Mobile app usage of children in the United Kingdom - statistics & facts
App users in the United Kingdom are becoming younger and younger. In 2023, 60 percent of UK children aged between eight and 11 reported having a smartphone and so did almost 100 percent of UK teens.
In the last years, parental apps and software have become more common among UK parents. Limiting interactions with strangers online, blocking access to restricted content, and location tracking are only some of the many tasks that parental controls app can help with. According to a survey of parents carried out between October and November 2022, 27 percent of parents reported using parental control software set up on one specific connected device, while 13 percent reported installing apps on their children’s phone to monitor which apps they used and for how long.
However, when it came to tracking kids’ location via apps, the UK public was split. According to a survey of UK users, half of respondents think that using parental controls apps to track their children’s whereabouts is acceptable only if the child knows it is being tracked.
In April 2023, TikTok was fined for over 14.5 million euros, taking the rank of the third most expensive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) violation fine in the United Kingdom (UK). In October of 2023, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) raised concerns towards Snapchat’s “My AI” feature for privacy risks associated with its new AI feature launched in May 2023.
From video apps to online classes, adoption of smartphone applications has become an integral part of children’s daily lives. As a result, the need for supervision from parents and institutions has become more prominent - making parental controls apps a popular digital product for families. While parents’ efforts have focused on protecting the content children encounter online, UK government regulations have been monitoring social media companies and app providers to ensure a healthy online environment for the most vulnerable among the country’s digital population.
Kids and apps: mix under parental supervision
While children might use their smartphones to practice a foreign language, research topics online for their school projects, or simply keeping up with their peers, the most used mobile apps and websites for UK kids are for entertainment. As of the end of 2023, 42 percent of UK children and teens reported engaging with social video platform TikTok, while 36 percent reported using chat messaging app Snapchat.In the last years, parental apps and software have become more common among UK parents. Limiting interactions with strangers online, blocking access to restricted content, and location tracking are only some of the many tasks that parental controls app can help with. According to a survey of parents carried out between October and November 2022, 27 percent of parents reported using parental control software set up on one specific connected device, while 13 percent reported installing apps on their children’s phone to monitor which apps they used and for how long.
However, when it came to tracking kids’ location via apps, the UK public was split. According to a survey of UK users, half of respondents think that using parental controls apps to track their children’s whereabouts is acceptable only if the child knows it is being tracked.
Mobile privacy for kids
According to a study conducted on 400 mobile apps hosted on the Google Play Store as of February 2023, almost half of the examined mobile apps had no child-specific user policy but collected some form of personal identifiers, while 18 percent of the apps were reported to collect data without the parental permission or right protocols. Around 70 percent of the examined apps were reported collecting persistent identifiers, such as the user IP address, while 14 percent reported to collect the user’s name.In April 2023, TikTok was fined for over 14.5 million euros, taking the rank of the third most expensive General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) violation fine in the United Kingdom (UK). In October of 2023, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) raised concerns towards Snapchat’s “My AI” feature for privacy risks associated with its new AI feature launched in May 2023.
From video apps to online classes, adoption of smartphone applications has become an integral part of children’s daily lives. As a result, the need for supervision from parents and institutions has become more prominent - making parental controls apps a popular digital product for families. While parents’ efforts have focused on protecting the content children encounter online, UK government regulations have been monitoring social media companies and app providers to ensure a healthy online environment for the most vulnerable among the country’s digital population.
