WhatsApp launches parental controls for teen accounts to manage privacy and group activity

The controls can be set up by parents and teens together, with parents able to use a single PIN to approve changes to certain privacy settings.

Parents will be able to decide who can see their teenager’s profile photo and who can add them to groups. If a teen wants to loosen those settings, parental approval will be required through the parent-set PIN.

Parents can monitor group activity

The new controls also give parents more visibility into their teen’s group activity.

Parents can receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group, or when a group the teen belongs to grows significantly.

They can also choose how their teen uses Channels, including which Status updates the teen can see and who can view the teen’s own Status updates.

Another option allows parents to choose the Meta AI experience available to their teenager, including the default 13+ setting or a stricter “Limited Content” option.

Private messages remain private

WhatsApp says the controls are designed to give parents more oversight without giving them access to their teenager’s personal conversations.

Even when parental controls are enabled, personal messages and calls remain protected by end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp says people outside a chat, including WhatsApp itself, cannot see or hear those conversations.

The controls are optional, and parents can adjust them or switch them off at any time.

WhatsApp says it plans to expand the controls over time based on feedback from families.

The company also said the tools are intended to support conversations between parents and teenagers about how they use the platform, rather than replacing those conversations with monitoring.