Cheap shopping apps popular with tweens and teens. The concerns are less about content and more about dark-pattern spending, data collection, and unsafe or counterfeit products.
Temu & Shein is very cheap shopping apps hugely popular with tweens and teenagers, built around a gamified, dark-pattern interface that encourages impulse spending.
Official age
13+
We recommend
16+
Developer
Various (PDD Holdings, Roadget Business)
Risks
3
Temu and Shein are very cheap online-shopping apps that are hugely popular with tweens and teenagers. The issues are different from social apps: the gamified interface is full of dark patterns designed to keep you spinning wheels and buying, the apps collect a lot of data, and consumer bodies including Which? have raised concerns about product safety and counterfeits. There is little content moderation risk, but plenty of spending and data risk.
Children browse for cheap clothes, gadgets, and trends they have seen on TikTok. The apps use countdown timers, spin-to-win games, and 'almost gone' prompts to encourage impulse buys, and push frequent notifications. Some children spend more than intended, share personal and payment data, or buy items that do not meet UK safety standards.
Payment and spending controls
Location: Device family settings and the app account
Set to: Do not store card details; require approval for purchases
The apps are engineered to make spending frictionless and frequent. Not saving a card and requiring approval breaks the impulse-buy loop.
Notifications and permissions
Location: Phone settings → the app → notifications and permissions
Set to: Turn off notifications; deny unnecessary permissions
Constant notifications drive re-engagement and spending. Limiting notifications and app permissions reduces both the nudges and the data the app can collect.
Check whether Temu or Shein is installed and whether a card is saved to the account
Time: 10 minutes
Talk about dark patterns — the timers, spin-wheels, and 'selling out' prompts are designed to make them buy, not to help them
Time: 15 minutes
Turn off the app's notifications and review what data and permissions it has
Time: 10 minutes
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.
Myth: The worst that can happen with a cheap item from Temu or Shein is that it's poor quality or doesn't fit.
Fact: Independent testing by consumer bodies including Which? and European consumer groups has repeatedly found children's toys, USB chargers and other items sold on Temu and Shein failing basic UK and EU safety standards, with problems ranging from choking hazards to fire risk, not just poor quality. Even an item that passes an electrical safety test can be missing the safety markings required to sell it legally in the UK, so appearance alone isn't a reliable check.
Myth: My child is too young to use these apps, so none of this applies yet.
Fact: There is little robust age checking, and younger children often end up browsing wishlists on a parent's or older sibling's phone, or land in the app via a link shared on TikTok, well before any account of their own exists. The gamified prompts and data collection start as soon as the app is opened, not only once a purchase is made.
Myth: As long as I don't give my child my card details, they can't really spend money or share much.
Fact: Both apps have drawn scrutiny, including from cybersecurity researchers and in separate lawsuits abroad, over collecting more personal data than a shopping transaction needs and over how that data may be shared with third parties. Simply browsing and creating an account, with no card attached, still feeds a profile the app uses to personalise discounts and nudge future spending.
Both apps set their own minimum age at 13, so this isn't yet an app for their own account. If they're keen on a trend they've seen, browse it together on your device rather than starting an account in their name, and don't save a card.
Still at or below the apps' own minimum age, so any access should stay parent-involved: no saved card, purchases needing your approval, and a short conversation about why the countdown timers and spin-wheels are there — to make them buy, not to help them.
Independent use can work with spending controls kept in place — no saved card, an agreed limit, purchase approval — plus a habit of checking for UK safety markings on electricals and being sceptical of reviews that feel too good to be true.
They can largely manage the spending side themselves, but it's worth one more conversation about consumer rights if something faulty or unsafe arrives, and about the years-long data trail these apps build from ordinary browsing.
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