With over 10 million downloads, Wizz is an app that’s becoming more and more popular – especially among young people. 

Although Wizz state that the app is a social media platform, it closely resembles the dating app ‘Tinder’ – and has issues relating to age-verification. 

Here’s everything you need to know. 

What is Wizz?

Wizz is a free-to-download mobile app available on both iOS and Android. It’s a messaging-based platform that lets users meet and chat with others.

To create a Wizz account, users must be aged 13 or above, provide a working email address, and also take a real-time selfie for age verification purposes.

Wizz uses facial recognition software (and occasionally moderators) to verify a user’s age. Once done, users are clustered into an age-bracket (for example ‘35-45’) and are only shown the profiles of others who are similarly aged.

Users can customise their profile with pictures, text, and music. Because the nature of the app is to meet others, users typically set their profile picture as themselves. Individuals can then swipe through the profiles of those who are currently online. 

Users have to tap another’s profile picture in order to begin messaging, and the first message sent comes through as a ‘message request’ which has to be approved by the recipient. Once done, both users are automatically added to each other’s ‘Friends’ list. 

You can’t connect with existing offline friends by searching for their username. The only way to add a friend is to find their profile while swiping and to then begin messaging. 

Why is it popular? 

Many people are attracted to Wizz because they wish to meet (and chat with) new people. Children may wish to use the app to socialise and expand their friendship group. 

Not everyone using Wizz will be interested in the dating side of the app. But some users – children especially – might find the more ‘adult’ nature of the platform to be exciting, and something which potentially allows them to feel more ‘grown-up’.

What are the risks?

There are a number of things to be aware of when it comes to children using Wizz.

'Teen Tinder’ 

There are clear similarities between Wizz and the dating app Tinder. Users can update their preferences to state which gender they’d like to see more of, and essentially scroll through pictures of others and decide if they’d like to begin talking.

Wizz even prompts users to ‘swipe left if you get the ick’ – something which builds on Tinder’s feature of swiping left to reject chatting to another. If many individuals are using Wizz primarily as a dating app this could mean that users are exposed to a greater number of sexually suggestive profiles, or harassing and inappropriate messages. 

Although Wizz attempts to cluster users according to their age – meaning that users over 18 can’t interact with children – their age verification process is far from perfect (more below). 

Age verification 

Wizz’s age verification process is an attempt to keep young users safe. In theory, by verifying a user’s age and grouping them with others of a similar age, children won’t receive content or contact from adult users. 

But the age verification process isn’t flawless, as it only relies on a selfie provided by the user. 

Some users may look significantly older or younger than their actual age, and there’s nothing stopping someone from asking a friend or sibling of a different age to take a selfie for them.

This could result in scenarios where underage users manage to group themselves exclusively with adults, or where an adult manages to place themselves into an underage bracket – both of which increase the chance of unwanted contact and an increased risk of things like grooming and abuse. 

In-app purchases 

Wizz offers users several types of in-app purchases. Users can buy ‘coins’ to allow them to add more friends, or can upgrade to premium subscription models which allow the user to avoid ads, go back and message someone after swiping left, or to be the #1 appearing profile for a short time. 

These features are advertised heavily within the app, and could quite easily become a pressure or incentive for users to make fairly costly purchases (the weekly cost of a premium membership is £6.49).

Location services

Wizz doesn’t publicly show a user’s exact location, but it does show which country they’re in. The app also aims to show users other profiles which are geographically close. 

This might mean that there is an increased chance of a user sharing personal information (like their address), or risks and harms associated with meeting up in-person. 

Inappropriate content 

Many users report that Wizz is heavily moderated – with allegedly ‘normal’ looking profiles and conversations resulting in accounts being suspended or permanently banned. 

Despite this, inappropriate content (like sexually suggestive captions or images) does exist on Wizz – which is maybe unsurprising, given the more adult nature of the app. 

For example, some users post captions with emojis that are widely recognised as sexual or which reference drug-taking, but which aren’t automatically removed. 

What are the safety features?

Wizz users will have to verify their age in order to access the platform. Users also report that moderation of profiles and conversations is a prominent feature of the app.

Although these features are designed to keep users safe, they aren’t perfect – and faults with the age verification process could introduce further sorts of risk. 

If a user finds something offensive on another’s profile, they’re able to make a report or block the user by tapping the three dots in the top right corner. Alternatively, users can mute or report messages which they’ve received. This is again done by tapping the three dots in the top right corner of the screen. 

In the ‘Settings’ section of the app users are able to adjust their ‘visibility’ to private – meaning new individuals won’t be able to see their profile when swiping. Beyond this there aren’t any other ways to customise safety or privacy settings

What else do I need to know?

It’s worth considering that there’s nothing to stop young people (once chatting) switching from Wizz to another platform or messaging service which might be less moderated. 

Wizz is more similar to a dating app than a social media platform. If your child wants to download Wizz, ask them a little bit more about why exactly they’re wanting to use the app in the first place. If it’s just for social media purposes, there are safer and more established options out there.

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