The Apex Legends Online Safety Guide for Parents

By Jen D., May 16, 2019

If your children were talking about Fortnite every other sentence and suddenly switched to discussing Apex Legends, you’re not alone. While it might have taken you a while to get used to the edgy battle royale game of Fortnite, here is everything you need to know about team-based battle royale/sci-fi infused Apex Legends!

Learn safety tips, and things parents need to know. Who knows, before long you might thrill your kids by joining in the fun!

What is Apex Legends?

Launched in February 2019, Apex Legend’s success isn’t surprising. It is free to play and a team-based shooter game created by the same people who made the Titanfall series. Within one week after its release, it had a surprising number of players – 25 million, far more than Fortnite within the same period.

While vaguely similar in style of Fortnight, PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds), and more, Apex Legends has exceptionally speedy in-game communication via a ping system. You can also give “Legend” abilities to each character, to help them perform in unique ways.

As Apex Legends takes social media by storm, many well-known gamers are streaming live on Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms as they play the game. Just wait, soon your tween or teen will be asking you to play it very soon!

6 Things Parents Need to Know About Apex Legends

The gore-level is equivalent to games like Halo and Call of Duty.
The appearance is grittier than Fortnite, which was more like a cartoon style of animation.
Common Sense Media doesn’t recommend Apex Legends for kids under age 14. Parents say age 10+, and children rate the game for age 11+. With proper guidance, many parents are allowing their children who are younger to play, as long as they control chat settings.
If your child doesn’t like the building aspects of Fortnite, they may be more interested in Apex Legends. Apex Legends is a first-person shooter game.
Without chat settings in place, since it is a team based game when players enter their team play, they can chat with their team via mics. Review chat settings before your child play and disable mics if needed.
Consider playing the game with your child first, to see if you think it is appropriate for them. It is not gory, and many parents feel it encourages team spirit.

Safety Tips for Parents

Pay close attention to potential changes in your child’s behavior. Does the game seem to have impacted your child negatively?
Ask them regularly whom they are talking to in the game, given that you do allow chat.
Instruct your children that they should only play with people they know in real life, friends they trust from school, sports, or church, etc.
Teach your child safety tips. NEVER give out personal information like full name, school, the city you live in, address, or hangouts.
Beware of them watching YouTube videos or live streams from the game. Many streamers are older and may use profanity or violent language.
If your child uses search engines, searching for information about the game may open them up sites which contain malware. Warn them of this risk and to avoid internet downloads.

Concerned about your child’s private information is online or want to know whom they are speaking within their Apex Legends play?

Search Social Catfish and scout out anyone your child is talking to in online games. You can also make sure no one can see your child’s information and remove private details. Search by name, username, phone number, image, and email address: