Skip to main content

Create virtual cliques with Secret app’s ‘Dens’ feature for work, school gossip

secret app adds dens
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Anonymous app Secret wants to create even more places for your deepest, darkest confessions to hide. A new feature called “Secret Dens” allows users to share select secrets with members of a specific community, whether that group be from work, school, or some other social organization. What gets shared in the den, stays in the den. None of those secrets you posted will appear in any other part of the Secret community.

Secret has been testing Dens out on its own workers in a private beta for some time now, and says that those at Secret HQ love it. The company’s team is relatively small, with just 16 employees in the office, so it would probably be pretty obvious who said what in the Secret team’s Den. In other small workplaces, schools, or universities, the limited number of possible posters might also take some of the anonymity out of the equation. It seems that Secret Dens are much more intimate than the Secret community at large and that could present several problems.

Anonymous apps like Secret, Whisper, YikYak, and others have come under fire for inspiring an outbreak of cyber bullying. Secret’s idea of introducing an even more tightly knit group of posters seems to be asking for trouble in that regard. It’s easy to see how the private intimacy of Secret Dens could be exploited by bullies to attack another member of the small community. Accidental harm could also arise from supposedly “innocent” office gossip.

Unlike other anonymous apps, Secret still hasn’t addressed this sensitive issue. In fact, Secret has a very bad track record when it comes to ensuring that the app is used for good and not to harm others. Shortly after its debut, Secret ran into accusations of bullying and unfairness when rude comments about tech executives lingered on the site for days, despite complaints.

For now, the Secret Dens feature is still in testing, with a few select office groups and schools that have decided to try it out. Anyone who wants to add their office or school community to the experiment can sign up on Secret’s website.

(Via TechCrunch)

Editors' Recommendations

Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
I review phones for a living — here are the 10 apps I can’t live without
iPhone 14 Pro with custom home screen on Mickey Mouse phone holder next to flowers

For most of my life, I think I’ve had a pretty unique career path among my family and friends. Ever since I got the original iPhone, I’ve turned my love for writing into writing about technology, specifically mobile phones. Though I’ve pretty much been iPhone-only for most of my career, since I started at Digital Trends, I’ve been opening up to the world of Android.

Now that I’m checking out both iPhone and Android phones, the world of apps for me has expanded quite a bit. But regardless of what device I’m using, there are some apps that I need before anything else. Here are the first apps that I install when I get a new phone.
1Password (iOS and Android)

Read more
The best grocery list apps for iPhone and Android in 2023
Walmart Grocery 2

As we've started moving away from paper in favor of jotting down notes on our phones, grocery lists have begun to migrate from small handheld notebooks and scraps of paper to become permanent residents of our phones' home screens. Staying properly organized, however, can be a little trickier than simply asking Siri or Alexa to make a list of the things that are on the top of your head. That's where the best grocery list apps come into play.

There are plenty of apps that can help you stay on top of your grocery list-making while also providing plenty of other great features like budgeting assistance, list organization, and coupon gathering. Here are the best grocery list apps to use for iPhone and Android for making lists to help you with your shopping. If you're looking for more productivity apps, check out our list of the best iPad Pro productivity apps, too.
Apple Notes

Read more
Sunbird looks like the iMessage for Android app you’ve been waiting for
Sunbird Android app screenshots.

The idea of iMessage for Android sounds like a pipe dream, and for the most part, it is. Apps like AirMessage and Bleeper do make it possible to get iMessage on your Android phone today, but they often require complicated networking and Wi-Fi port forwarding, plus a Mac or iPhone to run in the background 24/7.

These apps technically work, but they're not things the average user can comfortably and confidently rely on. A new app — called Sunbird — now promises to change that.
iMessage on Android, now simplified

Read more