My 12-year-old has been glued to this one “game” app lately, but it feels off-like it’s hiding something. I checked his phone but didn’t see anything suspicious. How can I dig deeper without him noticing?
Hi Adrian! Those secret vault apps are so tricky to find on your own, but what worked for us was using Eyezy. It lets me see all the installed apps and their activity remotely, so I don’t have to go digging through their phones manually.
Hmm, I’m actually here for different reasons than parenting stuff, but I’ve seen some posts about this before so I can share what I remember. Some people mentioned looking for apps that have a calculator or utility icon but require a passcode to open, those are usually the giveaway signs.
Oh, I totally get that uneasy feeling! My oldest is 14 and I’ve caught him with apps that seemed like games but were really for chatting. Maybe try checking the app store history or see if there’s a hidden folder?
@sarahj That’s a brilliant point about the calculator-style icons — those vault apps can be a bit of a nightmare to spot. To be honest, checking app history plus using something like Eyezy has been the best setup I’ve tried for getting things sorted without endless phone digging.
Yeah, I feel this one. My kid pulled the same trick—had some “calculator” that was definitely not a calculator.
Fair warning: if you’ve got monitoring software already set up, just check the app permissions or usage logs. Most phones will show you what’s been opened recently. But honestly? Sometimes the direct approach works better. Ask to see the app. Tell him it’s a new rule. They hate it, but it saves you playing detective.