Red flags raised for "friendship" app on smartphones

On Yellow, an app for your smartphone, users can be anyone they want.

Experts said that is a big red flag for users and it's far from the only one.

Yellow is similar to the well-known dating app, Tinder, with a swipe-right, swipe-left format for liking or not liking someone.

Some are even calling it the Tinder for teens.

The difference is that Yellow is advertised in the app store for ages 12 and up, and it claims it's a free and easy way to make new friends and chat with them.

"My biggest fear would be predators, because you have young children who are so innocent," parent Donielle Spears said.

The app already has big warnings overseas in places like England for the app’s sexual content and strangers' ability to send and receive photos.

In Charlotte, more people are finding out about it, including Hannah Arrowood, who volunteers for Present Age Ministries.

Each year, she helps more and more girls at risk for human trafficking.

"Of girls we've served over the last three years, majority of them met their perpetrator online and so the risk is real," Arrowood said.

It's not the first time the risk has been in the form of something like Yellow, but Arrowood pointed out why teens would be particularly drawn to it.

"You know, it's how many retweets, how many likes, how many followers. And so, these apps that pop is just another way for them to feel like they belong," she said.

Once the conversation starts with a stranger, Arrowood said that's when teens are in danger.

"So now when they want to meet or when they want me to do things, well I know them; so it's not really that big of a deal," she said.

Whether Yellow catches on remains to be seen, but either way, it won't stop with one app.

"And that's what we're seeing happening, as soon as one starts to get, we're starting track and see that it's being used; five more pop up," she said.

Cox Media Group