Why ordinary social apps are hard to hand a teenager
The parts parents worry about are not side effects. They are the product. A like turns every post into a score. A follower count turns a person into a number other people can see. Photos invite the comparison the whole school is already making. A ranked feed is built to keep a thumb moving, and direct messages mean anybody who finds an account can start a conversation with it.
So a family is left choosing between two bad options: say no to the app all their friends use, or say yes and try to supervise it. Neither answers the thing a teenager actually wants, which is to stay close to their people. We wrote about what a social app teenagers could use would have to leave out in teenagers and social apps.
What weathr does
There is one thing to do, and it takes a tap. You pick one of five symbols (sun, sun and cloud, cloud, rain, storm) at one of four levels. There is no post to compose, no picture to choose and no angle to get right.
There is nothing to count. No likes, no followers, no public profile and no reposts. A group's weather is the proportion of its members' moods, one person one voice, so nobody's tap weighs more than anybody else's and nobody has a score.
There is no feed and no algorithm. The only thing to look at is the sky over each group. Nothing is ranked, nothing is recommended and there is nothing to scroll.
Nobody can put you in a channel. Getting into a channel is a request or an invitation, and an invitation is never accepted for you. There are no direct messages. An owner can remove or block somebody from their channel.
It stops moving by itself. Saying how you are keeps your groups updating live for between an hour and a day. Then the sky freezes where you left it until you say something again. The app does not hold anyone's time because it has nothing to hold it with.
Blind is the default. A cast hides who it was unless you choose otherwise; the mood still shows. Location reporting is a switch, Follow me, that is off until somebody turns it on.
What it doesn't do
weathr has no parental controls, no age verification and no minimum age. There is no way for a parent to see a teenager's account, set limits on it or approve what it joins. If that is what your family needs, weathr does not provide it today.
It is not closed to people you don't know. Channels can be found by search, and a teenager can ask to join one run by a stranger. Someone can find an account by name and send an invitation; it cannot be accepted for them, but they will see it. Members of a channel can write short signed text posts, and those are moderated by the channel's owner and by reports, not reviewed in advance.
Blind hides little in a small group. Among three friends, a blind storm is not much of a secret. And weathr works in a browser today; the Android app is being built, and there is no iOS app.
Compared with what people usually use
| A photo-sharing app | A group chat | weathr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Likes and follower counts | Yes | No | No |
| Photos and video | The main thing | Yes | None |
| Messages from people you don't know | Often possible | Depends on the app | No direct messages |
| Ranked feed | Yes | No | No feed |
| Added to a group without agreeing | Varies | Often | Never |
| Parental controls | Some | Some | None |
Questions
Is there a social app for teenagers without likes or followers?
weathr has no likes, no follower counts, no public profiles, no photos, no feed and no direct messages. The one thing a person does is say how they are with a tap, and a group of friends or family is drawn as weather. It has no parental controls and no minimum age yet, so a parent should decide with that in mind.
Can a stranger add my teenager to a group in weathr?
No. An invitation is never accepted on anyone's behalf, on any setting, so nobody is in a channel without having said yes. Someone who finds an account by name can still send an invitation, and your teenager will see it and can decline it.
Does weathr have parental controls or age verification?
No. weathr has no parental controls, no age verification and no minimum age set in the product today. What it offers a family is what it leaves out, not a way to supervise.
Can teenagers post text or photos in weathr?
No photos or videos. Members of a channel can write short signed text posts attached to a day or a week. Anyone can report a post or hide a person's posts from themselves, and the channel's owner can remove posts.