What is LiveIn?

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LiveIn “LivePic” Widget allows you to send photos and drawings to your friends’ home screens, just like the TikTok sensation Locket Widget app. More details about its features are below.

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How Does LiveIn Work?

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LiveIn lets you send pictures (called moments) straight to the home screen of any smartphone (works on both iPhone and Android devices) to unlimited friends. It’s brilliant and hits on what teens love about Snapchat: instant, easy, and fun.

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It leverages a seldom-used little piece of software: widgets. Delivering a little surprise – an unpolished, “in the moment” picture – from a friend or loved one. It’s so simple, and I think that’s what makes it so attractive in a complicated, algorithm-fed digital world.

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In addition to sending pictures, LiveIn also lets users send hand-drawn notes and doodles, which sets it apart from Locket Widget.

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The World Feed operates like a public feed of moments. You can tap on any picture in the World Feed and follow that person. There is no way to make your profile private. However, when you share a moment there is the option to share it to “World,” “Followers,” “Friends,” or “Only me.” If you do not share it to the World, then strangers would not be able to find you that way. There is a search function for user names (so you could add random people or be randomly added this way). You are able to block or report friends/followers.

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LiveIn gives you the ability to like and/or comment on any moment (and therefore others can like and/or comment on your moment). This in combination of the public World Feed gives LiveIn an Instagram-like feeling.

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There is an option to create a friend video on LiveIn. A slideshow of moments sent between friends is created, which can be shared to other platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Messenger Kids, email, etc.

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What Do Parents Need to Know About Livein?

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LiveIn asks for access to contacts, but claims they don’t keep them. Friends could send an inappropriate picture straight to your home screen.

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The terms & conditions say that LiveIn owns and has rights to all pictures! Concerning. PYE contributed to this Washington Post piece about this app and Locket Widget, which is similar.

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LiveIn allows your photos to be shared with “the World,” which is a public feed.

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How to Make LiveIn Safer:

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Regardless of the app, three actions mitigate the risks we’ve shared. We teach these actions in our parent presentations:

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1. Require approval for all app downloads.
2. Follow the 7-Day Rule
3. Enable in-app controls and settings

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We explain each of them briefly below. If you’ve already set up approvals for downloads and have used the app, please skip to the In-App Controls & Settings.

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Require Approval for App Downloads

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You can control app stores by requiring permission for apps to be downloaded. This is ensures your child doesn’t have access to an app without your knowledge. Here are the steps (for Apple and Android users):

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For Apple Devices:

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To require permission to download an app, you’ll need to set up Screen Time and Family Sharing (Apple’s Parental Controls). We explain this process step-by-step in our Complete iOS Guide (click here).  

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Once Screen Time and Family Sharing are established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Apple device:

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Select your Family.
3. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
4. Scroll down to “Ask to Buy” and enable.

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For Android Devices:

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You’ll have to use Family Link (Android’s parental controls) to ensure you retain control over what apps are downloaded. We explain this process step-by-step in our Android Guide (click here).

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Once Family Link is established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Android device:

1. Go to the Family Link App
2. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
3. Select “Google Play Store”
4. Select “Purchases & download approval” and set it to “All Content.”

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Follow the 7-Day Rule

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This is our tried-and-true method of determining whether a specific app is safe for your specific child.

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Before you let your child use it, download the app and use it for 7 days.

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Create an account with your child’s age and gender and use it for 7 days. Play through a few levels, review the ads, see if anyone can chat with you, and poke around like a curious child.

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After a week, ask yourself, “Do I want my child to experience what I did?”  Even if you decide to allow them to download the app, now you have a basis for curious conversations about the app when you check in.

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Enable In-App Controls & Settings

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There aren't any parental controls or many settings to change in LiveIn.

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Follow the steps above and see how the app feels.

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Bottom Line: Is LiveIn Safe?

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The PYE Research Team scrolled the World Feed for a few minutes and did not see any porn, but there are privacy and potential predator concerns. Since the Locket Widget doesn’t have the “World Feed,” we prefer the features of Locket Widget better, but now you can make an informed decision!

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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