WhatsApp is a popular and trusted communication platform for friends, family, and work, as well as anyone looking for reliable, secure, and faster messaging. This, Meta-owned WhatsApp announced on Wednesday that it will offer parent-managed accounts for teen users under 13.
This update comes amid rising concerns among teens about social media, chat, and other online platforms. The new parent-managed accounts allow guardians or parents to set up WhatsApp for pre-teens with limited experience in messaging and calling.
The accounts also come with strict privacy settings and parental control by default. Alongside, no display ads between, and all conversations remain protected with end-to-end encryption, ensuring privacy while still allowing parental supervision.
Why WhatsApp Introduced Parent-Managed Accounts?
According to WhatsApp, many families rely on it for everyday communication, such as sharing important updates and staying connected with schools. The new platform helps children to gradually experience digital communication while maintaining parental control and safety guidelines.
How to Get Started?
The process is easy. Setting up a parent-managed account requires both the device they brought for their children and the parent’s device. Both should be side-by-side to link the accounts.
During registration, the parent scans a QR code shown on the child’s phone to link the two accounts. Parents should create a 6-digit PIN to protect access to privacy settings and activity controls.
Parents receive notifications whenever there is account activity, such as when a contact is added, a new message request is received, or a contact is blocked. Optional alerts can notify them when a child changes their profile, joins or leaves groups, receives chat requests, or deletes chats.
Features Restricted for Pre-Teen Accounts:
There are certain features restricted for teen accounts, such as:
- Meta AI
- Chat Lock
- App Lock
- Channels
- Status
- Location sharing
- View messages once
One of the noteworthy features is that the app blurs the images received from unknown contacts and shows warning cards for messages from people not in their children’s contact list. As children grow older, WhatsApp will notify users when their accounts can move to a standard account.
As per WhatsApp, “We are gradually rolling out parent-managed accounts for users over the coming months, we look forward to collecting feedback to continue building WhatsApp as the safest and most private platform for families to connect.”
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