WhatsApp introduces new parental control tools for teenagers’ accounts, designed to give families more ability to manage their use of the app. They are optional, and parents and children can configure them together, choosing the level of supervision that best suits their needs. A novelty that adds to the “teen accounts” already present on other Meta apps (Instagram, Facebook and Messenger), automatically active for boys and girls aged 13 to 17.
How much impact will this innovation have and which choices will remain in the hands of the kids? The goal is to find a balance between family rules and autonomy, allowing parents to intervene on some aspects of the account and leaving others in the private sphere.
How parental control works on WhatsApp accounts of teenagers 13+
In concrete terms, the system combines supervision options with alerts relating to specific account activities. To activate parental control, the procedure starts from the teenager’s phone:
- you need to open WhatsApp;
- enter the Settings section;
- from there, select the Parental control item;
- confirm your date of birth;
- follow the instructions shown on the screen to link the child’s account to that of the parent.
The feature is being rolled out gradually and may not yet be available everywhere.
Management revolves around a PIN chosen by the parent. If the child tries to make one of the privacy settings established by the adult less restrictive, he must obtain his approval through that code.
What parents can actually control
A first area concerns profile privacy. The parent can choose, for example, who can see the teenager’s photo and who can add him or her to groups. This last possibility uses settings that WhatsApp already makes available to limit invitations to collective chats.
Parental controls then introduce some alerts on activity in groups. Parents can be notified when their child joins or leaves a group chat or when one of the groups they are part of significantly increases the number of participants. However, WhatsApp does not specify what threshold triggers the notification.
Supervision also extends to the Updates section. The adult can decide how the teenager uses the Channels, which State contents he can see and who can view those published from his account. The controls therefore also concern the areas of the app dedicated to discovering and sharing content, not just the settings related to chats.
Another novelty concerns Meta AI. The parent can choose between the default 13+ setting and a more restrictive option called Restricted Content. In this way it can define the type of experience with AI deemed most suitable.
The personal data is also used to offer experiences suited to the reference range, for example in the use of Meta AI or in the display of adverts in Status and Channels. WhatsApp may also ask you to provide or verify your age, information that is not shown to other users.
However, not all families must apply the same limits. WhatsApp specifies that parental controls can be changed or deactivated at any time and that it is up to parents to determine the level of support needed. The platform also presents these tools as a way to encourage open discussion with teenagers about the use of the app, rather than as a set of immutable rules.
However, WhatsApp is not the only service to offer solutions of this type. Meta has already introduced forms of supervision dedicated to teenagers on Instagram and Facebook and on Messenger, while parental control systems are also available on TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat. The methods change depending on the app, but the objective is similar: to allow families to intervene on some aspects of the online experience of young people.
What remains private on teenagers’ WhatsApp accounts
Parental controls may seem like direct access to your child’s phone, but the new system doesn’t work like that. Even with active supervision, personal messages and calls remain private. WhatsApp specifies that they continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption and that no one outside the conversation, not even the platform itself, can read or listen to them.
In simple terms, end-to-end encryption ensures that the contents of conversations are readable only by the devices involved in the exchange. The new controls do not change this mechanism. Furthermore, the PIN is not a password to open chats, but is used to approve any changes to supervised privacy settings.
The new parental control for teenagers should not be confused with accounts managed by a parent, which are instead designed for younger users. In this second case, when the owner reaches the age of 13 – or the highest minimum age foreseen in the country or geographical area – he exits the managed mode. At that point functions such as Channels, Status and Meta AI become available, while the previous controls on the parent’s device are no longer accessible. During the transition, privacy settings are returned to WhatsApp’s secure defaults and the child can then manage them themselves.
WhatsApp presents this first version as a starting point and says that these tools will be developed gradually based on feedback received from families.
