INDIANAPOLIS — The internet can be a dangerous place. That is why some parents are downloading messaging apps just for kids.
Parents say it gives their kids the communication they want with the boundaries that mom and dad need.
Neveah, 6, is one of many kids who uses a messaging app.
Her mom, Laura Price, chose the app JusTalk Kids for Neveah to tell her cousins all about her daily adventures.
"I know who she's talking to. I know when she's talking to them," Price said.
Neveah's iPod connects to the internet, so Price wanted a messaging app in which she had control over Neveah's communication.
"I know that she's not getting into those scary things that we see or hear about, often clicking the wrong links or getting those spam messages," Price said.
If Neveah wants to add a family member to her chat list, mom or dad needs to send the person a unique link to click. Then, that person is approved.
Price added that she gets ads on her JustTalk app that she is able to skip. Neveah, however, said she doesn't see the ads on her iPod.
Mom Kristen Snyder also uses a kids' messaging app so her kids, Liam and Makenzie, so they can say hello to family members on their Kindles.
"They shouldn't have to wait for me to be there to be able to call their dad or text their cousin," Snyder said.
Snyder chose the app Facebook's Messenger Kids.
"The version that they use doesn't even look like regular Messenger. It's all pictures and different things like that," Snyder said.
Like JusTalk Kids, Messenger Kids requires contacts to be added and approved by a parent. Calls and conversations can also be monitored.
Both apps are also free, but there are some differences between the two.
To download Messenger Kids, a parent needs a Facebook account.
Messenger Kids also offers a sleep mode, so late-night calls or texts don't happen.
"You can't be texting grandma at, you know, midnight 50,000 times because you just can't do that," Synder laughed.
The kid-friendly messaging apps are making sure families can stay in touch with a bit of boundaries.