Monkey App Safety Guide for Parents
Monkey is a random video-chat app that pairs children with strangers. Why it is high-risk and unsuitable for under-18s, and what to do if your child is using it.
Monkey is a random video-chat app that pairs users with strangers for short video calls, widely seen as a successor to Omegle and rated 17 or 18 plus.
Official age
18+
We recommend
18+
Developer
HOLLA Group
Risks
5
Overview
Monkey is a random video-chat service that pairs users with strangers for short video calls, which either person can extend if they want to keep talking. It is widely seen as a successor to Omegle and is marketed in a way that appeals to teenagers, despite terms and app-store age ratings that place it at 17 or 18 plus. There is no reliable age verification, no way to control who your child is paired with, and the format — instant live video with a stranger — carries some of the highest grooming and exposure risks of any mainstream app. It is not suitable for anyone under 18, and we do not recommend it for children at all.
How children use it
Children mostly discover Monkey through TikTok and YouTube clips of funny or shocking pairings, and through dares and boredom — often trying it in a group at a sleepover, where it feels like a game. The appeal is the slot-machine loop: tap, meet a stranger, skip, repeat. Because Monkey can be reached through a web browser as well as an app, deleting an app from the phone does not by itself remove access.
Main risks
Recommended privacy settings
No effective safety controls
Location: N/A
Set to: Do not allow use
Monkey has no parental controls and no way to restrict who your child is paired with. Whatever moderation the service claims, the core design — instant live video with an unvetted stranger — cannot be made safe with settings.
Report and block
Location: In the app, from the chat screen or the other user's profile
Set to: Report, then block, any concerning user
Reporting and blocking exist, but they act after the exposure has already happened, and a blocked user can simply create a new account. Useful for evidence and worth doing — not a protection.
Device-level blocking
Location: In your child's device parental controls (for example Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link) and your home router
Set to: Block the app and the Monkey website
Because Monkey carries an adult age rating in the app stores, content restrictions set to your child's real age should prevent the app installing. Block the website too — the service is reachable through a browser — and add it to your router's blocked list.
Camera and microphone permissions
Location: In the device's settings, under app permissions
Set to: Denied (and the app removed)
If you find Monkey installed, revoking camera and microphone access disables it immediately while you have the conversation — the app is nothing without live video.
Parent actions
Check whether Monkey is installed on your child's devices, and look for it in browser history — the service works on the web as well as through the app
Time: 5 minutes
Remove the app and block it, and the Monkey website, at device level and on your home router
Time: 10 minutes
Talk about why random video chat is dangerous — instant exposure to adult content, grooming, and the fact that anything on camera can be recorded and used for blackmail — rather than just banning it without explanation
Time: 15 minutes
Watch for the copycats: Omegle-style sites and apps reappear under new names, so an interest in one usually means others are a search away
Time: Ongoing
If something has already happened on camera, stay calm and don't punish the disclosure — save evidence, report to CEOP, and reassure your child that they are not in trouble for telling you
Time: As needed
Related app guides
If you need to report this
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
Myths & facts
Myth: It's just harmless fun — the clips on TikTok look hilarious.
Fact: The clips are hand-picked highlights. A typical session pairs users with adults behaving in ways no one clips for laughs, and exposure happens live, before anyone can skip. Everything on camera can also be screen-recorded by the stranger without your child knowing.
Myth: The short time limit on each chat keeps things safe.
Fact: A few seconds is more than enough for indecent exposure, and both users can choose to extend the call — which is exactly the mechanic a groomer uses, being charming enough to earn the extension and then moving the conversation to Snapchat or Instagram where contact continues in private.
Myth: My child would just skip anyone dodgy.
Fact: Skipping happens after seeing, not before — the harm in a flashing incident is already done. And the dangerous users are rarely the obvious ones: groomers present as friendly, relatable near-peers. Confidence in their own judgement is precisely what the format exploits.
Age by age
- 8-10
There is no version of random video chat that is acceptable at this age. The realistic exposure route is a clip on YouTube or an older sibling's phone at a sleepover. Keep devices in shared spaces, use age-appropriate content restrictions, and plant the early rule: cameras are for people we know in real life.
- 11-13
This is when TikTok clips and playground dares create curiosity. Block the app and the website at device and router level, but do the explaining too — a ban without a reason becomes a challenge at this age. The key idea to land: on live video, you can't un-see something or take back what a stranger has recorded.
- 14-16
The most likely age to actually try it, often in a group where it feels safer than it is. Be honest and specific about the real risks: indecent exposure, groomers who present as friendly teenagers, and screen recording that turns a moment of showing off into blackmail material. Make one promise clearly — if something goes wrong on camera, they can tell you and the first response will be help, not punishment.
- 17-plus
Monkey's own terms are 18-plus, and at 17 the law is still fully on their side — an indecent image of anyone under 18 is illegal, full stop. Even past 18, the sextortion pattern is worth spelling out: a flirtatious stranger, a request to get explicit, then a recording and a demand for money. If they want to meet new people online, communities built around shared interests are a far safer shape than a random camera lottery.
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