One of the concerns of parents today is their children’s use of technology and their activity on social networks, especially on platforms such as Facebook or Instagram.
Minors move freely between mobile devices and applications, but they are also exposed to certain dangers and threats, such as cyberbullying, sexting or access to inappropriate content.
For this reason, many turn to parental controls to limit and supervise their children’s activities on the web. However, minors do not always agree with these restrictions and look for ways to evade them.
One of the strategies they use is download vault appswhich allow them to hide files, photos, videos or messages within other apps that seem innocuous.
Vault apps, a great cover that hides mobile use
Vault apps allow you to hide various types of contentsuch as photos, videos, files or even other applications, within an interface that simulates being a regular app, such as a calculator, a game or a music player.
However, they are used by some minors to store content that they do not want parents to discover, such as inappropriate photos, videos, social media apps or games that have been restricted for use. In a nutshell, Young people take advantage of these apps to circumvent parental control on their mobile phones.
One way to circumvent parental controls are vault apps, which abound in the Google Play Store, as well as in the App Store, where the most famous are usually Vaulty, Private Photo Vault, Keepsafe, Calculator Vault, My Secret Folderamong other.
However, by entering a secret code, you access a hidden interface that allows you to use other apps without parents knowing.
Minors have found these apps useful for their own benefit, and that is because They can easily hide their mobile activity and prevent adults from discovering what they are really seeing. It should be noted that detecting these apps can be complicated, since they camouflage themselves very well.
However, there are some points that you should keep in mind in order to Find out if your child is using a vault app to bypass parental controls:
- Check to see if there is more than one app on the device: some are camouflaged as calculators.
- Check the name of the most used apps: If there is one with a strange name and a long time of use, it may be a sign.
- Check the size of the apps: A calculator app usually does not weigh more than 1 MB, but if it exceeds that amount, it is likely that your child is using a vault app.
This way, Vault apps allow you to save files and photos in a hidden folder that can only be accessed with a passwordso they serve as a cover to hide the activity on the mobile and, therefore, circumvent parental control.
If you are a parent, you must be informed of this practice, and supervise your children’s use of their devices in order to prevent them from viewing content that may be harmful or illegal.
