Go SMS Pro – Messenger, Free Themes, Emoji
Risk Score
High
App Details
Go SMS Pro is a mobile SMS app which has millions of users around the world. It provides users with a colourful, clean messaging design and allows users to customise with different themes. It provides individual and group chat features, emojis and stickers, scheduled responses and blocking features (individuals can block unwanted contacts, including spam). The app provides a pincode entry Private box, in which users can store messages and images to protect them from being viewed.
Why is it a risk?
Hidden vault apps, such as this one, are specifically designed to allow the user to store sensitive information and images in a covert manner. Such apps have been the subject of criticism, as it was discovered that many teenagers and children were using such apps as a way to store and send intimate content without fear of it being seen by unwanted eyes. Many of these apps receive a low age rating via the App Stores (such as 4+) yet display pictures of women in suggestive poses – hinting heavily at the type of content this app is used to store. These apps are not appropriate for children and can both encourage and facilitate deceptive behaviour in relation to sending intimate content.