Skout Review
If you like to meet new people and be social, you probably know about Skout. It is a mobile app which is dedicated to introducing you to new people, whether in the same region or countries apart, to become friends and more. It has been bringing people together since 2007 and had more than 97,000 fans on Facebook. Over the course, it has developed into one of the largest global networks for meeting people with the large user base.
Skout is a matchmaking, friend finder, sexting, and ensures its users that they will find people according to their personality. Both teens and adults can use this site, although they are kept separate. It is the first generalised location-based dating site and sexting app. You can find people near your place and hook-up. It has millions of users all over the world and is also very easy to use.
Site Background
Skout presents itself as a community building site. It provides a platform to make and meet friends and stresses this fact even more so than being a dating site. Their goal is to unite people. This can be extremely helpful for those who are new in town or are going abroad, giving them the peace of mind that they are not alone and can meet new friends. When signing-up it will ask for your region location and will keep tracing it. This is to show you the results of the people near you. Don't fret; your exact location will be kept hidden.
Features
There are two separate communities within Skout, one for the younger generation ageing from 13-17 and the other for the 18+. This to ensure safety and so that people don't deviate from the app's main goal. As your become 18 your account is automatically shifted to the adult part. One downside is that you can no longer communicate with your friends who are still in the teens.
The app is easy to use, colorful and gives a sense of legitimacy. It has some very interesting features to keeps its users entertained, like for example the shake feature. You shake your phone for the app to randomly match you with someone to chat with. Or the Meet, which tells you with pics, about people near you, who would like to meet up. If you dislike the app, you can easily delete your account and be over it.
Pros
- Boasts a sense of living in a community.
- Is user-friendly and well, structured.
- Improves security somewhat by requiring the users to sign-in through Facebook.
- Is safe to use. It has separate communities for teens and adults and has decent security.
- Is on Android, iOS and has a site for pc.
- Is available in over 100 languages.
Cons
- You receive a ridiculous amount of messages from nearby users which can make the experience somewhat overwhelming.
- Become boring after some time.
- The age requirement for teens (13 years) is too low and can raise security concerns.
Security
Skout tries to take its security and safety of its users very seriously. In 2012 it was suspended for lack of security protocols. The teen could converse with elder group and vice versa. The issue and two separate communities were made. Skout confirms that there are no further problems and that it closely monitors its app.
All though there are separate groups for teens and adults, there is no verification that the users are indeed of that age. People can easily have email ids and Facebook accounts of a different age than their reality. The app also has no method to verify the age you put in when you sign-up. With the site having a meet-up feature, you will need to be extra cautious.