Questions students ask

Yes. You can use Get Off The Map for free, and the adult materials are free too. You don't need an account or a login to open the pages or use the self-check.

Get Off The Map doesn't save, track, or send your answers anywhere. You don't need an account, and it doesn't use cookies or analytics. Your self-check results stay in your browser tab. They disappear when you close the tab. Nothing is kept after that tab is closed.

Use the Español link on every main page to open the Spanish version. It was made by artificial intelligence. It isn't a professional human translation. If the versions differ, the English version controls.

Get Off The Map is an In Charge privacy tool. In Charge built it with Change the Conversation, a Maryland nonprofit that works to prevent child sexual abuse and support healing. You can use it to control who can find you through your phone, apps, and posts.

You don't need a login to use Get Off The Map. It doesn't use accounts or store things about you. The self-check runs in your browser tab and disappears when you close the tab. That lets you use the guide without signing in or creating an account.

Android can give an app your precise location or an approximate one. Approximate location gives the app a rough area, not your exact spot. You choose this in that app's location-permission screen. That means you can pick a less exact setting for each app that asks.

Go to Settings, Location, and App location permissions. Check the apps under Allowed all the time first. For each one, choose Allow only while using the app, Ask every time, or Don't allow if that works for the app. This limits apps that can use your location in the background.

Open Settings, Location, then App location permissions. Pick an app. Choose Allow all the time, Allow only while using the app, Ask every time, or Don't allow. You can also long-press an app icon and open App info, Permissions, then Location. Both paths let you change that app's location access.

On a Pixel, open Camera, then Settings, then More settings, and turn off Save location. On a Galaxy, open Camera, then Settings, then General, and turn off Location tags. On other Android phones, you can turn off the Camera app's location permission instead. This only changes new photos you take, and it stops them from saving where you were.

In the Google app, open your profile icon, Manage Your Google Account, Data & Privacy, then Timeline. You can turn Timeline off. You can set auto-delete to three months. Timeline isn't public by default. But a person with access to your phone or account may see it.

Xbox under-18 accounts use a Microsoft Family Group. It has controls for chat, profiles, and online status. PlayStation has privacy presets in Family Management or the PlayStation app. Voice chat can lead to risky talks. Be aware if someone asks you to move the chat to another app.

On desktop, open the cogwheel, Content & Social, then turn off Direct messages under Social permissions. Choose to apply it to servers you're already in. On mobile, use profile, cogwheel, Settings, and Content & Social. This stops DMs from people in a server. It works for the servers you choose.

In Discord's Content & Social settings, open Friend Requests. Uncheck Everyone, Friends of Friends, and Server Members to stop all incoming requests. Labels can look a little different on some devices. These options control who can send you a new request.

In Instagram, open the menu, Settings and activity, then Messages and story replies. Turn off Show Activity Status. This stops the app from showing that you're active. The same area has message-request controls. You can use those controls to change who can send you message requests.

Open your profile, tap the menu, choose Settings and activity, then Account privacy, and turn on Private account. A private account still usually shows your profile photo, username, and bio. People who search for you can see those parts. Review them too, since they may still be visible.

Open the post and tap the three dots. Choose Edit, tap the location name, choose Remove Location, and save. For a larger review, use Settings and activity, Your Activity, and Posts. Check old posts as well as new ones. A location tag can stay on an older post until you remove it.

Almost nothing needs Always location access. Review each app in Settings, Privacy & Security, and Location Services. Choose the access level that fits how you use it. Turning location off can affect Find My, maps, weather, and family sharing. Check each app. Don't change all of them at once.

On your iPhone, open Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, System Services, then Significant Locations. There, choose Clear History to remove stored history. That history can show patterns in the places you visit. It can show where you live, study, or work. It may show places you go a lot. This setting can keep a record of those places. Clear History removes that data from this part of your iPhone settings.

Open Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services. Choose an app. Select Never, Ask Next Time Or When I Share, While Using the App, or Always. The Location Services list shows all apps with location access. Use the list to check one app at a time.

Open Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, then Camera, and choose Never. This changes new photos. Old photos may still have location metadata. Remove it before you share when you need to. The change won't remove metadata from old photos. It affects photos you take after the change. Those old photos can still keep the data.

Precise Location lets an app see your exact spot. If you turn it off for an app, the app gets a general area instead. You can change this for each app in Location Services. This gives you a separate choice for each app that uses your location.

Original photo files can keep metadata. This can happen by text, email, AirDrop, Discord, or a cloud link. Large social platforms usually remove it from a downloaded copy. The original file doesn't change. The file you send can still keep this data. Turn off camera location. Remove location from photos you already took when you need to share them.

A post or Story made while you're still somewhere can show where you are at that time. Post after you leave instead. Check backgrounds too. Look for street signs, house numbers, storefronts, bus numbers, and license plates. Those details can show more about your location than you meant to share.

On iPhone, open the photo in Photos, tap the three dots, choose Adjust Location, then No Location. On Android, open the photo in Google Photos. Open its details. Remove the location if your app has that option. A screenshot of a photo has no GPS data.

In Roblox Settings, open Privacy & content restrictions. Under Visibility & private servers, set Online Status to No one. Set Show current experience to No one. Turn off activity updates. There are controls for experience chat, direct chat, voice chat, and party chat. Check each one for the setting you want.

A greyed-out setting can mean your device is managed by your school or another adult. There isn't a way around a locked Chromebook setting. Ask the school IT person about it. Keep personal accounts off school devices, because your school may see activity there.

Open Snap Map, tap the gear, turn on Ghost Mode, and choose a duration. Choose Until Turned Off as the duration. Snap Map is off until you turn it on and is visible only to mutual friends, not publicly. Ghost Mode keeps your location from showing on the map.

Open your Snapchat profile and tap the gear. Go to App & Privacy, then Contact Me, and choose Friends. The other option includes people in your phone contacts. You can also choose who can view your Story. These controls help limit who can message you and see your Story.

Open Profile, the menu, Settings and privacy, Privacy, then turn on Private account. Accounts for ages 13 to 15 are private by default. You can turn off suggestions based on contacts or Facebook friends. The same setting covers people who opened your links. Turn those suggestions off if you don't want them.

Open WhatsApp Settings, Privacy, then Last seen and online. Choose Nobody or My contacts. In the same privacy area, you can review live location sharing. These settings control who can see when you were last active and whether you're online now.

To stop one chat, open it and choose Stop Sharing. To stop every live-location share, open Settings, Privacy, Live location, then Stop Sharing. When you start a new share, WhatsApp offers 15 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours. Check the chat if you want to end just one share.

Anyone online can claim to be anyone. Some people use more than one fake account. They may claim a different age or gender. A username, game team, or shared server doesn't prove who a person is offline. Those details alone can't confirm who you're talking to.

Click your avatar and choose Invisible to look offline. You can still message people while that setting is on. Open Activity Privacy to turn off sharing what you're playing. This hides some of your activity from other people when you're online. You can keep using Discord while Invisible is on.

Use the app's own recovery page if your account was hacked. FBI IC3 takes reports of online extortion, scams, and account takeovers. You can also use the FTC's ReportFraud site to make a report. Contact local law enforcement if money was taken. Do the same if someone used your identity.

Moving a chat from a public app to private or disappearing messages can be a planned step in harmful situations. Requests to keep the chat secret are a red flag too. You can limit DMs and friend requests to friends on the apps you use. That can reduce who can contact you.

From a person's profile, use the three dots and choose Block User. In a game, use the player list or menu to find that person and block them. To report, use the in-game menu and shield icon. Choose Experience or Person, complete the options, and submit the report.

Snap Map isn't public and stays off until you turn it on. It is visible to mutual friends. Use Ghost Mode or make the audience smaller in Map Settings. These choices let you control which mutual friends can see you when Snap Map is turned on.

TikTok direct messages are off for ages 13 to 15. You can't turn them on. For ages 16 to 17, open the Direct Message settings and set Others on TikTok to Don't receive. Check your account's current privacy settings directly. That setting controls who can send you direct messages.

Change the password for your email first. Then turn on two-step verification and sign out of other devices. Tell your friends the account may message them. Use the app's own recovery page. Don't search for a support phone number, since a search result may not be the real support line.

Your school, team, jersey number, schedule, and public posts can be put together. They can show where you'll be and when. Your location history can show places you go a lot. Remove details in bios and posts that name your school, team, town, or daily routine.

For grooming or an adult who wants to meet you, use NCMEC's CyberTipline, Childhelp, RAINN, the FBI, or another reporting option. Call 911 first if danger is immediate. If it isn't, contact local law enforcement and NCMEC's CyberTipline. Keep the messages, and don't meet the person.

Call 911 if danger is immediate; if it isn't, contact local law enforcement. Report online child exploitation to NCMEC's CyberTipline too. You can also use 988 and other crisis help when you need it. That help doesn't replace emergency services when someone may be hurt right now. Call 911 first in that case.

Don't pay or send another photo, since payment doesn't make the person stop. Sending more shows the pressure is working, so keep the messages instead of deleting them. For an active threat, call 911 if danger is immediate. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Keep the messages for your report.

Doxxing is when someone finds real details, like your address, school, phone number, or parents' names, and posts them. Save screenshots of the post and account. Then report it in the app. Call 911 for immediate danger. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline.

Take a screenshot of where it was posted, including the account. Report it in the app. Call 911 if danger is immediate. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Keep the post and account details so you can include them in your report.

Screenshot the content before you block the account. Then report the account in the app. Tell an adult at school if the people involved go to your school. If anyone threatens to hurt you, contact law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Keep the messages instead of deleting them.

Timers, deadlines, and lots of messages in a row can pressure you to act. They may keep you from getting a second opinion. Stop replying, but keep the conversation instead of deleting it. For an active threat, call 911 if danger is immediate; otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Keep the chat so you can make a report.

Some people pose as a modeling agency, talent scout, or brand deal to make a photo request look like a job. Pause if someone asks for photos or a secret chat. Get an adult's view. If someone is pressuring you now, contact law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline.

“I'll send one if you send one” is a common opener. The first image may not be from the person behind the account. Don't send an image or make a deal. If there is a current threat or disclosure, call 911 for immediate danger. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline.

Before you block someone, save screenshots of the messages and account profile. Keep the conversation instead of deleting it, so you have it for the report. If someone may be in danger, call 911 if danger is immediate. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Save what you can before you make the report. Then use those saved items in your report.

No specific monitoring app is named or removed. A person with access to your phone or account may see location history. Review your live-location lists to see who can see it. If you think someone is tracking you now, call 911 if you are in danger. If that danger isn't immediate, contact local law enforcement. Make a report to NCMEC's CyberTipline too.

Use Take It Down for an image taken when you were under 18. Use StopNCII.org when you were 18 or older in the image. If someone is threatening to share an image, contact law enforcement and NCMEC's CyberTipline too. The right tool depends on your age in the image.

Take It Down is a free, anonymous NCMEC tool. Use it if a nude photo or video taken when you were under 18 is online. Your device makes a code from the image. Only that code is shared with apps, not the image. For an active threat, contact law enforcement and NCMEC's CyberTipline too.

Online grooming is when someone builds trust with you to ask for photos or a meeting later. Signs can include moving chats or being asked to keep a chat secret. They can also include gifts or game codes, fast closeness, and pressure. If an adult is trying to meet you or danger is current, call 911. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline.

Sextortion is when someone threatens to release an image unless you pay. If it is happening now, don't pay, send more, or delete the messages. Call 911 first if danger is immediate. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement and report to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Keep the messages as proof for your report later.

Call 911 right away when someone is in immediate danger. For a threat, stalking, or a fake emergency call to a home, contact local police. Use a non-emergency route when it isn't happening now. Also report online child exploitation to NCMEC's CyberTipline. Make that report as well as the police report.

For sextortion, report the account in the app before you block it. A report gives the app more details than a block does. Save the messages and profile before you send the report, then block the account. For a current exploitation report, contact law enforcement and NCMEC's CyberTipline.

You can use NCMEC's CyberTipline to report online enticement, sextortion, or child sexual abuse material. File the report at report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678. Call 911 first when danger is immediate. If it isn't, contact local law enforcement as well. Then make your CyberTipline report with all the facts you have.

Start by naming the setting and why it matters to you. Try this: “Could we change [setting] to [new setting]? It matters to me because [reason].” Keep any sharing your parent uses, and show the setting instead of changing a parent's sharing on your own. If someone you don't know is messaging you, lead with that and ask for help.