WhatsApp adds PIN-locked parental controls for teen accounts

A parent who switches on WhatsApp's new teen controls gets a say over who can add their teenager to a group, who sees their profile picture, and whose Status updates they see. What they do not get is the conversations.

WhatsApp announced the controls on September 30, describing them as a way for parents and teenagers to decide together how the platform should be used while keeping personal communications private. Turning them on does not give a parent access to a teen's private messages or calls. The company says messages and calls on the app remain end-to-end encrypted and that no one can see them.

The settings cover Channels usage, whose Status a teen can see and who can see the teen's own Status updates, who can add them to groups, and who can see their profile picture. Meta AI gets its own control, with a choice between the default 13+ setting and a stricter "Limited Content" option that switches off private processing-based features such as incognito chat and message summaries.

Group activity can be watched at a distance instead of inside the chat: parents can choose to be notified when a teen joins a new group, when they leave one, or when a group they are in grows past 30, 100 or 250 members.

All of it sits behind a PIN set by the parent, so a teen who wants to loosen any of the settings needs approval first. The controls are optional, and guardians can adjust them or turn them off completely as circumstances change.

WhatsApp calls this the first step in a broader effort, says the controls are being developed gradually, and says they will be expanded based on feedback from families. The company has previously announced parent-managed account options for pre-teens, with tighter restrictions built around messaging and calling. In June it introduced usernames, which let users connect without sharing phone numbers.

This comes against a legal backdrop. Meta has been on the receiving end of several lawsuits accusing its social media products of harming children, lawmakers have pressed the company and Instagram in particular over delays in shipping teen safety features, and in August Meta agreed to pay an $18 billion fine to settle a lawsuit brought by 29 U.S. states.