What are the Wishbone & Slingshot apps? Social Media Safety Guide
., start learning from this page to earn points towards a Starbucks gift card!*
Hi, I'm Josh, the founder of SmartSocial.com.
Keep reading, and soon you'll get a chance to share your thoughts and earn points for a reward!
What are the Wishbone & Slingshot apps? Social Media Safety Guide
., start learning from this page to earn points!*
Hello, I'm Josh, the founder of SmartSocial.com.
Don't leave this page until you fill out our feedback form that will appear after you learn from the resources...
We created this Wishbone and Slingshot Parent Guide to bring you up to speed on these apps your teens may be using.
Parent & educator training video
What are the Wishbone & Slingshot apps?
Wishbone and Slingshot are both owned by Science Inc. These two apps are very similar, but they target different audiences:
- Wishbone targets girls
- Slingshot targets boys
What is the Wishbone app?
Wishbone is a comparison app that lets users vote for their favorite choice.
- Wishbone is an app that allows users to compare two images and vote on their favorite
- Users can create their own polls and get feedback from the community and friends
- Wishbone topics cover fashion, movies, celebrities, animals, music, travel and much more
What is the Slingshot app?
Slingshot is an app that allow users to compare anything and vote for their favorite option.
- Slingshot is an app that allows users to compare anything and everything and vote on their favorite
- Users can create their own polls and get feedback from the community and friends
- Slingshot covers topics from sports, video games, celebrities, humor, music, travel and pretty much anything else
What is similar between Wishbone & Slingshot?
- These apps allow users to compare two things and vote on their favorite
- Both apps allow users to create new polls
- These apps have two types of polls: Daily Dozen and Community
What is the Daily Dozen?
The Daily Dozen is 12 of the most popular polls. Sometimes these polls are not family friendly.
What is the Community?
- The Community is a group of popular polls created by users.
- There are 100 new polls at the beginning of each day, and 50 new polls appear every few minutes.
What are the most popular polls on Wishbone?
- Fashion
- Boys
- Movies
- Food
- Celebrities
- Relationships
What are the most popular polls on Slingshot?
- Sports
- Cars
- Games
- Tech
- Cartoons
- Girls
- Politics
How do Wishbone & Slingshot make money?
They sell services to brands:
- Promoting products to users
- Collecting consumer preferences
- Offering incentives and exclusive offers to their community
What should parents know about the Wishbone & Slingshot apps?
Some ads on the Wishbone & Slingshot apps are inappropriate for younger teens.
- These apps are very popular with students
- Polls get hundreds of thousands of votes
- These apps may allow your student to view inappropriate content
- Ads on these apps appear every 30-60 sec and there’s no way to skip them before they end
- Some of the ads are not appropriate for younger teens
- Teens can compare their classmates, ask adult questions, or make fun of other teens
- These polls can be shared with their friends and published publicly online
- Bullying can happen in the comments once someone has voted
Wishbone & Slingshot in the news
Wishbone offers no explicit parental controls. - LifeZette
- “Wishbone offers no explicit parental controls” - Lifezette
- “Wishbone is not a great app for young kids” - Kid’s Privacy
- “On Slingshot a child can compare photos of their friends, which is a form of bullying” - Safer Kid
Why should parents care?
The Wishbone & Slingshot apps can be used to bully others.
- These apps are very popular and your teen may have them
- Users can create their own polls, which usually are not appropriate for younger students
- These apps can be used to bully others
What can parents do?
If your student has Wishbone or Slingshot consider deleting them.
- Start a dialog with your students about bullying
- Teach your students not to judge based on image or appearance
- If your student has Wishbone or Slingshot, we suggest your family have a serious discussion and consider deleting them
Comment below if you have any questions or tell us which app we should create our next safety guide for.
Become a member or log in to learn more on this topic
This is great info, thanks for giving me some ideas on how to start a dialogue with my teen!
Sharon M.
Parent VIP Member
Josh's presentation about social media was unbelievably fantastic. Our students learned so much about what kids should and shouldn't be doing. The fact that it is such a thoughtful process made it all worthwhile.
Director of College Advising
Educator Webinar Attendee
This webinar is a very helpful eye-opener on the apps that are popular with my students.
Irene C.
Educator Webinar Attendee
Join Our Next Live Parent Q&A Events (Bring Your Kids!)
Reduce Arguments with a Family Media Plan (Bonus Live Event)
Bring your kids and learn how to set up a Family Media Agreement for your entire family in order to keep your family safer with technology and social media.
.jpg)
The Impact of Screen Time on Motivation, Health, & Academics (Live Session #4)
Bring your kids and learn how screen time affects motivation, health and academics while gaining practical strategies to set limits and reconnect as a family.
El impacto del tiempo frente a la pantalla en la motivación, la salud y el rendimiento académico (Sesión en Vivo en Español)
Comprende cómo el tiempo frente a la pantalla afecta la motivación, la salud y el rendimiento académico, y adquiere estrategias prácticas para establecer límites y reconectar como familia.
*Only for families in partner school districts or individual paid VIP members: simply attend the live event, join in the activities, and your family will be eligible to earn points and prizes to keep your family safe (while supplies last).
.jpg)
Become a Very Informed Parent (VIP) to get our social media suggestions in your email every Tuesday & Thursday.
Hello, I'm Josh, the founder of SmartSocial.com. Protect your family by taking my 1 minute quiz
This quiz will help you understand how safe your family is
Schools & Districts: Partner with us to protect your community online
Our remote presentations (and website) teach over a million parents and students each year how to be safe so they can shine online. We teach students how their accounts can be used to create a portfolio of positive accomplishments that impress colleges and employers.
Join Our Smart Social Podcast
each week on iTunes
With over 500 episodes, Josh Ochs interviews psychologists, therapists, counselors, teachers, and parents while showing you how to navigate social media to someday shine online.
Listen on: