WhatsApp introduces new parental controls for teens: Here’s how it works

Meta-owned instant messaging service WhatsApp is nowadays used by almost every age group, including teenagers. However, over the past few months, like all social media and instant messaging apps, the platform has faced concerns over safety and well-being surrounding young children’s use. WhatsApp is now trying to strike a balance and provide greater control to parents with a new set of optional parental controls for teen accounts.

WhatsApp’s new parental controls: What can parents manage?

According to a WhatsApp blog post, with the platform’s new parental controls, parents can decide who can see their teenager’s profile picture and who can add them to WhatsApp groups. Moreover, parents will be able to receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group.

They can also be notified if a group the teen belongs to experiences a significant increase in membership.

Further, if the account holder wishes to change these settings, they can do that by authenticating via a PIN set by their parents. To keep parents updated on whom the child is connecting with on WhatsApp, they will also be notified of the account’s group entry and exit activity.

The new controls also extend to WhatsApp Channels and Status updates. Parents will have additional options for determining which Status updates their teenagers can view and who can see the children’s own Status updates.

Unlike some restrictions imposed directly by governments or platforms, WhatsApp’s new parental controls are optional, allowing parents and teenagers to set these rules simultaneously.

Moreover, WhatsApp noted that even with these controls turned on, the messages and calls activity of the managed account will remain private and encrypted.

WhatsApp says these new features are rolling out gradually on Android and iOS, and most users might need to wait to gain access to them on their account.