Is the Whisper App Safe? A Whisper App Review for Parents

Harmful Content 😲

Whisper prides itself on their Golden Rule of “Don’t Be Mean, Don’t Be Gross, and Don’t Break the Law.” However, the app is full of inappropriate content — especially sexual discussions, questions, and confessions. After creating a fake account and posting a photo of a cat, a member of the Bark team’s inbox was quickly flooded with requests from users asking to be their “sugar daddy.”

On top of sexual content, kids may not fully understand how dangerous posting secrets can be, especially in a small community or in a school group. This can lead to bullying when kids start sharing “anonymous” secrets in the open, regardless of whether they’re true or not.

Predation 🚨

In addition to posting your own whisper, you can also reply to another’s and even direct message (DM) them. This private chat feature is dangerous because it can lead to grooming and the jump to communicating on another platform, like Snapchat or text message.

Privacy 🔒

Whisper automatically generates a random username for you when you join the app, but you have the option of editing it to create your own. Keep in mind that if your child connects their Whisper account to their school or a group of friends, the potential for bullying and hurt feelings is very high. Like most anonymous apps, things don’t always stay anonymous for long.

Parental Controls ✅

There’s one option you can toggle on to help make Whisper a little safer for your child. From the settings page of the app, you can create a PIN code that has to be entered before you can see your whispers. 

Bark also provides help for Whisper. We’re here to help you keep your kid safe by allowing you to:

• Block Whisper entirely, if needed.
• Manage when your child can use Whisper throughout the day

So, should my kid download it?

Probably not. The potential for inappropriate content, online predators, and bullying among classmates is too high on the Whisper app.