Yubo
A guide for families with key information about ‘Yubo’, including the age rating, key terminology, risks and instructions for enabling parental controls and safety settings.
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Yubo, previously named ‘Yellow’, is a live-streaming social media app which aims to connect users with similar interests, developing friendships rather than followings. Through the use of interest ‘Tags’, users are connected with others, with the option to become friends. The prominent use of live-streaming on the platform is popular with young people, as it allows up to ten users to chat together within the same live-stream function, no matter where in the world they are. The app also encourages users to play games together, to help develop friendships. Yubo is one of the first social media platforms to use facial recognition technology to help verify the age of its users and has over 60 million users.
Official age rating
The minimum age rating for Yubo users is 13.
Yubo verifies the age of its users using facial recognition and the Yoti app.
It has been given an age rating of 17+ on the Apple App Store and ‘Parental guidance’ on the Google Play Store.
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
Yubo aims for its users to make friends rather than gain followers, which is appealing to young people as it is based on real life interactions. The app allows its users to find new friends through the use of ‘Tags’, which connect people with similar interests. Users can live-stream with multiple friends and spend time together as if they were in the same room. They can also play games together.
Key features and terminology
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A user’s profile will be featured at the top of on the ‘Online’ section, making it easier for other users to find their account and make new friends.
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Where users can see other users’ profiles and swipe right to add them or left to not add them as ‘Friends’.
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This is where users can live-stream on their own or with up to ten other users.
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Here users can text chat during a livestream.
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A feature that allows users to talk privately to their in-app friends. This can be done via text chat or live-stream conversations with chosen contacts.
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Users choose the ‘Tags’ that they are interested in to then find other friends on the app with similar interests.
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This feature is used when users want to introduce their friends to other users on the platform.
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This feature helps push your live-stream to the top of the live feed to encourage more users to join.
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‘Pixels’ are collectible digital art that you can send to friends on Yubo. Some users send them as gifts to their friends or send them to their favourite live-streamers on the platform.
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This refers to the in-app currency which users can purchase to spend on ‘Boosts’, ‘Spotlights’, ‘Pixels’ and ‘Turbos’. YuBucks can be purchased using actual currency via in-app purchases, or they can be earnt every time another user sends you a ‘Pixel’.
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A subscription service which allows users to ‘Swipe’ on more users to get extra features like ‘Spotlights’ and ‘Boosts’.
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A subscription service more expensive than ‘Power pack’ which allows users to unlock an all-access pass for the app. This means that users can view their swipe history, appear first on the swipe section and message people before becoming friends.
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This feature will boost your profile on the ‘Swipe’ section for 30 minutes. This will ensure that your profile is more visible, giving users the ability to make more friends on the app. This feature can be purchased using YuBucks.
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Where users can send friend requests and accept or deny friend requests from others. Users swipe right to accept friend requests, or swipe left if they would rather not be friends.
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Users can play games together during a live-stream.
Potential risks
Content
Much of the content that occurs on Yubo is through the ‘Live’ function, which means it can be difficult to moderate. Whilst the platform says that it monitors content in real time, it is not always able to detect all inappropriate content or react immediately. All users are able to write a ‘Bio’ which sits on their profile. Again, the platform claims to scan these for inappropriate content but this should not be solely relied upon as a safeguarding measure. There is also a messaging function within Yubo, where your child may come across inappropriate content in the form of bad language or mature content. To help manage your child’s exposure to inappropriate content, it is recommended that they only accept friend requests on the platform from known friends, rather than strangers. However, it should be acknowledged that your child may still be exposed to inappropriate content by their known contacts.
Yubo has included some safety settings to help protect younger users on the platform from sharing personal information, but also from receiving inappropriate requests within private chats. A pop-up alert will appear if younger users attempt to share personal details, encouraging them to think carefully about the content of their messages. If any user tries to make inappropriate requests within private chats, a pop-up warning will be sent, and they will be blocked from sharing that content.
When a user first sets up a Yubo account, they are required to select at least five ‘Tags’ or things they are interested in from a pre-populated list. Ensure you child has chosen topics that are suitable for their age and stage of development to reduce the risk of them being exposed to content that may be unsuitable for them.
Connecting with others
To create a Yubo account, all users must add their date of birth and share a photo of themselves. Working in partnership with Yoti, a facial recognition app, Yubo verifies the age of each user. By doing so, accounts on Yubo are sorted into over 18s and under 18s, with age gates being used to create separate communities on the platform. This should help to limit the risk of your child connecting with someone older than them. The use of facial recognition to verify accounts also limits the ability for users to create fake accounts, pretending to be someone considerably younger or older than they are. Any accounts where discrepancies are identified by Yubo, or accounts that have been flagged by other users on the platform, are required to download the Yoti app to verify their identity using formal ID, such as a passport. All accounts that have been verified have a yellow icon on their profile. Although Yubo’s use of facial recognition to verify age is a significant difference to many other social media platforms parents should be aware that there have been many cases of users getting around this process and using accounts with false verified ages. These reports include users selling their verified account details to people online using platforms such as Reddit. This could mean that even with Yoti’s age-verification software, your child may still be contacted by someone who is older or younger than they are verified as. Encourage your child to keep interactions they have on the app to only people they know offline and remind them to report any accounts they think may be using a false age.
Yubo aims to connect users on the platform who have similar interests. The use of the ‘Swipe’ feature means users simply swipe right to add them as a friend, based only on their profile. By connecting with people who have similar shared interests, there is the potential for a false sense of trust to be established between users, with the assumption that they are friends because they like the same things. The requirement to become ‘Friends’ on the app before you can message and chat is also confusing for younger users, as there is the assumption that they are friends before they have interacted with one another. Talk to your child about what makes a friend and encourage them to connect with offline friends within the app, rather than people they do not know. Discuss the risks of connecting with strangers and explain the importance of not sharing any personal or identifiable information within chats. Remind your child to tell you if they have been asked personal questions and to report anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable.
User behaviour
If your child has their own Yubo account, it is important for you and them to be aware of what they share within messages and live-streams, and the impact this will have on their digital footprint. Young people need to be aware that any content they post online leaves a digital footprint. Remind your child that anyone can take a screen shot of a message or record a live-stream and share it widely on other platforms. Have a conversation with them to help them understand what is and is not appropriate for them to share and discuss the various ways they can protect themselves. Ensure your child knows it can be difficult to keep ownership of any content once it has been shared online, as it can easily be copied and reposted without their knowledge and can then become difficult to remove from the internet.
Design, data and costs
The app has its own in-app currency known as ‘YuBucks’ which users can buy, earn and use within the app. Users can buy ‘YuBucks’ using real currency and they can earn them when other users gift them with ‘Pixels’ for engaging live-streams. ‘YuBucks’ can then be used to purchase various in-app features such as ‘Boosts’ and ‘Turbos’ (full definitions of these features can be found in the ‘Key features and terminology’ section of this guide). Speak to your child about in-app purchases to affirm their understanding that real money is used to make purchases within the app. You can also set the relevant in-app purchase settings on their device.
Yubo also has various paid upgrade options, which allows users to unlock additional features such as ‘Swipe history’ on the app. Lots of features within the app try to encourage users to upgrade. This may be very compelling for keen users who want to experience the additional features. Remind your child that upgrades and subscriptions are just another way to try and keep users on the platform and make money.
Tips for keeping your child safe
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There are no specific settings that allows users to make their account private.
To ‘Hide from swipes’ (this will stop other users sending you friend requests):
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- scroll to ‘Swipe settings’ and toggle on the ‘Hide from swipe’ option
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There are some settings available on Yubo to manage interactions and content. Users will also be asked to share their location when downloading the app. It is recommended younger users do not share their location and decline this option.
To manage contacts:
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- find ‘Safety and privacy’ and select ‘Contacts’
- toggle on the option ‘Don’t let others find you by your phone’
- disable the option to ‘Manage access to contacts’
To enable ‘Message filter’ (to protect users from inappropriate messages):
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- find ‘Safety and privacy’ and scroll to ‘Personalization and data’
- select ‘Safety’ and toggle on ‘Message filter’
To disable location settings:
- go to your profile and select the ‘Settings’ menu
- scroll to ‘Safety and privacy’ and select ‘Location’
- goggle off the option to ‘Use my location’
To ‘Mute’ words (to hide unwanted words, phrases or emojis on the platform):
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- select ‘Safety and privacy’ scroll to ‘Muted words’
- choose ‘Add a word’ and type in the word you wish to mute
- select ‘Save’ to complete
This feature is not account wide, so needs to be enabled on each device.
To turn off camera and microphone:
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- select ‘Safety and privacy’ and scroll to ‘Camera and microphone’
- toggle off the ‘Allow microphone access’ and ‘Allow camera access’ options
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Users can report other users who may be bothering them or behaving inappropriately on the platform.
To report/block a user:
- find the user you wish to report and select their username
- press the warning icon in the top right-hand corner
- select ‘Report’ or ‘Block’
- choose a reason why you wish to report/block this user
- write a comment for your reason then select ‘Report/block’
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Users will be asked to receive notifications when they download the app. To help manage time, it is recommended younger users do not enable this feature. There are some settings to manage notifications within the app. Users can also manage their marketing settings within the app.
To manage marketing settings:
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- find ‘Safety and privacy’ and scroll to ‘Personalization and data’
- select the ‘Marketing’ option and toggle disable the ‘Tracking authorisation’ option
To manage notifications:
- go to your profile and select the settings icon
- select ‘Push notifications’ and toggle off the notifications listed:
- New friends
- Friend request
- Live
- Messages
- Pixels
To disable in-app purchases (on iOS):
- go to the phone settings menu > ‘Screen time’ and scroll down to ‘Content and privacy restrictions’
- select ‘iTunes & 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’
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Account deletion means all your information will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored.
To delete a Yubo account:
- first, go to your profile by selecting your avatar on the top right corner
- choose the gear icon on the top right corner to access ‘Settings’
- scroll down to the rubbish bin labelled ‘Delete account’
- type ‘DELETE’ to confirm deleting your account
Additional tips
Yubo has a designated Safety Hub where users can find advice and information on the app’s safety tools.
There are community guidelines available for Yubo.