HiPal: Walkie Talkie
A guide for families with key information about ‘HiPal Walkie Talkie’, including the age rating, key terminology, risks and instructions for enabling parental controls and safety settings.
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HiPal is a social networking app developed by VPings Inc. in 2018. The intention of the app is to function like a walkie-talkie, operating in the same way a traditional walkie-talkie would but in a digital capacity. The walkie-talkie function has unlimited range and is capable of hosting large group calls, though users must pay for a subscription to do this. HiPal has a modest following on TikTok, where users like to post conversations they had on the app. HiPal is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The paid subscription of the app offers additional features such as unlimited walkie-talkie use, real-time locations of friends via a map, notifications if a friend goes to or leaves a specific place, groups of up to 100 people, or notifications if your friends are nearby.
Official age rating
The minimum age restriction for HiPal users is 12, however it does not appear to have any particular age verification methods.
Though the minimum age suggested by HiPal is 12 years old, users 12 and under can still use the app. Users in this age range can access core features of HiPal, such as the walkie-talkie.
HiPal is rated 12+ (Teens) on the Apple App Store and Parental Guidance on Google Play.
Find out more about age ratings in our ‘A parent and carer’s guide to age ratings of apps and games’.
How children and young people use the app
HiPal is used as a walkie-talkie for real-life events, such as when playing video games with friends, or as a direct chatting channel. Young people have enjoyed using the app to talk to their school crush or plan events with their friends. As HiPal has been noted to change frequently, the way young people use the app also changes with it and interest piques in different periods. As users currently need to pay a subscription fee to use the calls feature, young people are using other free apps to call and connect with their friends.
Key features and terminology
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A ‘BOOM’ message is a text-based message. If the notification settings allow, a BOOM message notification will display even if the user is not using HiPal at the time they receive the message.
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Bubbles are how chat notifications from HiPal appear on a user’s device. These can be customised to the user’s liking. Note that this feature is only available for those using Android devices.
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Also called ‘HiPal Premium’ or ‘HiPal Pro’, this is HiPal’s paid feature which allows for unrestricted walkie talkie usage and walkie talkie groups of up to 100 people.
Potential risks
Content
HiPal frequently updates the app design and features, especially the way users can interact and share content with each other. As the app changes regularly, parents and carers are advised to check in on the apps functionality and how their child uses it.
Users of HiPal can currently send written messages to other users on the platform for free, unlike the call feature which now requires a subscription fee. Chat messages on HiPal disappear when a user logs out. This presents a risk as users could feel disinhibited or inclined to share content which they assume cannot be viewed again. Since there is no chat history, there is likely to be no permanent record of what the sender may have said or sent via the app, unless a user has taken a screenshot of the chat content. This could apply to a range of situations, including the sharing of nude images, racist or hateful comments or engaging in bullying and harassment. Remind your child to think carefully about the content they choose to share.
Connecting with others
Users of HiPal can only connect with each other by sharing a unique code or scanning a QR code, which can be shared both in person and online. Once connected, users can message or call each other. For connections made by sharing their code online, it is very challenging to know if the person they are talking with on the app is who they claim to be and as chat messages on HiPal disappear when a user logs out, there is no record of who your child is interacting with or how. This could facilitate behaviour such as grooming, bullying or sexual harassment, as the chat logs disappears leaving no visual record of what has happened and therefore making it difficult to trace. It is important that children and young people think carefully about the people they choose to connect with and consider using the app only to engage with known friends. Speak to your child about the risks of connecting with strangers and explain the importance of not sharing any personal or identifiable information within chats. Remind users to tell you if they have been asked more personal questions or to chat privately using a different app.
A central feature of HiPal is live location sharing, which cannot be disabled and is always public to the user’s friends. This could put younger users at significant risk as their live location is always accessible to everyone the user knows. This risk is especially paramount in cases where connections have been made online, and the new friend added on the app is unknown to your child in the offline world. Ensure your child is only connecting with known friends on HiPal and remind them that they should only ever share their location details with people they know and trust. Talk to your child about the risks of sharing their location with people they do not know and encourage them to talk to you if they have been asked to share their location or have experienced unwanted visits from people on the platform.
User behaviour
On HiPal, chat logs disappear when a user logs out. A lack of chat history could impact on the ability of the police or other relevant authorities to investigate issues of concern that may have occurred via the app. It is possible for a user to screen grab a conversation, but it could be difficult for someone who is being harassed or abused to think to do this in the moment. Encourage your child to tell you if they are engaged in a chat that makes them uncomfortable and where possible, take a screenshot. Remind your child to think carefully about the content they choose to share on the app. It is important to explain to your child that all content can be screenshotted, saved and widely shared. They always need to consider the content they create and share by really thinking about whether they would be happy for everyone they know to see it.
Design, data and costs
As with many other messaging apps, it has been designed to keep users engaged and on the platform for extended periods of time. It can be difficult for children to resist the notifications encouraging them to respond and engage. Encourage your child to take a break by changing the notification settings to reduce the number of notifications they receive.
Whilst users can sign up to HiPal for free, many features of HiPal that were previously free now require a payment plan. HiPal heavily encourages users to sign up to a yearly subscription to gain unlimited use of the walkie talkie function and group chats. It is advised that if your child expresses an interest in using the voice functions of their phone, to encourage them to call their friends through built-in calling features on their mobile device. Remind your child that subscriptions are designed by apps and platforms as another way to make money from its users.
Tips for keeping your child safe
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There are currently no settings available to manage privacy on HiPal.
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There are no settings available to manage content through filters or chat on HiPal.
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Users can report other users who may be bothering them or behaving inappropriately on the platform.
To report a user:
- go to the profile of the user you wish to report
- select the three dots icon on the top right
- choose ‘Report’ and select the reason why
- alternatively, open a chat window with the user you wish to report
- select the three dots icon on the top right
- choose ‘Report’ and select the reason why
- you may choose to provide further details or screenshots to help HiPal moderators understand the reason for blocking
To block a user:
- go to the profile of the user you wish to block
- select the three dots icon on the top right
- choose ‘Block’
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Users can manage their notification settings on HiPal. HiPal also has a notification setting that, if checked, allows the app to read all device notifications (including personal contact names and notification content in text messages or other apps). This is disabled by default but parents and carers should ensure this feature has not been enabled.
To manage ‘BOOM’ notifications:
- go to ‘Settings’ (gear icon) on the top left
- select ‘BOOM’ at the very top of settings
- choose ‘BOOM – Allow notifications outside of HiPal’ to enable or disable message notifications
To manage HiPal’s access to other device notifications:
- select ‘Settings’ (gear icon) on the top left
- choose ‘Boom’ at the top of the settings page
- under ‘Customize notifications’ select ‘Authorizations’
- if ‘Notification success’ says ‘Check’, HiPal is reading device notifications
- to disable this, select ‘Check’ next to ‘Notification Access’
- select ‘HiPal’ to switch it from ‘Allowed’ to ‘Not allowed’
To manage notifications (on iOS):
- go to the settings menu and scroll to ‘Notifications’
- find ‘HiPal’ in the list of apps and toggle off the ‘Allow notifications’ option
To manage time (on Android):
- go to the settings menu and scroll to ‘Apps’
- find ‘HiPal’ in the list of apps and select ‘Notifications’
- toggle off the ‘Show notifications’ option
To disable in-app purchases (on iOS):
- go to ‘Settings’ > ‘Screen time’ and scroll down to ‘Content and privacy restrictions’
- select ‘iTunes and App Store purchases’ and set the option to ‘Don’t allow’
To disable in-app purchases (on Android):
- go to your ‘Google Play Store’ app
- select ‘Menu’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘Require authentication for purchases’
- this means you will need to set a password to make in-app purchases
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HiPal users can delete their account, which means all their information will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored. You can do this by reaching out to their direct email address, service@hipal2022.com, or by going through the account settings.
To delete a user account within HiPal:
- go to ‘Settings’ (gear icon) on the top left corner and select ‘Delete Account’
- press ‘Continue’ and ‘Confirm’ to delete the account
Additional tips
Whilst HiPal may generally be safe with local friends, you should monitor your child’s usage of HiPal. Talk with your child regularly about the people they are connecting with on HiPal and remind them of the risks of chatting with strangers. As an app designed to emulate a walkie-talkie, you may talk to your child about limiting the usage of the app only to use the walkie-talkie feature with known friends.
To access the feedback email function within HiPal:
- go to ‘Settings’ (gear icon) on the top left corner
- find and tap ‘Feedback’