known for being overrun with people seeking to have chats of a sexual nature. Even when apps effectively block sexual content and cyberbullying, they are not appropriate for children.
- Live broadcasting app similar to Twitch.
- Some streamers broadcast almost every aspect of their daily lives.
- Viewers can chat with broadcasters.
- Private video messaging app.
- Designed for use with IRL friends and family.
- Users send short video messages to each other. Can add special effects.
- Random live video chat app.
- Includes dating app elements such as location-based swiping.
- Live streaming video app.
- Functions for one-on-one voice and text chats.
- Mini-games within the app.
- Random live video chat app.
- Users can chat with people who share their interests.
- Each chat is fifteen seconds long with the option to extend it after that.
- 15 million daily active users and over 2 million monthly broadcasters.
- Many streams are gaming-related.
- Twitch IRL features streamers’ daily activities, ASMR, talk shows, podcasts, etc.
- Text, photo, and video chat app.
- Typically used to stay in touch with friends.
- 1.5 billion monthly active users.
- Multi-person video chat app.
- Screen sharing capabilities.
- Group video chat app designed to use with friends and family.
- Popular among teenagers for gaming and keeping up with friends.
- Heads Up! game included in the app.
- Free group messaging app.
- Can be used to send text messages over WiFi or as SMS.
- Users can send messages, photos, videos, and money to each other.
- Over 900 million users worldwide.
- Most popular in China
Avatar Apps
An avatar is a digital representation of a person – sort of like a personalized emoji. Avatars can be used to recreate what a person looks like IRL, or to create a different version of oneself. Some avatars can be copied and pasted onto social media and into text messages. Others can interact with each other in virtual worlds through games and social networking components.
- Offers 1.999 septillion possible avatar configurations.
- Expressive avatars appear in a variety of situations.
- Connects to Snapchat and text messaging.
- 3D-like avatars navigate virtual worlds.
- Avatars can chat and interact with each other.
- Commonly used for pursuing online adult relationships.
- Avatars have a 3D appearance and can move.
- Virtual coins can be used to purchase dance moves, hairstyles, and decorations.
- Social networking components allow avatars to interact with each other.
- Avatar and virtual world app.
- Geared toward young users.
- Similar to Minecraft with free-form world building and play.
Photo & Video Editing & Sharing
Advanced photo and video editing software are becoming more accessible and widespread through free apps. Some of these apps are geared towards teenagers and have social media components that allow them to instantly share their creations.
- Video editing app with a built-in social network.
- Special video effects include “magic” inspired edits.
- Selfie photo editing app.
- Features focus on erasing blemishes and enhancing features.
- Associated with issues surrounding self-image and body dysmorphia.
- Over 25 million users.
- Short video editing app.
- Built-in social network.
- Short video editing and social media app.
- Created by Facebook.
- Video editing and social media app.
- Now TikTok, formerly Musical.ly.
- Over 500 million monthly active users.
- Video and slideshow editing app.
- Videos can be exported to other social media platforms.
- Karaoke app can pair users for duets with friends or strangers.
- Known for celebrity duets.
- Built-in social media components.
- Replaces lyrics to popular songs with user-generated text.
- Parody songs can be edited into video form.
- App includes social media components.
Educational Tools
Apps can provide educational information, homework help, and learning tools. Many of these apps are geared towards students.
- Can analyze a photo of a homework problem.
- Provides explanations and step-by-step instructions to a wide variety of questions.
- Can be used to check work, to better understand a problem, or to cheat on homework.
Dating Apps
Dating apps can increase someone’s dating pool, lead to meaningful relationships, and/or perpetuate hookup culture. As almost every aspect of our lives has an online component, some people use dating apps for casual relationships, while others use them to find a long-term partner. Different dating apps can cater to someone’s specific preferences of who they want to date and how they want apps to facilitate their first impressions.
- Focus on personality and interests in addition to photos.
- App asks questions to test compatibility.
- Swipe-based, but geared towards people looking for long-term relationships.
- Intended for finding long-term partners.
- Matches answer prompt based questions to learn more about each other.
- Matches are personalized and the app follows-up to see how a date went.
- Most popular dating app.
- Often used for casual relationships.
- Swipe-based.
- Geared toward gay and bisexual men.
- Often used for casual relationships.
- Options for anonymity. Some users use pseudonyms.
- Has options for dating: Bumble Date, networking: Bumble Bizz, and meeting friends: Bumble BFF.
- Only women can initiate conversations.
- Swipe-based, but intended for all kinds of relationships.
- Geared toward people seeking more serious relationships.
- Matches are personalized and curated by the app’s algorithm.
- Matches receive personalized icebreaker discussion topics.
- Advertised as “the hook (your friends) up app.”
- Allows friends to play matchmaker for each other by swiping on people’s profiles and recommending matches.
- Created by Match.com.
- Free to download, but requires a paid subscription.
- Sarahah, Yik Yak, Ask.FM, Whisper, Secret, and Formspring.
- Anonymity can encourage harassment and bullying.
- Apps like these continue to be shut down, but more keep coming.
The Basics
Apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter have changed how people express themselves, gather knowledge about the world, and relate to each other.
- Photo and video sharing app.
- Owned by Facebook.
- Over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide.
- 2 billion monthly active users worldwide.
- Users interact with friends through their personal profiles.
- Includes photo and video sharing, chats, groups, an online marketplace, live streaming, and more.
- Send photos and videos that “disappear” after a few seconds.
- Stories feature lets users share a photo will all of their friends.
- 180 million monthly active users.
- 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
- Anyone can upload videos.
- Owned by Google.
- 100 million daily active users.
- Tweets are made-up of text with 240 characters or less, videos, and/or photos.
- Twitter is used for news, comedy, memes, following celebrities, and more.