What is the Secret App? A Parent Guide

Note: The Secret App was discontinued in April of 2015 but one the co-founders was hired by Snapchat, so we left this app guide here to teach parents and educators how it worked.

We created this Secret App parents guide to help people understand this new and popular app that kids are using.

Parent & educator training video

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What is the Secret App?

Secret is an app that allows people to share messages anonymously within their circle of friends, friends of friends, and publicly.

How does Secret differ from other anonymous apps?

From Yahoo! News

The difference is that it starts from your friends. Knowing that the secret comes from someone your know makes the app more interesting and compelling. - Chrys Bader-Wechseler, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Secret

Watch Katie Couric interview the founders of the Secret App on Yahoo! News.

Community Guide from the Secret App team

They believe anonymity empowers people to share their deepest thoughts and feelings, sparking genuine conversations that would otherwise be impossible. What you could do on the Secret:

• Use anonymity for good
• Share yourself openly and honestly
• Be kind and respectful
• Report bad behavior
• Have fun

What you shouldn't do:

• Don't post threats
• Don't share or encourage self-harm
• Don't bully or harass
• Don't post hate speech
• Don't post graphic content
• Don't post pornography
• Don't post people's private information
• Don't post things that don't belong to you
• Don't post spam

How to use Secret

From Secret: "Secret is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, or head to secret.ly and enter your phone number to get a download link sent to your phone."

• Your secrets are delivered anonymously to the people in your Contacts who are on Secret. They can view, love and comment on your post. When friends love your secret, it will be shared to their friends
• To protect privacy and ensure anonymity, it’s not possible to see which of your friends are already on Secret. We may show you the total number of friends you have on Secret, but never specific people
• When you sign up, you’re automatically connected to the people in your Contacts who are also on Secret. Connections are made by matching on email address and/or phone number
• To maintain anonymity, you need to have a minimum of three friends sharing on Secret before we show you any friends’ posts
• To delete your post, tap the "..." icon and then tap "Remove". Note: The "..." menu looks the same on your own posts as it does for posts belonging to others. This is so that someone using your phone can't figure out which posts are yours by viewing the menu

What is a Secret Den?

From Medium: "Secret Dens brings a new layer to your Secret stream, giving you a private, company-specific Den to share anything you’re thinking —kept within the walls of your workplace. This pilot begins with a small group of companies for now, but we will look to make Secret Dens available to more companies, universities and organizations soon."

What should parents know?

From Time

1. Parents should understand that even “good” teenagers can succumb to peer pressure. They can’t assume their kind, sweet kids won’t participate in teenage meanness—especially if they think they can hide behind anonymous talk.
2. Parents should tell their kids that their actions can have unintended consequences—sometimes with devastating results.
3. Tell your kids that “anonymous” does not mean untraceable; data never really disappears. Explain them that if they do something “anonymously” that leads to harm for someone else, there could be a terrible cost, including legal actions.
4. Parents should remember that their children could also wind up on the other side of the equation—as victims. Let them know that if they become a target of cyber-bullying, they should talk to you or another trusted adult about it.
5. Don’t be afraid to set rules—based on your teenager’s age, personality and level of maturity—about which apps they can download and which ones they cannot.

Do you have questions, which we haven't cover in our Secret App Parents Guide? Let us know in the comment section below.