WhatsApp is expanding its parental control features to teen accounts, giving parents more options to manage how their children use the messaging platform. The latest update adds alerts for group activity along with new controls for Channels, Status updates and Meta AI.

WhatsApp first introduced parent-managed accounts for pre-teens earlier this year. These controls help parents manage their children’s experience on the platform without giving them access to private conversations.

WhatsApp Adds New Parental Controls For Teen Accounts and Meta AI

The initial features allowed parents to decide who could contact a child’s account and which groups the child could join. Parents could also review message requests from unknown contacts and manage privacy settings. A parent-set PIN protects these changes.

WhatsApp later made the controls easier to access on iPhone by adding a dedicated Parental Controls section in the Settings menu. The company has now extended the system to teenagers, while adding more options that are specifically for group activity and content access.

Parents Can Receive Group Activity Alerts

Under the new controls, parents can receive notifications when their teen joins or leaves a WhatsApp group. They can also be notified when a group their teen already belongs to grows significantly in size.

These alerts will give parents more information about changes in their teen’s group activity without allowing them to monitor private conversations inside those groups.

Parents can also manage how their teen interacts with WhatsApp Channels. They can choose how Channels can be used, and control which Status updates their teen can view. They can also manage who is allowed to see their teen’s own Status updates.

More Restrictions for Meta AI

The update also introduces additional parental controls for Meta AI. Parents can choose between the standard Meta AI experience available to users aged 13 and above and a stricter Limited Content option.

The Limited Content setting places additional restrictions on the subjects a teen can discuss with Meta AI. WhatsApp says some Meta AI features that depend on Private Processing are also unavailable after enabling this setting.

This gives parents an additional way to limit their teen’s interaction with AI features while still allowing access to the broader messaging service.

Private Messages Remain Protected

WhatsApp says the new parental controls do not allow parents to read their teen’s private messages or listen to their calls. These communications remain protected by end-to-end encryption.

The company says the expanded controls will provide parents with greater visibility and management options while maintaining the privacy of teens’ personal conversations.

With the latest update, WhatsApp is gradually expanding its parental control system from pre-teen accounts to teenagers, covering areas such as group participation, Channels, Status updates, and AI interactions.