FantomApp is a mobile app available since 16 December 2025 on iOS and Android, and also at https://fantomapp.fr. It was developed by the CNIL (the French data protection authority) and funded by the European Union, after surveys of middle-school pupils and parents in various départements.
This app is aimed at teenagers from age 10 and provides several tools to help them grasp and understand the risks of social media and the internet. Even though I am not in the app’s target age group, I tested it for you.
First, I had to search the Play Store to find the app I was looking for, because the platform does not promote it. Moreover, I had misspelled “fantom”, thinking the word was written in English… There is indeed an app called “Phantom”, but it is a cryptocurrency wallet (a bit far from what I was looking for, in short).
Downloading the app, I noticed a clean, pleasant design and easy handling. The app opens with a tutorial presenting its purpose and how to use it. The various tools on offer are sorted by theme: Problems, Tools, Protect myself, and all link to texts that remind us of our rights, which we quickly forget on the internet.
To go into a little more detail:
- In the Problems tab, there are six categories, ranging from cyberbullying to hacking, by way of scams and the difficulty of applying the right to be forgotten. For each category, there is a definition of the problem, practical tips to carry out straight away, a quiz to pin down exactly what your situation is and suggested solutions. I find it particularly relevant that a “you are not alone” screen with a reassuring message has been systematically added. This helps, I think, to make teenagers feel less ashamed of having “been taken in”. I notice that the suggested solutions point outside the app, whether to seek redress or to report (for example 3018).
- In the Tools tab, there are two tests and a photo-blurring tool. One of the two tests lets you put the quality of your passwords to the test by scoring them according to the time needed to crack them (275 billion years for me, which doesn’t seem too bad). The second struck me as extremely relevant because it reminds us that bios (the little texts that introduce a profile on social media) are public information, and that they sometimes contain a lot of private information.
- In the Protect myself tab, the focus is on social media, and a series of tutorials teaches you to navigate the settings to protect yourself. One example that struck me as relevant, because I hadn’t done it until then, is removing permission for people outside my contacts to see my profile picture on WhatsApp. More generally, this section is detailed, sorted by social network, and explains how each action protects you, which makes for effective prevention.
To conclude this test, I would say that the app could do a great deal of good for internet and social media users, young and old. It is an interesting teaching tool for preventing risks and for understanding how these platforms work – I am thinking in particular of the trade in personal information, which makes up the internet economy and is little known to its users. The name can, however, be misleading, because one might think at first glance that the app is a kind of widget that sits on top of your social networks and warns you of risks, which is not the case. I think it is an important tool but that it does not replace the user’s own action. Thus, the app teaches me but does not act for me to spare me the dangers. It is an entry point for teenagers discovering social media, but also for parents, who do not always have the right reflexes for themselves either.
N.L.
