NORTH CAROLINA, USA — There's concern about a new app that's recently become popular.
It's called Saturn and it's meant to help students with their schedules, but some parents worry it could let outsiders know where kids are at all times of the day.
Many parents say they first found out about the Saturn app on social media, where many users were putting out warnings about it.
Before recent changes were made, Triad school systems that posted warnings said all you needed was a phone number, school email, or Snapchat username to see students' schedules, which basically means anyone could join.
A spokesperson for the company, says updates were announced Monday. Saturn's website says they're "most important job, is keeping students safe." So, they're making some changes, within the week, they have updated the app twice.
WFMY News 2's Hannah Jeffries made an account to see how it works.
I set up my account Monday morning. The first thing it asked was for my birthday. I put in a date consistent with that of a high schooler and got in, it then allowed me to pick a high school. I picked Page high school in Greensboro because it had more users compared to the other schools listed.
This is where the upgraded safety feature comes in; the app asks to 'allow contact verification.' Saturn's website says this verification will flag any suspicious phone numbers and not allow them to see verified users' information, it then asked me for a school email verification. Since I don't have a school email, I used my personal G-mail account. After that, a pop-up message came up that said, 'That's not your school's email.'
Users who aren't' verified can't do much, it won't let you chat with others, see the school's calendar, or see a friend's schedule.
Even with the changes though, some parents don't see the point in it.
"If it's monitored correctly, then great, but I definitely wouldn't just entrust any of them freely especially if you're putting your private information on there. I mean just to know where that child is at all hours of the day it's kind of a little creepy to me," said Davidson County parent, Genevieve Traversy.
According to their website, Saturn updated their app again Thursday. They say they are adding even more privacy features that will flag accounts and remove any suspected non-students.