Do you have young children and a smartphone? Have your children ever downloaded apps for your phone? Do you even know if they have or haven't? If so, you're not alone.

New research from Nielsen indicates that one-third of apps on parents' phones were put there by their kids, sometimes children as young as nine years old. While we all like to think our phones our private, the research also shows that of all smartphone users who download apps, 13 percent admit that their spouses or significant others have put apps on their phones. Six percent of app downloaders said their friends have downloaded apps on their phones. (Who are all these people passing around their phones for others to fiddle with?)

This, of course, presents an extra security risk. UK-based budget phone calling company Firstnumber is cautioning parents to take extreme care when it comes to letting their kids use their phones and download apps.

“This is of particular importance when full access to the internet and applications can be accessed at the click of a button,” said the company.

The trick, says Firstnumber, is making sure you have the correct security settings in place. These types of settings are available on most phones.

“If parents can lay the right foundations and ensure that the appropriate parental security settings have been put in place prior to their child's usage of a smartphone, this gives some guarantee towards the safe experience of the device by youngsters,” commented a Firstnumber spokesperson. “Secondly, by making sure that any app account login details are kept out of the control of children, this will enable full control for parents over spending levels and the kind of apps which are being downloaded.”

Firstnumber.co.uk is an online phone directory offering direct dial access codes that reduce the cost of making international calls from a UK land line.

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