WhatsApp is introducing optional parental controls that let parents manage their teen’s privacy settings, receive alerts about group activity, and restrict the topics they can discuss with Meta AI. The company announced the tools on September 30.
The controls cover teens ages 13–17 and require a parent or guardian who is at least 18. Both must agree to link their accounts, using the latest version of WhatsApp for Android or iPhone.
Parents can choose who sees their teen’s profile photo and who can add them to groups. They can receive notifications when the teen joins or leaves a group, or when a group grows substantially.
WhatsApp says the controls do not give parents access to personal messages or calls, which remain protected by end-to-end encryption.
For Channels, parents can allow access to all channels, only those they approve, or none. They can also restrict channel creation, although WhatsApp’s documentation says changes will not affect channels the teen has already followed or created.
Status controls let parents choose whose updates their teen can see and who can see the teen’s updates. Meta AI has a default Standard setting for topics generally aligned with content ratings for ages 13 and above, plus a Limited option that further restricts topics. The latter also disables Meta AI features that use Private Processing.
Setup begins under Settings > Parental controls on the teen’s phone. The parent scans a QR code with their own phone, verifies they are an adult, and creates a six-digit PIN to protect the settings.
Parents can review activity from their own phone, including new contacts and account-profile changes.
WhatsApp’s Help Center says the controls are rolling out gradually and may not yet be available in every region. The company has not specified a Philippine rollout date.