myFirst Circle provide children with a safe and protected environment to experience the benefits of social connectivity alongside their parents.
myFirst Circle
Singapore-based kids-tech company myFirst has launched myFirst Circle — the world’s first social community app for children that allows them to create posts and share photos with their circle of friends within a safe environment without the need for parents to approve every post. At the same time, parents can monitor and make changes to their child’s activities instantly if found inappropriate. This creates a balance between creating a safe space for children and freedom to socialise with friends.
Here's taking a closer look at the features of the myFirst Circle app:
1. Creates Safe Social Circles With Contact Whitelisting
For safety reasons, children under 13 years of age need their parents to have an account. Parents will need to whitelist and approve the friend requests received by their children before they are added to the children’s social circle.
Before accepting any friend requests, parents can check with their children personally to see if they are really friends. Alternatively, they have the option to chat with parents of the incoming friend if they have any additional concerns before approving the friend request.
Once the friend request is accepted, parents need to set the relationship they have with the person. There are four groups of relationships:
- Family
- Besties
- Friends
- Acquaintances
These groups create an expanding circle that defines the types of posts a person can see. If a post is just shared among Family members, only the people who are tagged as Family will be able to see it. However, parents may change the post settings to be accessible to lesser groups or to expand the groups.
2. Encourages Quality Interactions With ShoutOuts
myFirst Circle has replaced the “Like” system with their own “ShoutOut” system as they wanted to phase out low effort interactions that require only a single click or tap. “ShoutOut” aims to foster an engaging atmosphere with voice and text replies, encouraging quality interactions among friends and family. Instead of receiving a simple “Like” on posts, users are encouraged to send 16-character text messages, an eight second voice blurb or emoji reactions.
3. Allows For Instant Connection Between Two Close Families
Each child will be attached to a nuclear family, which is also known as a family bubble in myFirst Circle app. A nuclear family or a family bubble typically consists of parents and their immediate children. Two nuclear families can easily exchange contacts for all members in their family bubbles without adding contacts one by one, simply by sending a request.
4. Able To Sync myFirst Circle On myFirst Fone
Photo Credits: myFirst
When using the myFirst Fone, friends can be added automatically when users pair and link their watches. Parents will not need to accept the request on behalf, but they will still receive a notification when the connection is made, and they can choose to remove the friend if necessary. This will help the children to stay in touch via text, video and voice call. They can also post pictures to share parts of their life with each other.
How To Download
myFirst Circle can be downloaded from the App Store for Apple iOS devices or Google Play for Android devices. It can also be accessed through a myFirst Fone.
