WhatsApp has begun rolling out parent-managed accounts for pre-teens, permitting dad and mom and guardians to determine who can contact them and which teams they’ll be 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 dad and mom, who can’t learn their chats or pay attention to their calls.
Organising a parent-managed account requires each the guardian’s and the kid’s units to be current on the identical time. The guardian 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 guardian also can set a 6-digit PIN, guaranteeing 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 guardian PIN on the managed system. Solely dad and mom can entry and alter privateness settings, guaranteeing they’re empowered to tailor their household’s expertise,” the corporate mentioned.
“All private conversations stay personal and guarded with end-to-end encryption, which means nobody—not even WhatsApp—can see or hear them.”
By default, managed accounts can trade messages solely with individuals already saved within the kid’s contacts, and solely dad and mom 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.
Mother and father may also obtain exercise alerts when their youngsters obtain new chat requests, add a brand new contact, or when teams they’re in add new members.
“Mother and father will obtain notifications about essential exercise, like when their youngster receives a message request from an unknown contact. They will customise the notifications they obtain about different actions, akin to when their youngster leaves a gaggle,” WhatsApp added.
The kid can transition their account to a regular WhatsApp profile after they flip 13, after which they may have full entry to WhatsApp options with out parental controls.
Meta additionally launched devoted accounts for teenagers beneath 16 on Fb and Messenger in September 2025, one yr after rolling out the identical function 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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