What is the Zigazoo App?

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Watch and share short videos and have a blast learning with friends, classmates, and family!

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Enjoy learning with your child and sharing your learning adventure during this special time of life on Zigazoo.

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How Does Zigazoo Work?

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• FIRST: watch videos made by friends and your favorite characters on an endless feed of learning fun.
• SECOND: pick fun learning prompts and respond with 0 to 30-second videos.
• THIRD: share videos and interact with friends.

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Zigazoo is the ultimate “edutainment” app, engaging students in meaningful project-based learning and challenges while entertaining them at the same time. Instead of putting your child in front of meaningless screen time or fully planning activities from scratch on busy days, let Zigazoo guide you through exciting real-world educational experiences.

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Example projects include: “Can you make a balloon-powered car?” and “Does it sink or float?” and “Can you design your own obstacle course?” and “What’s your favorite riddle?”

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What Do Parents Need to Know About Zigazoo?

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TechCrunch described Zigazoo as “the TikTok for kids” when it passed 100,000 video uploads in June 2020. One week after that, Zigazoo was up to almost half a million video uploads. The comparison and fast growth grabbed our attention.

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What kinds of videos are on Zigazoo?

• Videos that are uploaded answer a selected question, like ‘Can you make a parachute for a toy?’ or ‘Can you use your 5 senses to describe an item in your fridge?’
• If you click on the question, then a collection of example videos from users who opted-in to sharing publicly (designated with a green check mark; also I have not found where to opt-in so I think that these green check mark users must have been early adopters and/or app testers) will be available.
• There is a red camera button where parents can film their kids answering the question.

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Who can see the videos you add to Zigazoo?

• Only other users who you are friends with.
• Zigazoo’s goal is to create small groups of friends with a commonality, like a playgroup or classroom in order to create safe and fun ‘edutainment.’
• Kids are not meant to use the app without an adult, and the app was not created to gather up a large following like TikTok or YouTube.
• You can search for a person and send a friend request. It is up to you to approve them (similar to Facebook). You can not see another user’s videos until you are friends with them.

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How can I interact with videos? There is a heart icon to show that you like the video and a comment bubble to leave a comment.

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Children4Charity: Zigazoo launched a competition in which kids can submit videos to raise awareness for certain charities.

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Zigazoo channels: In the summer of 2020, Zigazoo will launch Zigazoo channels. They are partnering with children’s entertainment companies, museums, zoos, podcasts, libraries, etc. to add more educational content to the app.

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Is there inappropriate content on Zigazoo? None that we could find. Because the public videos shown are verified and moderated, we were unable to find any inappropriate content. However, if someone in your friend group posts something inappropriate, there is no way to block or report the video. Users can unfriend anyone in their friend list. Zigazoo added human moderators in July 2020 so that anyone can submit a video for the public feed, which the moderator will reject or approve.

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How is privacy guarded on Zigazoo? A Google account or an email are required to use the app. A user name and display can be created. There is no other information collected from the user. 

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How to Make Zigazoo 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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Create and Verify the Account (This is the main control)

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Zigazoo requires verifiable parental consent before a child can fully use the app. (Zigazoo)

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Steps:

1. Download Zigazoo on your child’s device
2. Help your child create their profile
3. Go to the child’s Profile page
4. Tap “Get Verified”
5. Choose verification (usually video verification)
6. Record a short consent video with you and your child
7. Submit it for approval

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The app will not allow normal posting until this is approved. (Zigazoo)

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How to Make Your Zigazoo Account Private

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Zigazoo lets kids run a private account.

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When private:

• Only approved followers can watch videos
• Only followers can start chats/interactions (Bark)

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How:

1. Open the profile
2. Go to Settings
3. Turn on Private Account
4. Help your child approve followers together

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Zigazoo Kids

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Zigazoo also has a separate app called Zigazoo Kids, designed specifically for younger children and considered more controlled than the standard Zigazoo platform. (Bark)

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Bottom Line: Is Zigazoo Safe for Kids?

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The contents and features of the app are appropriate for young kids. But young kids should only use this app from their parent’s device and with parent supervision.

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We do not believe that elementary-aged kids should have their own devices with their own apps. Not yet. One issue with the app is that it puts kids on a path – a path that has TikTok up ahead, and we just don’t need to do that too soon.

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Zigazoo Kids could be a better option as well, although we haven't tested it yet.

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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