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Law enforcement is warning parents about a new social media app that shares its users location to others on the app.
Mappen, standing for “make something happen”, is promoting itself on helping kids become more social by allowing them to see where friends are so everyone can meet up. For example, it will show if you’re at Starbucks, then if other kids want to meet up they’ll be able to do so by looking at the app to see where you are.
As a parent, you can see how this can be an issue with predators using social media as well. The users location is always on, allowing you to only turn it off for 8 hours before it reactivates. You can add whoever you want as a friend on the app, but you do have to accept the invitation.
Cyber security experts are warning parents to check their kid’s phones, know what apps they have and how they are using them and of course go through their privacy settings including their location settings, frequently.