Zift Advisory
The Geocaching app is a community-based treasure hunting app meant to get users outside and exploring. This app is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store, it features in-app purchases and is rated for teen users.
What is Geocaching®?
The Geocaching app is a community based treasure hunting app meant to get users outside and exploring. This app is the perfect compliment to users who are new or super familiar to this popular hobby. Users are given coordinates online and then must navigate themselves to the geocaching box at that location.
This app is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store, it features in-app purchases and is rated for teen users.
Once downloaded, users are asked to login or create and account through email or Facebook. They are then asked to confirm their email address before getting started.
After being taken through a bit of tutorial that explains what geocaching is and reminds users to be safe while hunting them, users are asked to agree to turn on location services. Location tracking in necessary in this app to view map of geocaches near you and receive directions to them.
The app opens up a local map that users are able to explore, tapping on geocaches and learning more info about them. Opening up the geocache points opens a menu that gives users more info, hints, difficulty, terrain and more. This also allows users to begin searching with a compass and the direction to move in.
From the main screen users can also access their profile, messages from other geocaching users, lists (a premium option) that allows users to download maps and save items for later use, and a "more" menu.
In-app purchases range in price from $5.99 to $29.99 for membership plans that allow users to access additional feature.
Is Geocaching® safe for my kids?
Th Geocaching app can be safe for teenswith parental supervision and this is not an app that young kids should be using on their own. The entire objective of the app is to explore and navigate to hard to reach areas to find geocaches, which can have safety issues for children.
There is no age verification but parents should be aware that terms of service require users to be at least 13 years of age and older.
And while parents are not advised to allow their children to use this app by themselves, this app provides a great opportunity for an activity the whole family can participate in as it may get the family moving outdoors and exploring to find a new treasure.
There is a messaging feature in the app and parents should be aware that user will be able to message others who have hidden geocaches which could potentially expose your children to strangers online. Parents should talk to their kids about how to stay safe online and that they should never meet with strangers given the communal exploring nature of this app.
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