WhatsApp has introduced new parental control features for pre-teen and teen accounts, with parent-managed accounts for pre-teens gradually rolling out worldwide. These controls allow parents to manage who can contact their children, which groups they can join, and adjust privacy settings. For teens, parents can oversee privacy settings and features such as Meta AI, Status, and Channels, while receiving updates on selected account activity, according to medianama.com.
The parent-managed accounts for pre-teens focus on messaging and calling, limiting communication to contacts saved by the child. When a new contact is added, parents receive an alert. Messages from unknown contacts go into a message requests folder, which parents can review to approve or decline. Parents can also block or report contacts. Group participation is tightly controlled, with only parents able to add children to groups or approve group invitations. Personal messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted, preventing parents from reading or listening to them.
This move by WhatsApp addresses growing concerns around child safety and digital privacy by giving parents more oversight while maintaining encryption standards. It aligns with broader industry trends where platforms are enhancing parental controls to protect younger users. The feature differentiates between pre-teens and teens, reflecting different levels of autonomy and supervision. Similar initiatives have been seen in other messaging platforms aiming to balance safety and privacy for minors.
WhatsApp’s rollout of these parental controls is ongoing, with parent-managed accounts becoming available globally for pre-teens. The company has not specified a full completion timeline but confirmed the features are live in multiple regions as of October 2026, per medianama.com.