📱 WhatsApp Is Getting Parental Control Features ā Hereās What It Means
WhatsApp is reportedly developing builtāin parental control tools that could let parents or guardians supervise their childās whatsapp account more effectively. This is a big step because, up until now, whatsapp hasnāt offered dedicated controls for minors like some other social apps do.šØāš©āš§Ā Secondary Accounts for MinorsAccording to reports, whatsapp may soon introduce a system of āsecondary accountsā that can be linked to a parentās primary account.
Hereās how itās expected to work:
ā Restricting messages and calls to saved contacts only
ā Controlling who can see the childās profile picture, ālast seen,ā and status
ā Preventing the minor from being added to groups by strangers
ā Receiving activity updates (though not full chat content)
ā Setting default safety limits for interaction with unknown usersThis approach lets parents oversee safety without violating WhatsAppās privacy protections ā the actual message content remains encrypted and not visible to the parent.š”ļøĀ Why This MattersAs whatsapp is one of the worldās most widely used messaging apps, kids often access it early. Without parental controls, children can sometimes interact with unknown contacts or groups, which can pose safety risks. These builtāin supervision tools aim to give parents peace of mind while still allowing kids to use the app responsibly.This feature is still under development and hasnāt been officially released, so we donāt yet have a firm launch date ā but itās already showing up in WhatsApp beta versions and feature leaks.š”Ā In ShortWhatsApp is working on parental control features that use linked secondary accounts so parents can:
Hereās how itās expected to work:
- A minor would use a secondary whatsapp account with limited features.
- A parent or guardian, using their primary account, would be able to manage that linked accountās privacy settings.
- This includes control over who the child can communicate with and visibility of activityārelated updates ā without reading chats directly.
ā Restricting messages and calls to saved contacts only
ā Controlling who can see the childās profile picture, ālast seen,ā and status
ā Preventing the minor from being added to groups by strangers
ā Receiving activity updates (though not full chat content)
ā Setting default safety limits for interaction with unknown usersThis approach lets parents oversee safety without violating WhatsAppās privacy protections ā the actual message content remains encrypted and not visible to the parent.š”ļøĀ Why This MattersAs whatsapp is one of the worldās most widely used messaging apps, kids often access it early. Without parental controls, children can sometimes interact with unknown contacts or groups, which can pose safety risks. These builtāin supervision tools aim to give parents peace of mind while still allowing kids to use the app responsibly.This feature is still under development and hasnāt been officially released, so we donāt yet have a firm launch date ā but itās already showing up in WhatsApp beta versions and feature leaks.š”Ā In ShortWhatsApp is working on parental control features that use linked secondary accounts so parents can:
- Set safety restrictions on their childās account
- Control who kids can message or join groups with
- Get activity insights without accessing private chats