The Saturn app is a school app designed to show other students in your classes, allows users to post upcoming events, and sends notifications based on where students need to be according to your schedule. Although these may be considered as benefits, some students and parents at Marjory Stoneman Douglas are starting to question the vulnerability of their digital information while using Saturn because of various privacy issues such as schedules being accessible to anyone.

Over 1,200 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have signed up and use the app ‘Saturn.’ However, many students, teachers and parents are concerned that Saturn has access to a multitude of information depending how much the user provides, once you register it’s easy for anyone to view social media links (if added), classes, teacher names, student names and can privately DM other students.

Due to the lack of identification of the Saturn app, some fear the app could easily lead to being a target of predation and inappropriate content. Students’ profiles are freely open to anyone who joins a school community. Someone with malicious intent can choose to harm or harass a student by simply clicking a profile and starting to message while also being able to access extremely personal information only meant for fellow students like full class schedules and social media platforms.

Freshman Rebbeca Rinderknect was an avid user of Saturn. She soon deactivated her account shortly after looking more into the dangers such as a non-student signing up for saturn and accessing her schedule.

“I liked it because I could find my friends,” freshman Rebbeca Rinderknect said. “But I deleted it after seeing all the weird issues it has.”

Perceived as one of the most harmful aspects of Saturn, people who sign up do not have to identify themselves. All you need to do is put in your supposed age, name, and school to have a way into the majority of students’ school life. Little to no verification is needed and anyone at any age could join without any trouble.

Saturn is making changes in policies, in an app update in August. According to Saturn’s official site, “Saturn that strengthened our student verification process. These changes are designed to prevent any unverified users from viewing students’ profiles…”

Although this is a good start, this doesn’t rule out possible danger. Even with verification, an email to validate is not used, causing lack of confirmation. In addition, chatting is the only feature not accessible if you aren’t verified. Schedules, social links, etc. are still open to be seen.

Schools and counties are beginning to acknowledge the dangers of Saturn. An article written by News 4 San Antonio’s on Saturn informs that schools are recommending parents to be aware of the dangers and to closely monitor. This shows school authorities are aware of the data collection Saturn utilizes with no protection from outside users.

Jackie Teran, the mother of MSD freshman Sofia Teran-Sansome, downloaded Saturn, put down a false name, entered she was 14 and joined the MSD community. She then had access to about 40% of all students’ schedules and about half of the 40% ‘s student’s social platforms. Being able to obtain such information so easily could cause serious risks according to its critics, especially when users are only between 14-18 years old.

“I was shocked how easy it was,” Teran said. “To everyone else, I was another 14 year old girl who was looking to add her friends, but I knew this proved the dangers underlying what was supposed to be a simple app.”

Throughout all the concerns of Saturn, many people will continue to use it regardless. Users continue to become aware of dangers, issues such as lack of privacy are concerning to students and parents alike.