Do you know what the minimum recommended user age is for Snapchat, TikTok or Instagram? This is an issue that often confuses parents. The best-known app stores frequently have one age rating, while the developers who create the app recommend a different age.
To help mums and dads, I’ve had this infographic created. It shows the recommended user age, plus the OS and Google app store age ratings, for popular social media apps and messaging apps. There’s one thing I would implore all parents and carers to keep in mind: These are minimum recommended user ages and children should never be introduced to messaging or social media apps when they are too young.
I have known it create massive problems for families when youngsters have been given access to apps which they don’t have the maturity to use. What’s below is just a guide, but I hope you find it useful. You can also print off a pdf version of this infographic by clicking here. Please do also take a look at the online safety section of Dadbloguk for more information on this subject.
2 thoughts on “Infographic: Age ratings for popular social media and messaging apps”
This is one thing I can’t seem to grasp, the developer set an age for use but yet the distributors such as Google play don’t advertise that recommended age but opt for their own, surely they should be using the developers recommended. Great infographic John.
Okay Eddie, are you sitting comfortably? There is a law in the United States known as the COPA Law. This is a strict data protection law that makes it very difficult to share data of anyone under the age of 13 in the US. When developers make apps with the intention of selling them internationally, they always have the COPA Law in mind.
For some unfathomable reason, the OS App Store has age ratings of 12+ and Google goes with PEGI age ratings. It is no wonder parents are confused. It’s also totally inconsistent. There are age limits on going to the cinema, buying tobacco and alcohol, getting a firearms licence, buying porn, driving a car. . . yet no legislation dictating what age you should be to buy an app that can expose you to cyberbullying, negative body image etc. etc. I think we’re at a point where we need laws to govern these things.