Parents are being warned there are now more than 200 types of ?ghost apps? available for download to help kids hide photos and their activities ?online.
The deception apps appear like innocuous or common icons, such as a calculator, but can be used to store photos, games or even other apps.
And an increasing number have functions such as hidden web browsers or the ability to take secret pictures.
?They?re deliberately designed with camouflage in mind to make it really hard to find,? Family Zone co-founder Tim Levy said.
?There is a whole raft of ?alternative apps that hide ?internet usage, that avoid school filtering systems, that access the dark web (an encrypted area of the internet often used for sinister or illegal purposes).?
Research by Perth-based company Family Zone, which has developed a product that allows parents to monitor and control their children?s internet use, found more than 200 types of deception apps and more than 60 types of vault apps were being used in ?Australia.
?Increasingly these apps are including other functions such as hidden web browsers and the ability to take secret pictures,? Mr Levy said.
?They have been downloaded 500,000 times in Australia in the past six months and it?s safe to say most of these would be by kids.?
Apps such as Stealth Cam and Top Secret Camera are among those that can take secret pictures by blanking the screen, activating the camera by motion sensor or muting the shutter sound.
Other common ?vault apps? are opened by pass codes or have security features such as taking photos of anyone trying to access them with the wrong code.
Some students used them as a second layer of security in case anyone hacked their phone at school and tried to use content for cyber-bullying, Mr Litherland said.
?If a parent?s panicking because their child might have a photo vault on their device, that doesn?t necessarily mean that?s where they?re hiding their nudes; it might just mean they don?t want anyone grabbing their phone and looking through their photos.
The Office of the Children?s eSafety Commissioner recommends parents be proactive by setting up parental controls.
Bronnen: Herald Sun?, IT Wire