Zift Advisory
Vora is a fasting tracker app meant to assist users who are adhering to a fasting program. Rated for everyone, the Vora app is free to download and use but features in-app purchases and advertisements. It is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store and is not safe for children.
What is Vora - Fasting Tracker?
Vora is a fasting tracker app meant to assist users who are adhering to a fasting program.
Vora is rated for users of all ages, but due to the nature of the app, should only be used by adults following a doctor-supervised fasting program. The Vora app is free to download and use but features in-app purchases and advertisements. The Vora app is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
Intermittent fasting is trending, which is what the Vora app is meant to help manage but in the wrong hands, the Vora app can help feed into an eating disorder or contribute to disordered eating among children.
Per the developer:
“Vora is a cloud-based fast tracker app where you can create, edit, and delete your fasts. View the last seven fasts in a beautiful chart that shows if you're hitting your target fast.”
It’s easy to see how an app such as this can be dangerous for someone suffering from body dysmorphia and/ or disordered eating.
Is Vora - Fasting Tracker safe for my kids?
With eating disorders prevalent among teens and tweens, parents need to be on the lookout for the Vora app on their child’s phone. Unless fasting has been prescribed and is being supervised by a doctor, the Vora app can be a warning sign for parents who discover it on their child’s phone.
The name itself is enough to make a parent shudder. Per the developer, the app is named “Vora as in voraciously devouring a big meal after fasting.”
Whatever a person’s personal opinion is about fasting, this type of attitude towards food is not suitable for minors and not something one wants in the hands of a child who has a history of disordered eating.
The internet has made it incredibly easy for people with disordered eating habits to connect and lean on one another for support and for continuing their unhealthy lifestyle.
A Vice article explained how many calorie counter and fitness tracker apps are being abused by those suffering from disordered eating, explicitly mentioning the Vora app as one that was used by people partaking in dangerous “water fasts” and sharing their results on Instagram.
Perhaps even more disturbing is that the developer, Mark Halonen, believes that the Vora app, while not created to assist those with eating disorders, can help them.
He says this in an interview with Vice:
“While not the original intention of the app, Vora is helping those with eating disorders by providing accurate fasting data and a community to support them. Intermittent fasting is the best way to manage and lose weight, and Vora is the best app for tracking fasting activity.”
What’s problematic is that those attempting to recover from an eating disorder should not be fasting, tracking eating or trying to manage or lose weight. This is very scary, parents.
Parents should be aware that many of those suffering from an eating disorder prefer to keep their disease secret and therefore use secretive behavior to continue with their disordered eating.
Finding the Vora app on a child’s phone can be the first red flag for parents, especially with those who have done an excellent job keeping their behaviors hidden.
Simply put, the Vora app is not for children and can in fact be dangerous for those suffering from eating disorders.
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