VSCO – Photo & Video Editor App

(Rated 12+, Photo & Video)

Are your children or teenagers pronouncing something like “VSCO”? Are you unaware of what they are referring to? Don’t worry, you are not the only one! Many parents don’t know what the VSCO app is. This post will inform you of everything you need to know.

What is this VSCO App?

VSCO is a popular photo-sharing app that started as a fundamental way to edit and share photos. Since then, it has become popular among high schoolers. On VSCO, users can easily share edited images to their VSCO feed or save them to publish later on other social media apps like Instagram.

Sharing with other applications like Instagram is possible with this photo-editing app. That being said, photos can also be transferred inside the app. After creating a VSCO profile, users can upload photos for modification and categorization into groups like collections, journals, or images to a public network.

Why is VSCO popular among teenagers?

VSCO has been compared to other photo applications like Instagram. Initially, it was created to provide editing capabilities of more excellent quality without social media sharing support. This is still true today, serving as a tool for editing photos & videos. However, the VSCO app does have a public community aspect to it.

Your child or teen will not be able to check whether a photo is famous or how many followers a user has. Luckily, this reduces the pressure to increase followers by posting pictures or videos regularly, encouraging more creative motivation.

What Should Parents Know About The App?

Why Are Teens Networking Using This App?

Teens are drawn to this app because it provides some anonymity of social status. Viewing information is kept secret from the public, thus shielding their work from criticism. Users do not get public followers, likes, or comments. Additionally, no other user can know how many followers you have or whom you follow.

VSCO serves as a tool for more “serious” photographers. The app’s description states that “followers, comments, and likes are absent from the platform because the platform prioritizes beautiful pictures over social clout.”

Parental Controls

The VSCO app does not feature parental controls.

Potential Problems

Lack of Privacy Settings

The VSCO app lacks privacy settings. Even if your child or teen wants to, they cannot make their account private. If your teen uploads any content to the VSCO feed, it will be accessible by any other VSCO user.

Disabling Location Tags Must Be Done Manually

Location-sharing is enabled as a default condition. If a user wants to hide the location of their images, they have to turn off location sharing in the app’s settings. Turning off the place manually will ensure that every upload does not contain location details.

If the location feature is not disabled, photos can be displayed with sensitive information, such as where your child or teen lives, their school, or your home.

Recommendations

Overall, the VSCO app stands by its primary function as an editor for photos and videos. We recommend educating them on the importance of using VSCO as the tool it was designed to be and keeping information such as location private for safety reasons.

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About the Author

Clayton Cranford
Clayton Cranford is a retired Sergeant from Orange County Sheriff's Department in California and owner of Total Safety Solutions LLC. Clayton is one of the nation’s leading law enforcement educators on social media, child safety, and behavioral threat assessments. Clayton is the author of the definitive book on cyber safety for families, “Parenting in the Digital World.” Clayton has more than 20 years of teaching experience and was awarded the 2015 National Bullying Prevention Award from the School Safety Advocacy Council, and the 2015 American Legion Medal of Merit. Clayton was a member of the County's Behavioral Threat Assessment Team, Crisis Negotiation Team, School Resource Officer program, and Juvenile Bureau.