WhatsApp Introduces New Optional Parental Controls for Teenagers

WhatsApp has rolled out a new suite of optional parental controls designed for teenage users, offering parents enhanced visibility and control over specific privacy settings, groups, Channels, and the Meta AI experience. These features aim to facilitate collaborative decisions between parents and teenagers on app usage while maintaining the privacy of personal chats and calls, which remain end-to-end encrypted.

Under the new controls, parents can manage who can view their teenager's profile photo and who can add them to WhatsApp groups. Should a teenager wish to relax these settings, parental approval via a parent-set PIN is required. Parents will also receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group, or when a group's membership significantly increases, providing insight without accessing private conversations.

Further options extend to WhatsApp Channels and Status updates, allowing parents to decide which Status updates their teen can view and who sees their own updates. For the Meta AI experience, parents can choose between a standard 13+ setting and a stricter Limited Content option. WhatsApp stated these controls will be introduced gradually and may expand based on family feedback. This initiative follows the introduction of other parental tools earlier this year for younger users.

What to watch: User feedback influencing future updates and expanded control features.

Editor's note: The draft accurately synthesizes all provided information from the source text into a coherent and professional news summary.

This article is AI-generated and fact-gated. Original reporting: Economic Times