WhatsApp adds optional parental controls for teenagers

WhatsApp is introducing optional parental controls for teenagers as technology companies face pressure to provide more age-appropriate experiences for children.

Parents will be able to choose some privacy settings for a teenager’s account, including who can see their profile photo and who can add them to groups. They can also receive alerts when their child joins or leaves a group, manage how the teenager uses Channels, and choose between Meta AI’s default 13+ setting and a stricter “Limited Content” option. A parent-set PIN will be needed for a teenager to switch off the controls, which parents can adjust or disable at any time.

The controls will not let parents read the teenager’s messages or listen to their calls, which WhatsApp says remain private and protected by end-to-end encryption. Social media analyst Matt Navarra called the optional nature of the controls an “obvious weakness.” He also said they were “fairly convenient” for Meta, which owns WhatsApp, because they put some responsibility on parents and teenagers and reduce reliance on age verification. Navarra said it remained unclear whether enough families would use them.

WhatsApp’s minimum age is 13 in the UK, though it is higher in some countries. The announcement comes amid wider pressure from governments and regulators to strengthen child protection online. In June, the UK government said it planned to ban under-16s from social media platforms, with restrictions expected to begin in March 2027. WhatsApp is currently excluded because the government considers it a messaging service.