Zift Advisory
The Imgur app is the mobile version of the popular free image hosting site, offering unlimited photo, video and image uploads. Imgur is rated for teen users and can be downloaded in the App Store and the Google Play Store. This app feature advertisements, but no in-app purchases. This app can be safe for mature teens with parental supervision.
What is Imgur - Funny Meme & GIF Maker?
The Imgur app is the mobile version of the popular free image hosting site, offering unlimited photo, video and image uploads.
The Imgur app is rated for teen users and can be downloaded in both the App Store and the Google Play Store. This app feature advertisements, but no in-app purchases.
Imgur is basically a content mill for images, offering free image storage, meme and GIF generators for the purpose of sharing. Imgur is also a community, offering users the ability to like, dislike, favorite, comment and share images to popular social media outlets.
At its most basic, Imgur offers free, unlimited photo, video and image hosting, which sets it apart from many options on the market. Users may use Imgur to host their personal photos, and use the album creator to better organize photos for later viewing. The app allows users to create titles and brief descriptions for each photo upload, which makes the app especially appealing to families.
Imgur allows users to upload photos for both public and private view. Private photo links provide an excellent way to share family photos with others, without the worry of those images being public. However, private link sharing can be another way for teens to share inappropriate photos, so this is something parents should be aware of.
Photos uploaded for public sharing appear in galleries, and users have the ability to like, dislike, comment, favorite and share Imgur images.
Imgur possesses advanced search capabilities, which allows users to find images by title or tag, or look up a specific user on the platform. Images on Imgur can also be sorted by popularity, viral activity and highest scoring (in terms of likes and favorites) and Imgur also highlights those images with the top comments of the day, for users to browse.
Users looking to kill time or simply browse to see what Imgur has to offer can set it to Random Mode, in which Imgur features random popular image uploads.
Is Imgur - Funny Meme & GIF Maker safe for my kids?
The waters get a bit murky when it comes to age and use of Imgur, as the App Store recommends the app for users ages 12 years or older.
Because Imgur allows people to upload images anonymously and without an account, anyone can use the site.
In terms of content, parents will likely want to limit Imgur app use to older teens, despite the developer stating that only SFW (safe for work) content is permitted.
The reality is that children can easily stumble across photos and videos featuring adult content, including: cartoon and fantasy violence, alcohol, tobacco or drug use or references, sexual content and nudity, mature or suggestive themes, realistic violence, and profanity or crude humor.
Parents should be aware that teens use Imgur primarily to generate custom memes and GIFs, which can be harmless fun with friends, or can be used to bully or humiliate other students.
The fact that Imgur offers a Deletion Link, to both account holders and anonymous users, is worrisome. Imgur’s deletion link can be used to function similar to Snapchat, where creators can delete images at anytime, leaving no trace of image history.
Parents should consider setting guidelines for the photos that children are able to share publicly, but should also understand that image stats could potentially cause issues for younger teens, specifically in terms of dislikes and rude or inappropriate comments from strangers.
There are definitely positives associated with using the Imgur app, especially for families who want to share their photos with relatives, but can be an inappropriate venue for teens.
This app can be safe for mature teens with parental supervision.
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