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Parenting

23rd Apr 2017

New app helps parents in the fight against tween and teen sexting

Alison Bough

A new app allows parents to keep their children safe by monitoring the images they take and receive on their phones and tablets.

The Gallery Guardian app helps parents to prevent their children from sharing and receiving inappropriate or sexual images. Once parents have downloaded the app to their phone and linked it to their child’s device, the app will scan every image their child takes or receives on their electronic device.

The app can detect if any image on the phone or tablet contains nudity and parents are alerted if it finds anything inappropriate. YIPO Technologies, who developed the app, say it is a “simple and transparent solution” for a global problem. The developers believe it could help prevent everything from cyber-bullying, blackmailing and sexting to unwanted content, including indecent images from strangers.

Using a specially designed image recognition algorithm, Gallery Guardian automatically detects if the image includes nudity or not. If an image contains something inappropriate, the app alerts the parent on their smartphone without disclosing or storing the image in question.

Daniel Skowronski, the founder of YIPO Technologies, says reports of children sharing inappropriate images and sexting are surfacing at an alarming rate. He says in almost “every instance”, parents are not aware until it is too late:

“As both a parent and someone who works in technology, I felt compelled to create an app to protect my children and their friends on their mobiles. Gallery Guardian lowers the risk of sexting or being exposed online while securing a child’s privacy at all times. In most instances, parents are the last to know, and often don’t believe that their child would engage in these kinds of activities.

Youngsters are being pushed into adult territory well before they are ready. The app gives parents peace of mind as they can protect their kids and their friends without spying on them and help them set clear boundaries on what should and shouldn’t be sent and received on mobile devices.”

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