What is Episode?

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Description: The Episode app (link to manufacturer’s site) is the world’s largest home of visual stories where YOU choose your path. Or, become a creator and write your own! Episode lets you LIVE your stories. One choice YOU make can change everything!

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Any genre you want, you can find. It’s the next generation of “choose your own adventure” stories from years ago, where readers are allowed to make choices on how to respond or what to do next.

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What do Parents need to know about Episode?

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Sex, drugs, and alcohol are everywhere in Episode. The stories in the Episode App are full of adult themes, with teenagers sexually active, scantily dressed, getting drunk, going to college frat parties, and using foul language. The app store age rating is way too low, as 12-year-old girls will flock to this app.

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Most girls in the stories are sexualized with adult bodies and lots of curves, which starts to whisper certain damaging expectations to young, female readers. Screenshots of a few pages are below. The Terms of Service do tell readers they must be at least 13 to use the app, but this still feels too young.

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Is there pornography in Episode? Not that we could find, but sexual themes are everywhere, as shown in the screenshots.

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Is there hidden Google access? Yes, it’s quite easy to discover a hidden, Google search bar through the settings, which doesn’t obey any Apple Restrictions to “limit adult content.”

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Bottom Line: is Episode Safe?

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The Episode App will be adored by young girls who love stories but they just aren’t ready for its adult themes. Parents would be wise to keep their young, middle school readers away from this app and its stories.

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What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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