Stories
WhatsApp Introduces New Parental Controls for Teen Accounts Amid Safety Concerns
- •WhatsApp has launched new parental controls allowing parents to manage their teens' profile picture visibility and group additions.
- •Parents will receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group, or if a group's member count significantly increases.
- •Teens can only change these settings after verifying their identity with a PIN created by their parents.
- •The controls extend to WhatsApp Channels and Status updates, giving parents options to determine what their teens view and who sees their teens' updates.
- •WhatsApp emphasizes that these optional controls are designed to foster open conversations between parents and teens, while maintaining message privacy and encryption.
Key Questions Answered
WhatsApp introduced parental controls that allow parents to manage who can see their teenager's profile picture and add them to groups. Parents receive notifications when teens join or leave groups, when group member counts suddenly increase, and can control status update visibility. Additionally, any changes to account settings require a PIN created by the parents for identity verification.
Meta introduced parent-managed accounts for children under 13 that focus strictly on messaging and calling while restricting optional tools. To set up the account, parents and children must place their devices side-by-side and scan a QR code to link them. Once connected, guardians can monitor activity, review contact requests, configure privacy settings, and approve group invitations.
Yes, despite the introduction of these parental controls, a user's messaging and calling activity will remain completely private and encrypted. WhatsApp stated that these controls are designed to support open conversations between parents and teens while keeping personal messages secure.
