Anonymous teen app keeps parents out

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - A popular app is giving high schoolers a place to share their secrets anonymously without their parents ever knowing about it.

The app, called "After School," has measures in place to keep parents out.

After downloading the app, a student must first choose the high school where they attend. At that point, the app asks for permission to access their Facebook page to verify that they actually go to that school.

FOX 5's Lena Burns downloaded the app and tried to access it. When the app could not verify that she was a student, she had to delete and re-install the app to try again.

We also tried to access an area for teenagers 17 and older, which asks users to scan identification for age verification purposes.

The app's creators told The Washington Post that the app provides teenagers a place to talk about difficult issues anonymously, an alternative to Facebook and Instagram.

They would not say how many students are using the app, but indicated it was somewhere between 2 and 10 million users.

When a troubling message is posted, the creators said the app has a safeguard in place to ask the teenager if they want a counselor. They said there is also a zero tolerance policy when it comes to cyber-bullying.

FOX 5 conducted a Twitter poll earlier Wednesday, and people were split on whether the app is a good idea or a bad idea.

See the updated results from our poll below: