In the last two weeks of March, house party downloads increased by almost 1300% in the UK.
Its popularity remains as the lockdown continues into the foreseeable future and young people adapt to communicating more online.
Users can live-video-chat with up to 8 people while playing games with friends and family in a ‘room’.
We’ve gathered all our Houseparty resources in one place to help you find the right information:
What are the core functions?
Users can have group video calls with 2 to 8 people and play games together.
Users can send group and private notes to friends or leave ‘face-mail’ (video-voicemail).
Users receive a push notification when their friends have logged telling them they are “in the house”.
What are the risks?
As with all live-streaming platforms, screenshots, unsolicited messages and self-generated sexualised imagery can put young people at risk.
Links to ‘rooms’ can also be shared publicly – to other platforms which could see uninvited users joining.
‘Rooms’ should be locked to prevent uninvited guests from joining – remember all rooms will lock by default if a user enables ‘private mode’.
If an uninvited guest joins a room they can easily ‘friend’ others taking part in the live stream.
It appears that when a friend is invited, their friends can also join a ‘room’ without the invitation.
5 Top Tips for Parents and Carers
- Encourage young people to only chat with people they know in real life and to use private mode (this locks all rooms they are in).
- Make sure young people ‘lock their room’ to prevent uninvited guests from joining.
- Try using Houseparty together to get an idea of how it works – you might even enjoy it.
- Encourage kindness and respect online – to help create a safer internet for everyone.
- Make sure young people understand the risks of image sharing and screenshots online.
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