WhatsApp has begun rolling out parent-managed accounts for pre-teens, permitting mother and father and guardians to resolve who can contact them and which teams they’ll be a part of.
These accounts are restricted to messaging and calling and don’t embrace entry to Meta AI, Channels, Standing, or location sharing. The kid’s messages stay end-to-end encrypted and can’t be seen by third events, together with mother and father, who can’t learn their chats or pay attention to their calls.
Organising a parent-managed account requires each the mum or dad’s and the kid’s units to be current on the identical time. The mum or dad should register and confirm the kid’s cellphone quantity, affirm the kid’s age, and scan a QR code on the kid’s system to hyperlink the 2 accounts.
The mum or dad may also set a 6-digit PIN, making certain that solely they’ll entry and alter message requests, privateness settings, and exercise alerts from the managed system.
“The brand new parental controls and settings are gated by a mum or dad PIN on the managed system. Solely mother and father can entry and alter privateness settings, making certain they’re empowered to tailor their household’s expertise,” the corporate stated.
“All private conversations stay non-public and guarded with end-to-end encryption, that means nobody—not even WhatsApp—can see or hear them.”
By default, managed accounts can alternate messages solely with individuals already saved within the kid’s contacts, and solely mother and father can add the account to teams.
When an unknown contact makes an attempt to achieve the kid, a context card will seem exhibiting whether or not the unknown contact shares any teams with the kid and which nation they’re from.
Dad and mom will even obtain exercise alerts when their children obtain new chat requests, add a brand new contact, or when teams they’re in add new members.
“Dad and mom will obtain notifications about vital exercise, like when their little one receives a message request from an unknown contact. They will customise the notifications they obtain about different actions, comparable to when their little one leaves a gaggle,” WhatsApp added.
The kid can transition their account to a normal WhatsApp profile once they flip 13, after which they’ll have full entry to WhatsApp options with out parental controls.
Meta additionally launched devoted accounts for teenagers underneath 16 on Fb and Messenger in September 2025, one yr after rolling out the identical characteristic for Instagram customers.
As we speak, Meta additionally launched new WhatsApp anti-scam protections that warn customers when behavioral indicators counsel a device-linking request could also be fraudulent.
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