Level 1 (4 points)

Need help identifying the program that’s teaching children to be very SNEAKY & INSECURE about their activities…

How to find out what programs that are on my child’s iPhone using other apps as the decoy to send emails w/ hidden messages, iMessages, RCS messages, FaceTime calls, as well as browser links w/ pics/ videos from social media networks when I try to retrieve them I get a 404 error message..

Posted on Oct 19, 2026 6:24 AM

2 replies

Phil0124

Level 10 (242,520 points)

Oct 19, 2026 7:47 AM in response to Hott_Gigi_B-42

Hott_Gigi_B-42 wrote:

How to find out what programs that are on my child’s iPhone using other apps as the decoy

Sorry, but this is not possible. Tha sandboxed nature of iOS, prevents one app from doing precisely this. Apps cannot exit their own and boxed and delimited area of execution and cannot commandeer other apps to do things on their behalf. It's simply not how iOS works.

Why do you believe this is even happening?

It's more likely your children are being sneaky on their own, andn not caused by an App. But you are free to delewte every app from their Phone if you want.

Alancito

Level 7 (31,566 points)

Oct 19, 2026 9:52 AM in response to Hott_Gigi_B-42

Hott_Gigi_B-42 ~ One possibility is that your child is using Apple's Shortcuts app to indirectly run other apps / functions. Plus, a further level of disguise could be to run those shortcuts via a URL:

Intro to URL schemes in Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Run a shortcut using a URL scheme on iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

õ¿õ¬

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256378951