It turns your phone into a walkie-talkie: what is Ten Ten, this application that's a hit among young people ?

The French application Ten Ten is the first application in the “social networks” category on Google Play Store. Courtesy of tentnapp

This is the app of the moment. Called Ten Ten, this application is at the top of downloads on the Google Play Store. His interest ? Transforming your smartphone into a walkie-talkie. If the idea may appeal, the application is starting to worry. We explain why.

Ten Ten is a free app available on the Google Play Store where it is the number one downloader. With over a million downloads since its launch last April, this new app is surpassing social media leaders like WhatsApp and TikTok.

How it works ?

Created by a French company, it offers to transform your smartphone into a walkie-talkie, using the internet connection to send and receive live voice messages.

To use Ten Ten, simply download the app and create an account. You can then add contacts to your friends list, using their phone number or email address. Once your friends have also downloaded the app and created an account, you can start communicating with them.

Already the controversy ?

Faced with the dazzling success of this new application, a concern has emerged: the use of data. On its site, Ten Ten indicates that conversations are ephemeral and that they are neither listened to nor stored. "We will never sell your data!!", we can read on the dedicated "Privacy" page.

However, the application still indicates that it collects certain information such as the IP address, the browser and the device used, as well as any data that the user has entered in ;#39;registering such as name, telephone number, contacts… "We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the App. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and browser characteristics. device, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our application and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our application, and for internal analysis and reporting purposes".

A game in class

On TikTok, the "hype" takes on the air of prevention. Several creators have highlighted the dangerous side of the application given that the user can receive voice messages at any time, in the middle of the night, during classes or at the museum, all even if the phone is locked.

To date, the hashtag #tenten has more than 304,000 videos, some of which strongly warn about the application's flaws.

For Nathan, 17 years old, and a user for almost two weeks, these problems aren't really problems: "I've never had a problem; having trouble with that, I put my phone on silent". And this, even if the young student uses it "very often, especially during the night or in class".< /p>

This does not prevent young people from using the application during class without using the "do not disturb" smartphones, thus preventing all notifications, all without being noticed by teachers. Worse still, the latter even play a real little game between themselves to have fun embarrassing each other in the middle of class. And it doesn't matter if they are heard. "The goal is just to create awkward moments, we're not talking about the real subject", Nathan tells us. As for the teachers, "they can't really know who it is, they just hear the sound". "Don't forget to put your phone in 'do not disturb' mode at times when there are a lot of people, like that, there are no no more play,” explains the high school student.

And for the use of data, Nathan, like many users, thinks about it without paying much attention: "We have habit".