Safe TikTok Alternatives for Kids

Quick answer: Coverstar, Zigazoo, and Marco Polo are the best TikTok alternatives for kids right now. We don’t recommend TikTok’s Under 13 Experience, and parents might want to skip Lemon8, RedNote, Reels, and Shorts.

TikTok is mega popular with kids, but it’s also super risky. We looked at five apps to see if they are safe versions of TikTok for kids. We based our decision on how actively the apps moderate content and prevent concerning material for minors, how robust the parental controls are, and whether kids can easily get around age verification measures.

Coverstar

Coverstar is a short-form video social media app that promises a safe, supportive alternative to TikTok for tweens and teens. We covered it in depth in Is Coverstar Safe for Kids?

Pros: 

• Takes active steps to prevent bullying and explicit material. 
• Moderated content (human and AI). 
• No direct messages, so strangers can’t contact your child.
• Strict community guidelines. 
• Easy reporting tools and privacy controls. 
• Parent permission required to sign up.

Cons: 

• No age verification. 
• Ads targeted at kids.
• No parental controls. 

Coverstar verdict: 

👍 Give it a try! 

Concerns about a lack of parental controls are eased by the fact that the app is inherently quite safe. And although there’s no age verification, the parental consent requirement is robust.

Zigazoo

Zigazoo is a TikTok-style social media platform centered around age-appropriate video challenges. Read our full guide to whether Zigazoo is safe for kids.

Pros: 

• Login is linked to parents, and parent consent is required to set up an account (and confirmed through photo recognition.)
• Settings are locked by parents at the time an account is created. Parents can also log in directly to view and manage accounts.
• Strong age verification through photo recognition.
• Strict community guidelines and human content moderation. 
• All videos must be approved by moderators, and videos are age-verified.
• No direct messaging.
• No text comments allowed on videos.
• Sticker and gift-giving is moderated for positivity and appropriateness.

Cons: 

• No global privacy settings.
• Parental permission is easy to bypass for in-app purchases.

Zigazoo verdict: 

👍 Give it a try! 

We love Zigazoo’s focus on positivity and thoughtful approach to user safety. Their strong age verification process, required parental consent, and human moderation helps keep your child safe on the app.

Did you know? BrightCanary monitors your child’s activity across all the apps they use, including the apps on this list. You’ll get insights into what they type, their emotional well-being, summaries of their activity, and more.

TikTok Under 13 Experience 

Kids under 13 who sign up for TikTok will be automatically directed to the Under 13 Experience, which is designed and curated with younger users in mind. 

Pros: 

• All accounts are private.
• Users can create but not post videos.
• App use is limited to 1 hour.
• TikTok partners with Common Sense to curate the For You and Discover feeds with age-appropriate videos. 
• Users can’t comment on or share videos.
• No DMs.
• Parental controls.

Cons: 

• Flimsy age-verification process. 
• Easy to create a second account and bypass age restrictions. 
• Risk of addiction is well documented, including by the company. 

TikTok Under 13 Experience verdict: 

👎 Steer clear!

We like the Common Sense-curated feed, private accounts, and the fact that users can’t post videos. But these pros are overshadowed by some pretty big cons. Chief among them is the fact that, once parents have okayed downloading the Under 13 Experience, kids can easily create a second account and bypass TikTok’s flimsy age verification. Plus, we really don’t trust TikTok’s algorithm. 

Marco Polo

Marco is a video chat social media app, with a turn-taking format and the ability to send messages to groups of up to 200 people. Users have to be 13 to use it.

Pros: 

• No public feed. 
• No ability to connect with strangers.
• Can turn off the feature that notifies contacts a user is online. 
• Users can restrict others from downloading or forwarding videos they send. 

Cons: 

• No age verification. 
• No parental controls. 

Marco Polo verdict: 

👍 Give it a try!

While it doesn’t mirror the TikTok experience to the same degree some of the other apps do, Marco Polo is a good option with strong privacy settings. If your teen wants to share videos, but you only want them to be able to chat with people they know, give Marco Polo a try.   

Where teens go when they leave TikTok (and why those aren’t kid-safe)

Kids who don’t use TikTok don’t switch to a kid-focused app. They move to other mainstream apps, and most of those aren’t built for children.

• Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight are short-video feeds inside apps your child may already use. They run on the same engagement-first algorithms, so you get TikTok’s main risk under a different logo.
• Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. It relies on a self-reported birthday and has no built-in parental controls.
• RedNote is a Chinese app that’s growing in the US. Privacy experts have raised concerns about its data practices, and shopping tools can tempt kids into impulse buys. (That risk exists on TikTok Shop, too.) 

What happened to Triller?

Triller turns up in a lot of “safe TikTok alternatives” lists, but we don’t recommend it, and it appears to be gone. Reports say the app’s services have stopped working and it’s no longer in the App Store. 

Even when it worked, it had no age verification, no parental controls, open DMs, and a lot of inappropriate content.

4 questions to ask about any app’s privacy policy

Privacy matters as much as content because every social app collects data. Check these parts of the privacy policy before you say yes to the next social media app your child downloads:

1. Does the app sell your child’s data or trade it?
2. Do third-party ad or tracking services collect information?
3. Is your child’s activity used to target ads on other sites?
4. Is your child’s data used to build an ad profile?

If the app is vague on any of these, consider it a red flag.

How to make any TikTok alternative safer

No app is 100% safe where strangers can interact. A few habits will help:

• Set up the account together. Choose the strictest privacy settings and talk through why they matter.
• Turn off in-app purchases on your child’s device.
• Set a time limit. Every app here uses a swipe-and-scroll format that can turn a few minutes into hours without restrictions.
• Check in regularly. Look at their account together and ask what they like about it.
• Add your own layer of protection. BrightCanary monitors what your child types across their apps and alerts you in real time if something concerning comes up.

Frequently asked questions

Wrap-up: What TikTok alternatives are safe for kids?  

We reviewed popular TikTok alternatives to see if they’re safe for kids. Coverstar, Zigazoo, and Marco Polo all get the thumbs up from us, while TikTok’s Under 13 Experience and similar video scrolling features from popular social media apps get a thumbs down. 

To keep an eye on what your child is doing online, try BrightCanary. The app uses advanced technology to help you monitor your child’s activity on the apps they use the most. Download today to get started for free.

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