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Ages 8+ · Digital Life · Scams and fakes
Is this a real app?
🪞twin icon🔡odd name📇asks too much🧑grown-up checks
Ask a grown-up to check an app.
The big ideaA copy-cat app has odd tells, and asks for too much. Ask a grown-up to check.

How it works

A copy-cat app looks like a real app but is not.

It has tells, parts that do not look right.

An app should ask only for what its job needs.

If you are not sure, allow nothing and ask a grown-up to check.

Tells of a copy• A twin icon, a little off• An odd name, with strange letters or numbers• Asks for too much• Empty stars• A loud promise, like free coinsWhat fits the job• A coloring app saving pictures• A camera app using the camera• A map app knowing where you are
Tells of a copy, and what fits.

Example 1: Hana's copy

  1. The icon was almost the real one, but tilted.
  2. The name had strange letters and rows of numbers.
  3. It asked for a camera, a microphone and contacts, had no stars and promised free coins.
  4. All five tells at once, so Hana stopped and asked.

Example 2: Tomas's flashlight app

  1. A flashlight app asked for his contacts and his microphone.
  2. A flashlight only needs to shine, not to listen.
  3. That one big tell was enough to ask.
  4. He showed his mom, who took it off.

Example 3: The real app

  1. Uncle Femi searched for the app the school note named.
  2. It had a plain name, thousands of stars and the same maker as the note.
  3. It asked only to save pictures, which fits a coloring app.
  4. A grown-up still decides what an app may use.
School notenames the appCheck the nameand makerLook at thestarsCheck each askfits
How a grown-up checks.

Words to know

copy-cat app
An app that looks like a real app but is not.
tell
A part that does not look right.
ask
What an app wants to use, like a camera or contacts.

Watch out

Try it

  1. A coloring app asks for your contacts. Does that fit its job?
  2. Who decides what an app may use?
  3. A map app asks where you are. Is that a tell?
  4. Two icons look like twins. What do you do?
Answers: 1. No, ask a grown-up · 2. A grown-up at home · 3. No, it fits its job · 4. Ask a grown-up to check
Try at homeAsk a grown-up to look at an app's asks with you, and see if each ask fits what the app does.
For grown-upsWhen your child finds a new app, read its name, maker, stars and asks together, and say aloud which ones fit what the app does.
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