Mappen – “”Make Something Happen”” is a social media application available on iPhone and Android devices. It is rated 4+ in Apple’s App Store. The 4+ age rating will mean very young children, who are too young for Instagram’s 13+ app, will want to sign up for Mappen. Paradoxically, Mappen’s privacy policy explicitly states, “”Our Services are not intended for children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from such children. Children under the age of 13 should not use our Services at any time.”” A Mappen representative told me, “”we tell Apple what is in our app and their system sets the rating.””

Mappen is essentially a location sharing app. Mappen describes its core purpose this way: “”See where friends are and meet up. Mappen is the simplest way to know what your friends are doing and get together with them.””

Privacy Issues

When your child installs Mappen for the first time, they are asked to turn on their device’s location services to run in the background even when they are not actively using the app. This way, their “”friends,”” the other Mappen users your child is connected to, can see their GPS location on a map 24/7. If you choose to set the app’s location services to only track when the app is in use, you are not able to post updates to your status – which is the whole point of the app, or at least why a kid would want this app in the first place. The app does let you toggle off GPS tracking but only for a limited time, up to 8 hours, and then it will reactivate.

Mappen also wants to know ALL your child’s contacts. If your child chooses not to add them, Mappen will remind them relentlessly that they are not connected to their friends. Your child can add users individually, but most kids would find this too laborious. ...