WhatsApp Introduces Parent-Managed Accounts for Teen Users With New Safety Controls

WhatsApp has started rolling out new parental controls for teenage users, giving parents more tools to help manage their children’s experience on the messaging platform. The new features are designed to provide families with greater control over privacy and content settings while keeping teenagers’ personal conversations protected.

The parent-managed account option allows teenagers and their parents to set up additional safeguards together. Parents can manage several account settings, including who can view a teenager’s profile photo, who can add them to groups and how certain features of the platform can be accessed.

The controls also cover WhatsApp’s Groups, Channels and Status features. Parents can receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group, while additional alerts can be provided when the size of a group increases significantly. These options are intended to help parents understand how their children are using WhatsApp without giving them direct access to private conversations.

Meta AI is also included in the new parental controls. Parents can choose between the standard experience available to users aged 13 and above and a more restrictive Limited Content setting. The latter is designed to reduce the type of content that teenagers can encounter through the artificial intelligence feature.

WhatsApp has emphasised that the new controls do not allow parents to read their children’s personal messages or listen to their calls. Private chats and calls continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption, meaning the content remains accessible only to the participants involved.

The company has also introduced safeguards to prevent teenagers from changing certain restrictions without parental approval. If a teenager attempts to loosen selected privacy settings, approval may be required through a parent-controlled PIN. WhatsApp said the new features are being introduced gradually and may not immediately be available to all users or in every country. The company plans to expand the controls as the rollout progresses and gather feedback from families.